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I Am Malala Essay

Decent Essays

In the autobiographical work “ I am Malala”, Malala Yousafzai explains the hardships faced by her family, and women in Pakistan. She also talks about the Taliban and on the effect they created in the dynamic of society when it comes to women. This book is set in Pakistan from the 90’s to the mid 2000’s ; from when the author was born, to right after the time she was shot by the Taliban for standing up for girl’s rights there. Malala believes girls are facing prejudice and injustice in the Middle East, and that they deserve better. Yousafzai applies her experience as a woman, the stories of other women, and the tragic experience she faced to enhance her claim and bring her story to life.
Malala Yousafzai was born in Pakistan, in Swat valley. …show more content…

It had Buddhist statues carved into the rock, and was called the Switzerland of the East. This was where Malala’s father’s ideas about gender equality developed. But, when the Taliban came, they made a radical change- a violent one- in the dynamic of society. When she started to get older, Malala realized this on page 20, while she thinks about how she is allowed to play now, and they way it would be taken away. She muses that “My father always said, ‘Malala will be free as a bird. . .’But, as I watched my brothers. . . I wondered how free a daughter could be” (Yousafzai 20). She realized that even with a supportive family, the social culture in that region, which was previously tolerant, had changed and that she, as a woman, would feel that the most. Yousafzai questions her father’s words that had provided hope for her for so long. She wonders about how much one person can do to change her fate as a woman; to be veiled, hidden, ridiculed, and abused. Her brothers juxtapose her, being boisterous and open, simply because they can. Since they are boys, they are valued and have a freedom that women

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