The autobiography I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai begins with the scene of young pakistani education and women’s rights activist Malala being shot in the head. Her school bus had been stopped by the Taliban who, after asking which of the girls was Malala, put a bullet into her head. Malala ends the powerful prologue with the words “Who is Malala? I am Malala and this is my story” (9). Malala then rewinds to the story of her birth and how in Pakistan, no one congratulated her parents when she was born because she was a girl. Pakistani culture pushes for the birth of a boy as an islamic majority country. However, her father saw the potential in his daughter as a great leaser and named her after one of the great female leaders in Pakistan-…show more content…
Malala writes about the social normalities of her culture and how it was not very strict before the Taliban emerged in their valley. The Taliban came into power in 2005 in Pakistan and began dictating the civilians how to live their lives the “right Islamic way”. The people of the Swat District were forced to obey every command of the Taliban unless they and their families wanted to be killed. Women especially became very oppressed and had to enter Purdah, wear hijabs whenever in public, and were encouraged to not go to school. All westernized media, clothes and games were banned, anyone who did not follow the law would be shot. The community lived in such a terrible state of fear that Malala and her family were afraid to go outside where they were known as famous social, political and educational activists. A BBC correspondent contacted Ziauddin to make a blog from a school girl’s point of view on living under Taliban rule. Malala soon took up the challenge and related.
