I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai: a Story of a Woman Fighting for Equal Rights

Life generally, never works out the way we want it. Throughout our lives we are in a constant battle with the world and our surroundings. It is up to the person as an individual to decide what they want for themselves. In the novel I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai the reader understands that no matter what your gender is, you have the right to get an education and have the same equal rights as men. With the help and support from her family, Malala was able to get her message across by incorporating the appeals of pathos and logos.

Malala was born in a third world country in which tradition is a big deal. In Pakistan, more specifically Swat Valley, it is tradition that the women are not celebrated for their birth, as men are. Which of course, was not the case for Yousafzai. Malala’s father did not care if his newborn was female, he still celebrated her birth as if it was a boys birth. He knew that she was special; and he was right. Malala always keeps what her father said in the back of her mind. “Malala is free as a bird”.

Growing up in a culture in which only one gender is supreme really took a toll on what aspirations she had for herself. She grew group with such a construct telling her she couldn't do this or do that. Which eventually led to her putting her foot down and saying she has had enough. It was just so hard for her to fathom the fact that in her country woman were looked at in such a way.

As Malala was growing up things were pretty good in Swat Valley, her hometown. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen it was like paradise to her. Lots of water lots of green it was everything. However that all started to change when Malala was in her teen years. A terrorist group that goes by the name The Taliban raided Pakistan, Malala's home country and started to drastically change Swat Valley. This horrible group started to destroy the majority of the schools in Pakistan, taking away the kids and children the right to go to school. They even started to make their on laws and spread different and wrong views, upon the Quran. They came up with such laws that restricted woman to dance, sing and do various things in public. Woman were no longer able to go out late at night and most importantly go to school. Having such a powerful dangerous group corrupt the minds of the people in Swat and Pakistan as a whole infuriated Malala and all her aspirations. From the get go Yousafzai was not going to let the Taliban take education from her or the rights she had as a woman. The encouragement that Malala always felt growing up was solely because of her father. Malala’s dad taught her that no matter what gender we were we all had and have a right for education. He believed this idea so much so that he built his own school and became a principal. This led to him allowing any gender to attend the school and get an education. Having this role model growing up helped malala understand that she was not alone, and know that she had a big support system behind her. Having such a strong foundation of the problems and by having the support of her family she was able to express herself as seen below in her Nobel peace prize acceptance speech. “It doesn't matter what’s the color of your skin, what language do you speak, what religion you believe in. It is that we should all consider each other as human beings and we should respect each other and we should all fight for our rights, for the rights of children, for the rights of women and for the rights of every human being”.

From the very beginning Malala was very strong on her faith, and religion played a huge part in her every day to day decisions. Faith was a huge part of her ever since she was basically born it was inside of her since birth. She grew up with the Islamic religion strong on. “We human beings don't realize how great God is he has given us an extraordinary brain and a sensitive loving heart. He has blessed us with two lips to talk and express our feelings, two eyes which see a world of colours and beauty, two feet which walk on the road of life, two hands to work for us, and two ears to hear the words of love. As I found with my ear, no one knows how much power they have in their each and every organ until they lose one. ” (acceptance speech).

Just by seeing Malala express herself in this way let’s us the audience, understand the fact that everything that she is saying is true. She so deliberately exclaims that Humans were gifted with such incredible capabilities but the people choose not to use them for things they should. Throughout her novel and throughout her speeches, Malala never failed to stop talking about a particular topic. By that topic I mean the politics side of Education. She's so pro claims and states that politicians really cared and care about people getting an education. But why are they not doing anything about the situation in Pakistan? Why is the government not doing anything in respect for the manner. She brought up a very specific point in her Nobel Peace Prize speech in which she stated “if the politicians children go to private schools and nice schools, why can't every kid go to school and get an education like their children do. If their kids are getting an education what makes them so different from me or my fellow sisters. “There are still 57 million children who have not received education, who are still out of the primary schools and I want to see every child going to school and getting education because I have – I have myself suffered through the same situation when I was in Swat Valley and you all may know that in swat there was Talibanization and because of that no girl was allowed to go to school.

Yousafzai throws these remarks stating the fact that politicians really speak out about getting equal rights and equal education and where is the action beside their words? Why haven't the people seen any change or any difference. When yousafzai said the following, “If one man can destroy everything, why can't one girl change it”? I gave me hope it gave me comfort knowing that no matter what your race is what gender you are you can change the world, you can change anything you set your mind to as long as it's ideal. Besides this point Malala also specifically stated “Education is education. We should learn everything and then choose which path to follow. " Education is neither Eastern nor Western, it is human”. In this particular quote from her speech, she expresses her thoughts on education and implies that middle eastern women have an issue, and are aware of it, so something should be done. By this quote she is appealing to all the emotions she has had building up inside. Such emotions rambling inside trying to bombard out. Even after everything happening to her and even after her getting shot she continued to be an activist and speak up for what she believed in. Not having such commitment and passion for such a cause what have not resulted in Malala speaking up. It takes lots of strength and commitment to do what she did; and at such a young age. As seen from the following quote “I told myself, Malala, you have already faced death. This is your second life. Don't be afraid — if you are afraid, you can't move forward. ” Shows how strong she is and how her character is strong. Once Malala had faced the hard reality that what she was doing was putting her in danger, she continued on fighting against the Taliban. No matter what would happen she would die in peace knowing that she stood up for what she believed in.

Throughout, the time she was expressing her concerns she did a great way of appealing to the audience using her personal life and emotions. She knew that she had thousands of kids who can relate to what she is so badly wanting to resolve. It might sound repetitive but Malala knew what she needed to do in order for her and her fellow sisters to have equal rights and get an education. The following explains why I say this. At that time I stood up for my rights and I said I would speak up. I do not wait for someone else. I do not wait for someone else. I had really two options. One was not to speak and wait to be killed. And the second was – and the second was to speak up and then be killed and I chose the second one because at that time there was terrorism, women were not allowed to go outside of their houses because education was totally banned, people were killed. At that time I needed to raise my voice because I wanted to go back to school. I was also one of those girls who could not get education”(Nobel Peace acceptance speech). Having all the amazing support she had from her family, Malala was able to stand up forwomen's educations and stand up against a terrorist group who didn't even belong in Pakistan. She so strongly expressed how their views are wrong and were wrong; and that people are willing to fight even though their life depends on it. If it weren't for her father and her family as a whole she wouldnt of had the strength to do what she did for equal rights.

Overall, having to stand up for what you believe in always comes with ramifications. In this case Malala stood up for what she believed in no matter what the outcomes were going to be. She so deliberately expressed her various concerns through the support of her father and family as a whole. She used her ability to speak out, and fight for the education that every single person desires and deserves. Despite getting shot by the horrendous terrorist group of the taliban, she continues to spread her message to try and fix one of the biggest issues today. That is the reason why she is such a huge part in the education movement and how she justifies herself from breaking laws.