An Analysis of Two Scenes in I Am Malala, a Book by Christina Lamb and Malala Yousafzai

I chose to illustrate two scenes from the bookI Am Malalaby Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb. The two scenes I have chosen to depict are Malala lying on her hospital bed after being shot in the head by a member of the Taliban on October 9, 2012 after being accused by the Taliban for promoting western values and secular viewpoints. She was relocated to Birmingham in the United Kingdom from the Swat Valley in Pakistan to receive better treatment. The second scene is Malala holding up her Nobel Peace Prize, which she was nominated for promoting education for girls worldwide. She is currently “the youngest person ever” (309).

I felt it was important that her being in the hospital was pictured because it was with the financial support from her country’s government and abroad that she received medical treatment. She was andcurrently still isa teenage girl when an attempt on her life was made by a major terrorist organization at the time by shooting her in the head, and the fact that she received so much support after such a thing was done to her shows how important and even threatening a person she is seen to be. Doctor Fiona, who was assigned to be her temporary legal guardian, described Malala as “Pakistan’s Mother Teresa” (263). The fact that she is so highly regarded by not only political figures and military leaders in her homeland, but to others internationally that so much effort and time went into saving her life shows that the work she is doing for home and the rest of the world is extremely valuable. A United Nations special envoy and former prime minister of Britain, Gordon Brown was so inspired by her that he had even “launched a petition under the slogan “I am Malala” to demand that no child be denied a school by 2015″ (289).

After Malala’s recovery, she went on to continue earning awards her work and “champion universal access to education through the Malala Fund”, which is a non-profit organization invested in supporting education advocates worldwide. In 2014, she received the Nobel Peace Prize for her “struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education”. Her success against such insurmountable odds, before and after her seemingly miraculous recovery from being shot in the head shows that she is worthy for such a prestigious award. It was essential to draw her happily holding up her prize because it is just as important, if not more to point out her achievements and struggles than it is to point out how she was shot by the Taliban.

The reasons the Taliban had for attempting to take Malala’s life are the same reasons she earned the Nobel Peace Prize, this is why both of these scenes are significant to the book and I chose to depict them because they show how much Malala has endured throughout the span of her life relative to the average teenager.