Compare And Contrast I Am Malala Yousafzai

Out of all the things Elie Wiesel and Malala Yousafzai have in common, the most obvious is this: both have been victims of violent acts in the means of suppression to assert the power of their captors and attackers. Wiesel’s autobiography, Night, documents his experience as a Jew during the Holocaust. Jon Stewart’s interview with Yousafzai, as well her story I Am Malala provide insight on her perspective on the actions of the Taliban, the terrorist group that attempted to kill her for advocating women’s education in Pakistan. Their testimonies, as well as Maurice Ogden’s “Hangman”, a poem telling the story of the way a town reacts when a mysterious man comes to kill them all, lead to one clear, concise message. When injustices occur, people

In I Am Malala, Yousafzai references a poem by Martin Niemoller that reads “Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak out because I was not a Jew...Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me” (140). All along, the author had power within him to defend the groups being persecuted, but either neglected or was unaware of the influence he could impose. If he had seen the importance of fighting for others, he would have helped the persecuted and in turn those people would be willing to return the favor and aid him when he needed support. In “Hangman”, as the narrator is taking his turn at the gallows he is asked “Where are the others that might have stood side by your side in the common good?” (lines 112-113) and the hangman remarks that “[he] did no more than [the townspeople] let [him] do” (117), regarding the murders. Like Niemoller’s poem, the narrator’s fatal mistake was neglecting the option to defy the person in power--in this case, the hangman. If he had simply recognized reached out to his fellow townspeople to band against the hangman, they could have aided each other in the attempt to stop the hangman’s wrongdoings. Instead, he lets the opportunity slip away, and it is in his last moments that he realizes that the hangman’s criticisms of his actions--or rather, lack thereof--all ring true. In the Jon Stewart interview, Yousafzai mentions that people “don’t learn the importance of anything until it’s snatched from [their] hands”. Her education was taken away from her--something she took for granted and something that many students across the world take for granted. Apathy is common in the privileged as they cannot comprehend what hardships come with loss until it directly affects them. Recognizing these privileges early on, before they are gone, would