I Am Malala Yousafzai Rhetorical Analysis

Malala Yousafzai’s book,“ I Am Malala,” has illustrated her struggle for educational equality around the world. She inspired millions of people and was able to become an international symbol of a peaceful protest. The rhetorical strategies used in Yousafzai’s book and speeches helped her developed a strong argument for girls educational rights and equality. Yousafzai conveys her message by writing what she wants to tell the public in her book. For example, the author stated,“ The Taliban want to turn the girls of Pakistan into identical, lifeless dolls”(Yousafzai, pg. 75). Yousafzai asserts her proposition by stating what the Taliban wants to do. The authors use of figurative language brings out the cruelty and devastating reality that the Taliban is trying to enforce. She follows up on that quote with saying

For instance,“ I was the daughter of Ziauddin Yousafzai, the man who dared to talk back to the Taliban. I would hold my head high even if my heart was quaking”(Yousafzai, pg. 53). The authors use of ethos was quite firmly used in her quote. She build up on what her father has done to create credibility for herself. This illustrates to her readers what parents she grew up with and how she got her confidence to stand up to the Taliban. Another example of Yousafzai using a rhetorical device is when she did her speech after winning the Nobel Peace prize. She stated,“ I'm not a lone voice, I'm not a lone voice, I am many, I am Malala… I am those sixty six million girls who are deprived of education and today I'm not raising my voice, it is the voice of those sixty six million girls”(Yousafzai, 2014). She uses repetition to emphasize and make her statement clear that she is not alone and that she is fighting for sixty six million girls educational rights and equality. Thus, making her argument to solve this problem even stronger than it was