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I Am Malala Character Analysis

Decent Essays

Decisions are made complex by the variables involved, and the situation in which the decision is made. Both Farah and Malala were faced with complex decisions which changed their lives, and the people around them. In I am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World, Malala had to make a decision with the extreme forces of the Taliban, her quest for her, and every other girl’s education, and her concern for her family all pressuring her. While Farah, in The Other Side of the Sky: A Memoir had to also make her life changing decision while coping with her mother’s illness, the loss of her leg, multiple family members dead at the feet of the Taliban, and extreme discrimination all pushing her to oblivion. However, these two …show more content…

Malala was lulled into a false sense of security by the Taliban’s inaction and perceived empty threats and, therefore, disregarded her father’s warning. When Malala protested against her father,”’If the Taliban had wanted to kill me,’ I told him.’they should have done it in 2009. That was their time’”(125). Malala believes that the threat against her has expired, and therefore no longer a danger. She is misled by her past experiences. The Taliban threatened her father, but they did not act on the threat, therefore she thinks their threats are just bluffs. None of her close relatives have been killed, nor have there been any bombings near her house. She thinks she understands the fear of the Taliban, but she has never really felt it for herself. However, the same can not be said for Farah. Farah felt the fear and understood the periculous ways of the Taliban, therefore she acted to avoid danger and sought refuge in the United States. When she found out about the bombing, and saw her sisters and father dead,”Then I saw our house: reduced to nothing but piles of rubble and broken glass. And then I saw the bodies”(89). The structure of the second sentence mimics Farah’s thought process. Farah now knows the personal loss, which Malala never experienced, firsthand. All Farah can do now is try to protect her last living family member. Without the influence of the Taliban, these girls …show more content…

When Malala says to her father,”’Aba,’ I said. ‘You were the one who said if we believe in something greater than our lives, then our voices will only multiply, even if we are dead. We can’t stop now’”(117). Malala said this to her father to give him courage, but also to harden her own resolve. The resolve that her “something greater” is the right cause to believe in, and is worth the price of her life should it be necessary.They “can’t stop now” because if they do, the Taliban is victorious, and all her hard work is for nothing. Malala has always been assured of herself, and her goals, now in the face of the looming threat of the Taliban, she still has the bravery to adhere to her beliefs. She knows she is justified in her campaign for her rights, and the Taliban have no authority to take her education. She is making this decision out of her own free will. Whereas, when Farah had to make her decision to leave Pakistan for America, she chooses to leave in order to protect herself and her mother. When she explains her joy,“We would fly from Quetta to Islamabad the very next week, and from there, we would go on to America. It happened so suddenly! It felt like a miracle!”(165).For Farah, there was no other option but leave for the United States. This choice was foreshadowed by her earlier trip to Germany. Farah also sees her ability to go to the

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