I Am Malala

Valencia Valerie

Malala Yousafzai, a young Pashtun girl, who was lucky enough to have an
unordinary father, who keep encouraging her, from the moment she was
born and made her to be that still highly thinks about sexism, where men
are positioned higher than women. I was a girl in a land where rifles are
fired in celebration of a son, while daughters are hidden away behind a
curtain, their role in life simply to prepare food and give birth to children.
(I Am Malala, 13). But her father always had faith on her, believing that
she is special. Different. He broke the gender boundaries and shame from
his cousins, and people around him by celebrating the birth of his first
daughter, with his countrys tradition that was usually done if a son was
born. He even named her after Malalai, the Afghanistan heroine whom
encourage and inspired many people, especially young Pashtuns, with her
bravery to face the British colonies. But, her words, and her passion still
burn throughout the generations.

Pakistan is country that has a strong sense of culture. Malala herself is a

very proud Pakistani. She always identified herself as Swati then Pashtun
before Pakistani. She grew up listening to her parents background stories
or about her ancestors or about the recent thing that happened around
her. Her father always shares lots of things to her mother, meaning that
she would learn a thing or two by listening to them. She would open her
mind and be critical of her surroundings. But no matter how smart she is,
she realized that the more she got older, the less she could do. Since in
her culture, most girls are not able to soar freely throughout the alley
without a mans company. It is kind of ridiculous, but Malala is very
determined to break that culture, break the gender boundary, as she
knew that from the very beginning, her father is supporting her. I had
decided very early I would not be like that. My father always said, Malala
will be free as a bird. (I Am Malala, 19), though she sometimes doubt
about it.
The gender boundary in Pakistan even had a history behind it. It started
when one of the Generals of Pakistan cut all of females rights and even
let rapists roam freely while the victim went to jail only because the victim
has no evidence in the court. There is a third power stronger than both,
that of women. But General Zia brought in Islamic laws which reduced a
womans evidence in court to count for only half that of a mans. (I Am
Malala, 21). From this day onwards, the women are like prisoners. They
are not allowed to even learn on how to read and write. They only had to
learn and fulfill their role as a woman, who oblige and bow down to men.

Aside from the gender boundary, many people in Pakistan and

Afghanistan seemed to have a tendency to discriminate skin color. Malala
described her father as a selfless, poetic, and intelligent man who is very
self-conscious about his skin color. The Pakistani usually described the
white as tall and the dark skinned as the minority. He laughed a lot, but
as a boy he had been so self-conscious about being dark-skinned that he
went to the fields to get buffalo milk to spread on his face, thinking it
would make him lighter (I Am Malala, 16). As she also have mentioned in
the book, her father had to work hard in order to gain his fathers
(Malalas grandfather, was named after the holy name of Gabriel, and is a
very known and respected man in her alley) respect. He learned hard in
his young age and follow numerous competition in order to gain both of
his fathers acknowledgment and praise, even though he did disappoints
his father by taking the path as a teacher rather than being a doctor. This
also shows how traditional most of the Pakistani think. They tend to
pursue their children, especially a male, to achieve their own personal
dream, rather than letting their children chose their own path. Malalas
father ended up facing lots of troubles but eventually overcome it. He
showed faith in himself as he began to realize that education is the key to
solve the countrys problem (I Am Malala, 26).

Malalas family is pretty unique itself. She had two younger brothers,
Khushal and Atal and a two great parent figures. Malalas father, unlike
any other man of their kind, he never abused his wife and also his
children. He is also a very busy activist where he always tries to do lots of
thing for the sake of good will. Her mother on the other hand, could not
read or write. But, she is a very religious woman, as Malala stated that she
always pray five times a day and also taught them about what they should
do and what they should not do (I Am Malala, 17). They also have a quite
of a background story where they also break their culture boundaries, as
they managed to convinced both of their parents to agree on their
marriage, and also live as a normal loving couple who also think highly of
hostility, nevertheless when they were on the verge of poverty.
Malala continues to describe his fathers background, and how strong and
rock-headed he is. She wrote that her father had a very rough time in
establishing the school for girls, whom she stated that her father was
supported by his wife, who regretted dropping out of school in the early
age. Tor Pekai mentioned that she couldnt comprehend fully of her
husbands knowledge and intelligence (I Am Malala, 26). Malala also wrote
that while in the process of him establishing the school, many key events
happened. He encountered a village where freedom is very valued and
respected, compared to where he was born and raised in, not only that,
the movement of freedom is slowly raising in his country right after the
Generals death. But there is also an act where the public figure is trying
to offend the Muslims by making fun of the Prophet. Aside from the key
events, he had to draw lots and lots of loans in order to establish the
school, and its facilities. And he forced himself to marry Tor Pekai in such
financial situation (private wedding since he could not afford the
traditional Pakistani wedding). His time went rougher when his partners
started leaving him. He eventually overcomes his problem by sharpening
his politic skills and sell popcorns to children. But tables were turned the
moment Malala was born (I Am Malala, 33). Her fathers school began to
grow, more students, and more teachers took place. He even planned on
making the second school named after her, but as if his good moment
couldnt last longer, the 9/11 incidents happened and it changed their
whole lives.
 Works Cited
Yousafzai, Malala and Christina Lamb. I AM MALALA: The Girl Who Stood Up
for Education and was Shot by the Taliban. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
2013. Print.