rhetorical analysis malala speech

• Feb 1, 2023

Malala Yousafzai as a Speaker: An Analysis of Pathos, Logos, and Ethos

About Malala Yousefzai

Malala Yousafzai (25) is known for human rights advocacy, especially the education of women and children in her native homeland, she has become Pakistan's most prominent citizen. Awarded when she was 17, she is the world's youngest Nobel Prize laureate, and the second Pakistani, and the first Pashtun to receive a Nobel prize.

Malala Yousefzai's Speech

She wrote a speech a transcript of which can be found here . Below is a short analysis of this speech and the tactics used to make it so compelling. We will also provide the video for your reference.

The speech occurs after Yousafzai, and two other girls were shot by a Taliban gunman in an assassination attempt in retaliation for her activism; the gunman fled the scene. Yousafzai was hit in the head with a bullet and remained unconscious and in critical condition

An Analysis of Malala Yusefzai's Speech

I’m sure most people have heard of the Ethos Logos and Pathos of an argument, but Yousafzai really hammers those key points in the speech. In this section, I will break down how she makes great use of each and explain why it is so effective in speech

The most difficult challenge any speaker faces is to establish their ethos, their credibility. For this speech, the audience already has some notion of her Ethos, she is a renowned activist but in order to really support her claim she wears the shawl of a previous Pakistani Prime Minister, someone who was also responsible for women's rights activism. She makes use of this by saying:

“….it is an honor for me that today I am wearing a shawl of the late Benazir Bhutto.”

This allows her to connect immediately with her message and build upon her own authority based on the information and respect of previous activists. Malala Yousufzai shares similarities with Benazir Bhutto having also been attacked and assassinated by religious terrorists. She continues this trend by repeatedly invoking characters that have influenced her including but not limited to Mother Teresa, Gandhi, religious figures, and Martin Luther King Jr..

She also invokes sympathy and credibility by the frame of her argument. She begins the speech with a precession of thank you’s:

“Thank you to all of them. Thank you to the children whose innocent words encouraged me. Thank you to my elders whose prayers strengthened me. I would like to thank my nurses, doctors and the staff of the hospitals in Pakistan and the UK and the UAE government who have helped me to get better and recover my strength”

Giving thank yous is always a good tact to garner goodwill since it shows appreciation and conveys gratitude. Her thank yous also reach the larger audience and really detach her speech from her own desires and instead molds it into a defense for others. \

Logos is the logic of a speech; it’s an argument. Often the most lengthy and compact so I will try to hit the most valuable points in her speech.

To begin we must identify what it is she wants, which is easy to find. She repeats she wants “the right to be educated”, particularly for children and young girls. Her speech does two things, it implores nations with the capacity for change to help. While also invalidating terrorists and their ideological standing. She says

“They think that God is a tiny, little conservative being who would point guns at people’s heads just for going to school. These terrorists are misusing the name of Islam for their own personal benefit”.

Obviously, the quote is a slight, threatening both the religious validity and motive of the extremists. She also later insults terrorists by say this:

“The wise saying, ‘The pen is mightier than the sword’. It is true. The extremists are afraid of pens and books. The power of education frightens them.”

Here, the well-known commonplace “The pen is mightier than the sword” is used to move the argument to its next stage: Extremists are afraid of education. The technique used combines a widely accepted commonplace or maxim that adds weight to an argument built upon it.

The anecdote also hints that the illiterate are more likely to become Taliban. For Yousafzai the true weapon against the terrorist, the way to win the war against the future Talib is to teach the children to read.

Finally, pathos is the hardest augmentative tool to use properly, especially when analyzing a transcript. However, a good way to evoke sympathy or empathy is to align someone with your argument.

Yousafzai does this by addressing the room as “Dear sisters and brothers” and the terrorists and extremists as they or them. Uniting the room and those listening as one body and goal with a clear opposition force. Framing the issue of education as one of peace and war with the lines already drawn. For her, the goal is “to protect children from brutality and harm”. Finally, when calling for change she uses almost exclusive “we” language. Once again drawing that distinction of sides but also as a tool to encourage those who are fighting for their rights and to galvanize those still on the fence.

Malala Yousefzai as a Speaker: Conclusion

Most have heard of Malala Yousafzai, but now understanding how and why she says what she does hopefully illuminates the core of her arguments and the validity of her statements. Her strategies of using audience-inclusive language, moral framing of actions, and shows of gratitude are all effective ways to become more compelling as a speaker. Using the information I've presented, I hope that you can apply this in your own speaking ventures and become the best public speaker you can be!

