The beautifully patterned basket
The narrator’s description of the beautifully patterned basket depicts a sense of sight. The narrator says, "Then one Saturday, we went to his village to visit, and his mother showed us a beautifully patterned basket made of dyed raffia that his brother had made." The imagery is significant because it helps the narrator deconstruct the single-sided story she had heard about Fade's poverty. All along, Adichie knew that Fade's family was poor and incapable of doing anything significant. However, the ability of Fade's brother to make a beautifully patterned basket implies that the family is talented and can change its status anytime.
A tape of Mariah Carey
When the narrator arrives in the United States of America to study, her white roommate doubts her ability to hear English words. The roommate asks the narrator to play her tribal music, but she produces an English album. The narrator says, "She asked if she could listen to what she called my "tribal music," and was consequently very disappointed when I produced my tape of Mariah Carey." The roommate's assumption about black people is a representation of what whites think of Africans. However, the narrator proves she can listen, comprehend and interpret words and lyrics in English.
The popular images
The popular images in Western media show Africa's beautiful landscape, but people are portrayed as primitive, illiterate and senseless. The narrator says, “If I had not grown up in Nigeria, and if all I knew about Africa were from popular images, I too would think that Africa was a place of beautiful landscapes, beautiful animals, and incomprehensible people, fighting senseless wars, dying of poverty and AIDS, unable to speak for themselves and waiting to be saved by a kind, white foreigner.” The imagery shows how Africans are perceived in Western media. However, the information displayed is incorrect because it is based on a single story intended to depict Africans as backward people who are yet to be civilized.
