![Picture](/uploads/1/0/7/4/107436117/published/download.jpeg?1581363873)
Sarah McAllister
I Am Malala
Malala Yousafzai
October 2013
Nonfiction
Pakistan / Islam / Pashtun
Summary:
“I Am Malala” is an autobiography of Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani girl advocating for the right of education for females. This is during a time when radical Islamists were taking over Afghanistan and finding their way into Pakistan, controlling the way that people conducted their daily lives and placing restrictions on them. The most controlled group that the Taliban have is the women, who are not allowed to leave the home without a male family member with them, and must be covered with the veil every time that they leave the house. Malala Yousafzai details the history of how this all came to be, and why she began advocating for the right of education for girls and the poor throughout the world. Because of Malala’s activism, she became a target for the Taliban, and was shot in the head on her way to school one morning. Malala continues talking about her activism and how she is continuing on in her work and education in England, and wishes to return home to Pakistan and the Swat Valley.
Reflection Questions:
“I Am Malala” indicates the changing viewpoints and the unstable political and religious culture of Pakistan, but also the rich history that has created the country. Yousafzai goes into great detail about the rich history of her country, and then how quickly the climate of the country changed once radical ideas of Islam began to take over. The American involvement in the country is the largest source of the political turmoil, and she sees the same thing occurring in Afghanistan as well with the Taliban. Yousafzai focuses on the strong importance that education has in Pakistan, especially within the female population, and the hypocrisy that arises with the introduction of radical sects of Islam into everyday life. The Taliban begin to take away one of the most fundamental rights, the education of females, but then still expect these young girls to become doctors and lawyers without the right to education. Within her memoir, Yousafzai looks at the resistance that many people had, but in fear of the Taliban (who would take away their lives if they openly opposed the new standard of living), they ultimately began to pull their daughters out of education and force them to stay home, making them live the traditional role of a female. Despite this, the Pashtun population is full of hospitality to those internally displaced persons in Afghanistan, and take them into their homes even when they do not know the people.
I could not find a lot of parallels between my culture and the rich, traditional culture that Malala Yousafzai describes. However, while reading “The Complete Persepolis”, I did find a quote that most aptly sums up the views that the both of us hold on the main religious sects within our country, and something that I have found to be very true within my own life: “In every religion, you find the same extremists” (page 178). There is a world today where people cannot freely practice their own beliefs without being judged by both those outside of their faith, and those inside of it. Malala is facing a world that is full of radical Islamists, preaching violence to a world that has only wanted peace, and peace from their religion. While faith does not play as large a role in Malala’s life in the beginning, she still followed the Quran and learned to read from it and translated passages. In my life, I had learned to read out of the Bible and learned Bible stories from a young age. As I have developed in my own personal ways, and as I have learned more about the world from people around me and from my classes, my views on my religion have changed. At my Catholic middle school, I found myself subjected to criticisms by my religion teacher and some of my friends for the views that I have, and in today’s culture in the United States, there is no more middle ground for views, either a person is on one side of the spectrum or the other. This is nearly the same political culture that Malala and Pakistan faces, except with quite a few more consequences if one does not agree with the Taliban.
I could not really connect with events and people within Malala’s story, as a lot of it seems unimaginable to me. I could not ever imagine being able to fall asleep every night to gunfire spattering throughout my village, bombs going off in close proximity to my home, and losing my ability to have an education and pursue my dreams. I have never had to go through these experiences, and I consider myself extremely lucky after reading Malala’s story. I live in a country where I am sheltered from the intense extremism from the major religion, and I have access to my basic necessities, and I do not have to go out covered in a veil with a male family member for fear of being shot at or beaten in the streets as an example. I am one of the fortunate ones, and many in the world do not have the same experiences as I do.
The central conflict in Malala Yousafzai’s story is the Taliban takeover of Pakistan, and the loss of a woman’s ability to go to school and get an education. This was published in 2013, and as of yet, the conflict has yet to be resolved. The Taliban still hold control over certain portions of Pakistan, and ISIL (Islamic State) hold control of others. This conflict has no good way of being handled except for a counterrevolution, which is not currently able to happen. The United States and other countries are getting involved in the conflict and are helping to push out the Taliban and ISIL, but this will only do so much, as one can never fully get rid of all extremism within a religion, and within those people active in the Taliban and ISIL. The conflict is culturally based, as it stems off of the religion of Islam and takes hold of the goodwill of the Pashtun people.
In my very early stages of knowing of this conflict, and of simply knowing Malala as a girl about my age who had been shot in the Pakistani conflict, I was not really impacted. I had thought that maybe some of the people in the country had wanted this to happen, and that we should not have gotten involved. However, after having learned more about this situation from my parents and now reading Malala’s story, this has changed. These people had done nothing wrong, and did not deserve or want for this to happen to them. The Taliban have destroyed the peaceful name of the Islamic faith, and have turned it into a synonym, at least in American culture, of terrorism. My world view has changed greatly, and now I am more conscientious of what backgrounds people have come from, and what they may be experiencing. Malala’s story, along with the other ones focused in the Middle East (especially Afghanistan and Pakistan), have greatly educated me on the rich culture and history that their countries ultimately have, and their struggle against a force that no one had ever wanted.
My preconceived idea about the veil in Islamic culture was that it was a mandated thing, and every woman wore the veil. I had never known much about the types of veil that a woman could potentially wear, and it had never dawned on me that the veil was also a cultural identity, not just a religious one. This changed when Malala began talking about the women who would patrol the streets, and the Taliban who would yell at women not wearing the proper veil, as well as purdah.