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Malala Rhetorical Analysis

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Rhetorical & Persuasive Language: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Malala Yousafzai's Nobel Lecture

2021, South Asian Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities

This paper makes an effort to present a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of Malala Yousafzai's Nobel peace prize lecture which was delivered on the 10 th of December 2014 at the Oslo City Hall, Norway. More explicitly, the present research paper attempts to search concealed messages and ideologies that have been encrypted in Malala Yousafzai Nobel peace prize acceptance speech and how did she deliver her speech figuratively and persuasively. The techniques of collecting data were done by searching the transcript of Malala's speech on the internet, interpreting it, retyping all the sentences which contained figurative and persuasive language, and coding data. The method makes use of Fairclough's theory of critical discourse analysis that explicates ideology based on the text analysis, discourse practice, and sociocultural practice at the micro-level only. The speaker attains interaction and engagement with the addressees by means of using verbal expressions and figurative language in her speech. The paper discloses that Malala delivered her speech as a movement to defend girls' education and women's rights by using figurative and persuasive language. The finding displays that the ideology of Malala Yousafzai's speech is women empowerment, girls' education and giving quality education for all hegemonized and marginalized children of the oriental world.

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Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani education activist. In 2014, she was the co-recipient of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize and Kailash Satyarthi of India. Malala’s motivational speech and her contribution to education and feminism motivated the researcher to analyze the ideational meanings realized in Malala’s speech to determine the distribution of the transitivity process in Malala’s Nobel Peace Prize speech and its contribution to Discourse Analysis subject. The researcher used a Qualitative Descriptive research design in this study. In analyzing the data, the researcher adopted Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) by Halliday. The researcher found out that there are six processes in this speech. They are material 42%, relational 27%, mental 20%, verbal 6%, behavioral 4%, and existential 1%. Material, Relational, and Mental Process are the most frequently occurred in Malala Yousafzai’s speech. Material processes were the most dominant process in the corpus. Material process as the most fre...

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The purpose of this study was to describe how the text of gender-based violence against the woman, and illustrate how gender-based injustice is run and produced in the Novel I am Malala, through the texts that have been written. This study used a qualitative descriptive of critical perspective (Genre of Critical Theory), perspective/paradigm used to explain the description of gender-based violence (violence against women) in the novel I am Malala. Data analysis technique this study is Critical Discourse Analysis of Norman Fairclough (Texts Analysis, Discourse Analysis sociocultural Practice and Practice). The result in this study is the violence and gender-based injustice or inequality of women presented in the novel I am Malala.

Neelma Riaz

Purpose of the study: The study investigates how the speech of Malala Yousafzai to the United Nations and Nobel Lecture intends to be coercive through generalizing the experiential realities of women across the world and how it tends to legitimize and delegitimize certain beliefs about women in Pakistan. This paper attempts to demonstrate how Feminist Poststructuralist Discourse Analysis tends to subvert the stereotypical ideologies towards women across the world through the deconstruction of political media discourses. Methodology: The study tends to focus upon context-specific gender issues where power is constructed as a flowing entity in order to dismantle the binaristic constructions of powerful/powerless and also in order to reinterpret the stereotypical subject positions assigned to women in media discourses. A qualitative research paradigm has been used. Main Findings: This study shows the way in which Malala Yousafzai's speeches privilege one voice in favor of another v...

Maria Grazia Sindoni

Paraphrasing Spivak’s essay, “Can the subaltern speak?” (1988), this paper will discuss how blogs can be manipulated by corporate media at both a linguistic and multimodal level, analysing Malala Yousafzai’s 2009 blog. Malala won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 and is known for her activism in women’s rights, but critics have questioned the authenticity of her voice, maintaining that her language is not likely to be produced by a child. Th is paper will address the question as to whether her blog has been manipulated, analysing linguistic features - such as lexical density, readability, keyness, modality markers in English, and multimodal resources. Linguistic and visual data will be discussed to see how multimodal approaches to communication can disentangle corporate mass media manipulation.

Humanities & social sciences communications

Som Nath Ghimire

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On 12 July 2013 Malala Yousafzai delivered a speech on girls' right to education before an especially convened Youth Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York. This research seeks to identify how in her speech Malala employs two of Chilton’s strategic functions, coercion and legitimation and delegitimation, to persuade her audience into joining her in acknowledging and advocating girls' right to education.

Muhammad U Farooq

This study compares the media constructions of Malala Yousafzai in two Pakistani English newspapers, The News International and Daily Times vis-à-vis the events that occurred during three stages of her life. The study identifies these as "Malala the Taliban's target and Nobel laureate", and "Malala the United Nations Messenger of Peace". Employing Fairclough's CDA, it probes the ideological representations of these events in these newspapers' editorials. The findings suggest that both newspapers constructed Malala's positive identity during all three stages. However, in so doing, the use of a particular clause structure and lexis employed in these editorials helped one newspaper avoid naming the Taliban in a determinate term. Hence, this served to mitigate the Taliban's "agency" as perpetrators. The other newspaper, by availing the same method of representation, pushed its political agendas and appeared to toe a similar line as some Western newspapers do on certain burning issues of international significance.

