“The American Embassy”
Jess Shankland
In Adichie’s “The American Embassy” on
page 137 are the lines about the woman’s husband, who is a journalist for The New Nigeria. “It was not as if
Nigerians did not already know these things . . . BBC radio carried the story
on the news and interviewed an exiled Nigerian professor of politics who said
her husband deserved a Human Rights Award. He
fights repression with the pen, he gives a voice to the voiceless, he makes the
world know.”
These lines parallel with the general
idea of the Adichie’s novel as a whole. Is this not what writing to promote
peace does? To inform the readers of what is really happening, even if some of its readers are already aware? To fight repression, to give voice to those unable,
to “make the world know”? Bill Kovach
and Tom Rosenstiel in The Elements of
Journalism write, "The purpose of journalism is not defined by
technology, nor by journalists or the techniques they employ. The principles
and purpose of journalism are defined by something more basic: the function
news plays in the lives of people."
In "The American Embassy," Adichie
writes about what one would see and hear while standing in the morning sun,
awaiting an interview for a visa. By informing the reader of the truth, by showing
situations that are being experienced, she is able to shine light on the
diversity of other cultures: the government versus the people, and the people
who consist of many classes – the rich, the middle class, the beggars who thank
and bless in all those languages.
– Journalism quote source: http://www.americanpressinstitute.org/journalism-essentials/what-is-journalism/purpose-journalism/
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