I Am Malala Rhetorical Analysis

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In I am Malala, Malala Yousafzai chronicles her childhood as a girl growing up in Swat, Pakistan. When she was sixteen, Yousafzai was shot by the Taliban, a militant Islamic group that opposes gender equality, for her opinions on education. Malala, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, survived the attack and went on to become an icon for global peace and educational reform. Through rhetorical choices, Yousafzai proposes a solution for ending the violence in her homeland. In this present-day autobiography, Malala Yousafzai argues that all Pakistani women should have access to the basic human right of education regardless of oppressive political and social structures.
By using violent imagery to depict the horrors of the Taliban, Yousafzai advocates for the end of this regime. The Taliban is notorious …show more content…

“They pulled out their guns and threatened to slit her throat…people heard her screaming…Then shots rang out and her bullet-ridden body was dragged to Green Chowk” (145). The phrases, “threatened to slit,” “heard her screaming,” and “body was dragged,” alert the reader to the violent tendencies of the Taliban. Yousafzai creates a bloody visual in the audience’s mind by using phrases with negative connotations. These phrases evoke a feeling of sympathy towards the women who have to endure that cruelty. This imagery make the reader feel compassion and provokes action against the Taliban. Yousafzai argues that women should never have to tolerate these injustices just to go to school. In another example of violent imagery, Yousafzai describes a similar scenario where the Taliban attacks an innocent girl for seeking an education. “A teenage girl…was lying face down on the ground being flogged in broad daylight… “Please stop it!” she begged…between screams and whimpers”

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