Malala Yousafzai a rhetorical analysis of Malala Yousafzai’s speech at the United Nation Youth Assembly PDF

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Malala Yousafzai is not only a simple young Pakistani girl but the youngest candidate to have won the Nobel Peace Prize. Especially in her country, she has become a symbol, of the struggle for women’s rights, in particular the right to education. She was born on July 12, 1997, in Mingora, in the Swat Valley (a district of Pakistan). She firmly believes in her right to education: in effect, she grew up in a Muslim open-minded family, in contrast to what the traditionalist culture of the country imposed. His father, a teacher who managed to build his school in the city, passed down to her the desire for knowledge and consequently the strength to fight for her rights. The situation in the Swat Valley became critical for the whole Pakistani community in 2007, especially for the already complicated conditions of all Muslim women. When the Taliban took control of the country, they imposed a strict application of Islamic law, including certain restrictions such as the prohibition of girls from going to school. For this reason, in 2009, she started her career as a blogger for BBC and she anonymously wrote about her life under the Taliban rule expressing her personal feelings and opinions about the situation in her region. For the next three years, she actively continued to fight for feminine education with the trusting help of her father and through the media to stand up and be counted. Her political activism was recognized with the nomination at the International Children’s Peace Prize in 2011 and in the same year she was awarded with Pakistani’s National Youth Peace Prize. Her campaigns against the Pakistani Taliban regime were refused by all: as a consequence, in 2012, one morning while she was returning home seated on a school bus, a Taliban shot her in the head. She survived after several surgeries to which she underwent in Peshawar, in a Pakistani hospital, and then in England, where she now lives. For Malala, it was a sign of destiny to continue her battle: indeed, she founded an organization, called “Malala Fund”, to promote and support all over the world the right to education in those countries where it is forbidden or where adversity does not allow it and to give access to a quality education, not just for girls but for all children thirsty for knowledge. On her 16th birthday, the 12 th of July 2013, she gave her first public speech since she has been shot by the Taliban. It took place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York where Malala became the bearer of an important message but, at the same time, it was incredible like a sixteen-years-old girl was able to speak in front of hundreds of people using words chosen in order to persuade the audience of the usefulness of her ideas and that her purpose was worthy to be heard. In her U.N. speech, Malala makes use of different linguistic strategies and a lot of rhetorical devices to convince her addressees to join her cause. First of all, what stands out from Malala’s speech is the frequent use of repetitions, which is a word or a syntactic structure repeated several times to

underline a specific concept. For instance, she repeats “ their right to”, “we must not forget” or “we can call upon” a lot of times: in the first place, she addresses to the children, focusing on how they all should enjoy the same rights “to live in peace”, “to be treated with dignity”, “to equality of opportunity” and “ to be educated”; in the second place, Malala tries to strengthen her message by appealing to her audience’s emotions with the purpose to do something concrete; in the third place, she contemporaneously intends to appeal to the people participating to the assembly and to the worldwide people, explaining how fighting for right to education is not only her responsibility but it should also mobilize others. Finally, another recurring phrase is “dear sisters and brothers”: she creates a spirit of union, a bond which involves everyone equally. In this way, she attempts to generate in the mind of the hearers that they embrace the same idea for which they all are there. After her initial thanks, Malala says: “Dear brothers and sisters, do remember one thing. Malala day is not my day. Today is the day of every woman, every boy and every girl who have raised their voice for their rights. There are hundreds of Human rights activists and social workers who are not only speaking for human rights, but who are struggling to achieve their goals of education, peace and equality. Thousands of people have been killed by the terrorists and millions have been injured. I am just one of them.” (Malala, U.N. speech)

She starts to relate with her audience introducing herself not as a victim of the Taliban rules, but as one of the many who fight against them; during this occasion, she acts as the spokesperson for a universal message. Thus, here it is immediately communicated the main theme of her speech. Consequently, the girl reports her testimony to demonstrate what she is talking about is true because of her direct experience. This can be also viewed as a means to increase the credibility of speaker’s words so as to persuade the hearers. Indeed, she states: “Dear Friends, on the 9th of October 2012, the Taliban shot me on the left side of my forehead. They shot my friends too. They thought that the bullets would silence us. But they failed. And then, out of that silence came, thousands of voices.” (Malala, U.N. speech)

