Themes I Am Malala Yousafzai

I Am Malala Themes
The book I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World written by Malala Yousafzai is a memoir about her life as a Pashtun in Pakistan, and how the Taliban takes over her town. She grew up being an advocate for women's rights in Pakistan. Her activism drove the Taliban attempt to execute her but she survived. Three important themes come up during her book: religion, survival, and fame, power, and the importance of role models. The theme religion impacts Malala’s life because of religious extremists, like the Taliban, who are a driving force all throughout her story. The importance of survival for Malala and her family is a theme that shows up greatly in the book because of the constant danger in Pakistan,

The first way this theme emerges is Fazlullah’s radio program, and how he is able to control the people of Swat like puppets. After a terrifying earthquake a group of Islamic fundamentalists come to help, one of the higher-ups is Fazlullah. He preaches from his radio station, and uses fear to control people (Yousafzai 44). He preached that God sent the earthquake as a message to mend their ways, and follow his way of Islam, which is basically the Taliban. He gains power from many of the people of the country, and eventually wages war on Pakistan (Yousafzai 45). He was able to get his power by using fear, and this fear was a weapon he used against the people of Pakistan and Malala. However, Malala never backed down to the Taliban even when they threatened her life. A person who is a role model in Malala’s life is Benazir Bhutto. Bhutto was the first female Prime Minister of Pakistan, but sadly was driven out of Pakistan (Malala 44-45). During her leave she resided in England, but came back when the Taliban was rising to power. However, while on a campaign tour, she was assassinated by the Taliban on live television. Her spirit stayed with Malala, and while recovering from her attempted assassination, Bhutto’s husband visited her. Bhutto’s children also gave Malala one of their mother’s head scarfs as a statement of respect. After campaigning against the Taliban, Malala is

Malala’s religious beliefs were always a driving force. She prayed to God to bring her valley peace, but also while she was growing up, she experienced the religious extremist group, the Taliban. The Taliban would beat people in the streets, send death threats, and outlaw entertainment all because they wanted power and to get that power they used religion as a weapon. While the Taliban was bombing her city, her and her family had to survive, and they took drastic measures in doing so. One example of this is when her father took different ways home from work, so the Taliban would not know where he was. She was able to survive a shot to the face from the Taliban who were determined to kill her. Fame, power, and role models also played a large part into Malala’s story, she grew up idolizing her father, and Benazir Bhutto. However, some power was used against her, in Fazlullah’s case he used the fear of the people to take over the land. He was able to get so powerful, that he was able to wage war against Pakistan. Malala’s story will be passed on for generations, and her impact on the world will never be