I Am Malala
Malala Yousafzai
October 2013
Nonfiction
Pakistan / Islam / Pashtun
Summary:
“I Am Malala” is an autobiography of Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani girl advocating for the right of education for females. This is during a time when radical Islamists were taking over Afghanistan and finding their way into Pakistan, controlling the way that people conducted their daily lives and placing restrictions on them. The most controlled group that the Taliban have is the women, who are not allowed to leave the home without a male family member with them, and must be covered with the veil every time that they leave the house. Malala Yousafzai details the history of how this all came to be, and why she began advocating for the right of education for girls and the poor throughout the world. Because of Malala’s activism, she became a target for the Taliban, and was shot in the head on her way to school one morning. Malala continues talking about her activism and how she is continuing on in her work and education in England, and wishes to return home to Pakistan and the Swat Valley.
Reflection Questions:
“I Am Malala” indicates the changing viewpoints and the unstable political and religious culture of Pakistan, but also the rich history that has created the country. Yousafzai goes into great detail about the rich history of her country, and then how quickly the climate of the country changed once radical ideas of Islam began to take over. The American involvement in the country is the largest source of the political turmoil, and she sees the same thing occurring in Afghanistan as well with the Taliban. Yousafzai focuses on the strong importance that education has in Pakistan, especially within the female population, and the hypocrisy that arises with the introduction of radical sects of Islam into everyday life. The Taliban begin to take away one of the most fundamental rights, the education of females, but then still expect these young girls to become doctors and lawyers without the right to education. Within her memoir, Yousafzai looks at the resistance that many people had, but in fear of the Taliban (who would take away their lives if they openly opposed the new standard of living), they ultimately began to pull their daughters out of education and force them to stay home, making them live the traditional role of a female. Despite this, the Pashtun population is full of hospitality to those internally displaced persons in Afghanistan, and take them into their homes even when they do not know the people.
I could not find a lot of parallels between my culture and the rich, traditional culture that Malala Yousafzai describes. However, while reading “The Complete Persepolis”, I did find a quote that most aptly sums up the views that the both of us hold on the main religious sects within our country, and something that I have found to be very true within my own life: “In every religion, you find the same extremists” (page 178). There is a world today where people cannot freely practice their own beliefs without being judged by both those outside of their faith, and those inside of it. Malala is facing a world that is full of radical Islamists, preaching violence to a world that has only wanted peace, and peace from their religion. While faith does not play as large a role in Malala’s life in the beginning, she still followed the Quran and learned to read from it and translated passages. In my life, I had learned to read out of the Bible and learned Bible stories from a young age. As I have developed in my own personal ways, and as I have learned more about the world from people around me and from my classes, my views on my religion have changed. At my Catholic middle school, I found myself subjected to criticisms by my religion teacher and some of my friends for the views that I have, and in today’s culture in the United States, there is no more middle ground for views, either a person is on one side of the spectrum or the other. This is nearly the same political culture that Malala and Pakistan faces, except with quite a few more consequences if one does not agree with the Taliban.
I could not really connect with events and people within Malala’s story, as a lot of it seems unimaginable to me. I could not ever imagine being able to fall asleep every night to gunfire spattering throughout my village, bombs going off in close proximity to my home, and losing my ability to have an education and pursue my dreams. I have never had to go through these experiences, and I consider myself extremely lucky after reading Malala’s story. I live in a country where I am sheltered from the intense extremism from the major religion, and I have access to my basic necessities, and I do not have to go out covered in a veil with a male family member for fear of being shot at or beaten in the streets as an example. I am one of the fortunate ones, and many in the world do not have the same experiences as I do.
The central conflict in Malala Yousafzai’s story is the Taliban takeover of Pakistan, and the loss of a woman’s ability to go to school and get an education. This was published in 2013, and as of yet, the conflict has yet to be resolved. The Taliban still hold control over certain portions of Pakistan, and ISIL (Islamic State) hold control of others. This conflict has no good way of being handled except for a counterrevolution, which is not currently able to happen. The United States and other countries are getting involved in the conflict and are helping to push out the Taliban and ISIL, but this will only do so much, as one can never fully get rid of all extremism within a religion, and within those people active in the Taliban and ISIL. The conflict is culturally based, as it stems off of the religion of Islam and takes hold of the goodwill of the Pashtun people.
In my very early stages of knowing of this conflict, and of simply knowing Malala as a girl about my age who had been shot in the Pakistani conflict, I was not really impacted. I had thought that maybe some of the people in the country had wanted this to happen, and that we should not have gotten involved. However, after having learned more about this situation from my parents and now reading Malala’s story, this has changed. These people had done nothing wrong, and did not deserve or want for this to happen to them. The Taliban have destroyed the peaceful name of the Islamic faith, and have turned it into a synonym, at least in American culture, of terrorism. My world view has changed greatly, and now I am more conscientious of what backgrounds people have come from, and what they may be experiencing. Malala’s story, along with the other ones focused in the Middle East (especially Afghanistan and Pakistan), have greatly educated me on the rich culture and history that their countries ultimately have, and their struggle against a force that no one had ever wanted.
My preconceived idea about the veil in Islamic culture was that it was a mandated thing, and every woman wore the veil. I had never known much about the types of veil that a woman could potentially wear, and it had never dawned on me that the veil was also a cultural identity, not just a religious one. This changed when Malala began talking about the women who would patrol the streets, and the Taliban who would yell at women not wearing the proper veil, as well as purdah.