The Pakistani girl uses another strategic method to influence the audience and to give legitimacy to her message: she summons some sort of “high authority”, such as Buddha and Martin Luther King, posing herself as heir of all their values and teachings. She asserts: “This is the compassion that I have learnt from Muhammad-the prophet of mercy, Jesus christ and Lord Buddha. This is the legacy of change that I have inherited from Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. This is the philosophy of non-violence that I have learnt from Gandhi Jee, Bacha Khan and Mother Teresa.” (Malala, U.N. speech)

Malala also uses a famous quotation of a nineteenth century’s English writer, “the pen is mightier than sword”, to underline the power of speech, which in the hands of women might be a powerful weapon against the deadly weapons of their enemies. The powerful effect of Malala’s speech largely depends on the use of rhetorical devices. Besides the use of anaphora, it is possible to find the use of three-part list, a series of three parallel words or phrases which have a greater impact on the public listener. We notice a lot of tricolons in the discourse: “their goals of education, peace and equality”, “weakness, fear and hopelessness died”, “strength, power and courage was born”; or even formed by four or five elements such as, “one child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world” and “poverty, ignorance, injustice, racism and the deprivation of basic rights”. All these quoted phrases are Malala’s key messages too. Analogy and metonymy are others figures of speech which can be found in the discourse. In the following sentence: “I do not even hate the Talib who shot me. Even if there is a gun in my hand and he stands in front of me. I would not shoot him.” (Malala, U.N. speech)

Malala makes a comparison between her and the Taliban who shot her to clarify that, even if she was stayed in front of him, she would not shoot him. Comparing her to the Taliban brings out the humbleness, the kindness and the respect that a sixteen-years-old girl has towards people. Whereas in this one: “So let us wage a global struggle against illiteracy, poverty and terrorism and let us pick up our books and pens. They are our most powerful weapons” (Malala, U.N. speech)

Saying “our book and pens”, she properly refers to the instruction using a metonymy. She believes that the only weapon to defeat illiteracy, poverty and terrorism is the power of knowledge, or rather, the education. Furthermore, Malala often utilises antithesis, a structure which consists of two opposed elements putting together to emphasises an idea. For instance: “ And then, out of that silence came, thousand of voices.” “we realise the importance of light when we see darkness. We realize the importance of our voice when we are silenced.” “we realize the importance of pens and books when we saw the guns.”

In the aforementioned sentences, connecting positive and negative words like silence and voices, light and darkness, pens and book with guns, she tries to convey what she is clearly arguing

and what she is fighting for, accentuating them thanks to this contrast. Finally, she ends her speech with two striking phrases which summarise the concept developed throughout her public oration: “One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world”

and “Education is the only solution. Education first.”

The first one has became her motto, used in numerous awareness campaigns, which encloses the main message she wants to convey, that is only with an education and the presence of school facilities it can be built and guaranteed a better world in which everyone can have the same rights.

Conclusion Malala’s speech is a clear example of the fact that, thanks to the art of rhetoric, it is possible to communicate an important message effectively. Malala was able to persuade an entire audience only utilising rhetorical strategies in order that everyone join her in advocating girl’s right to education. As a matter of fact, she is an activist and her intention is to gain consensus around her cause. The analysis has shown that since the first moment she puts herself on the same level as her listeners and, with her linguistic choices, she attempts to make aware of the importance of the education and to induce others to take action. Throughout her speech, she was persuasive about the idea that the knowledge is a powerful weapon which should be used against all the enemies. In spite of those who tried to silence her, Malala has shared her experience with courage and determination so that the world could hear it. For this reason, she has become a symbol of hope for girls, encouraging them to raise their voices and to fight and not give up....