New Forms of Self-Narration

Ana Belén Martínez García

Building on academic publications that have tried to assess Malala Yousafzai's life-writing project in its entirety, this chapter presents each of her lifewriting texts as an example of collaborative testimonial narrative. Moving away from an objective, neutral tone, her life writing tends to rely on emotional language and various other discursive strategies aimed at sustaining interest over time. Since Malala Yousafzai started her self-narration when she was 11, technology and traditional media have gone hand in hand. Her appropriation of the hashtag launched under her name proved vital in her reconstruction of an activist self. Yet, the presence of a co-author, either hinted at or made explicit, can be traced throughout all her life-writing texts, from her first blog to her last book on displacement.

Noval Kurniadi

Social Science, Humanities and Sustainability Research

Rahayu Puji Haryanti

The importance of education for a woman is to gain equality and avoid harassment, but rather to establish political power, although she must fight the authority and Taliban’s challenges. Education is the obligation and the right of human beings, even though there was the most vital challenge to fight.Through descriptive-analytical study and sociological approach, I portray Malala’s fighting for women’s education in her country. Then to find out and describe the elements of a sociology of literature because it focuses on human problems in the community.The results showed that education in this society, mainly among women, is often confined to the household and only minimally participates in the public domain and is vulnerable to violence, exploitation, and abuse during crises.The finding indicated that the role of women in this society and the oppression of women still exist. So, all the treatments and oppression against women identify by analyzing her famous work.

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57 Rhetorical Analysis 1 – “Use of Rhetoric in Malala Yousafzai’s Nobel Peace Lecture”

Use of rhetoric in malala yousafzai’s nobel peace lecture.

“I am Malala. But I am also Shazia. I am Kainat. I am Kainat Soomro. I am Amina,” Malala Yousafzai said at age 17 to a crowd at the event in which she and fellow children’s education rights activist, Kailash Satyarthi, were named winners of the Nobel Peace Prize (Yousafzai). In a metaphorical and literal way, Malala Yousafzai is everyone she mentions as well as herself because she is their voice: a voice that amplifies individual children’s thoughts to the world. The power of Yousafzai’s voice is evident through her use of rhetorical devices such as anadiplosis, anastrophe, antithesis, aposiopesis, and anaphora. These devices uplift and bring fervor to her 2014 Nobel Peace Prize lecture Rhetorical devices are known for providing speeches with qualities that draw attention from the audience or reach them in a way speeches void of these techniques do not. The use of rhetoric comes from a background of developing strong speaking skills for the purpose of influence in civics. Following that, the art of rhetoric became a commonality among universities in the Medieval and Renaissance Ages (“Rhetoric”). People use rhetoric in both speaking and writing today for similar purposes. Yousafzai achieves the greatness of her speech through her masterful use of rhetorical devices throughout it.

The occasion of Yousafzai’s lecture is that of a Nobel Peace Prize acceptance ceremony. Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi were declared winners of the Nobel Peace Prize for “their [international] struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education” (“Malala Yousafzai – Facts”). Yousafzai delivered her lecture on the tenth of December 2014 at the Oslo City Hall, Norway. She was introduced by Thorbjörn Jagland, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee before prompted to begin her performance. The social climate was that characteristic of 2014. The attendees to the lecture included “members of the Norwegian royal family, and perhaps members of royal families from other countries, as well as those who have chosen her for the award,” her family, friends, supporters, and teachers (“Audience”). Malala Yousafzai begins her address in the name of God, and addresses those granting her the prize: “Today is a day of great happiness for me. I am humbled” (Yousafzai). Emphasizing this feeling of being “humbled,” she thanks those who have helped her to this moment, including a special note to her parents and teachers.  Yousafzai recognizes that she has not received this award alone, but with Kailash Satyarthi. She says she is proud of what they have done, and what they vow to accomplish.

She uses her name as an icebreaker and proceeds to speak on who she is here for and why. In every corner of the world, education is a blessing and a necessity. Yousafzai explains how she and her friends got involved in their desire for education, believing they could do anything others thought only boys could, and how the ability to pursue that was revoked from them. In her speech, she emphasizes how this was a collective struggle: education has been denied to others; their home was a beautiful place, now reduced to a wasteland by war. Terrorists attacked her school bus, but their goal was ill achieved. Yousafzai and her brave sisters have not stopped learning or living. Facing these struggles, Yousafzai cites the Holy Quran to emphasize why injustice to some is a threat to the global community, quoting the passage, “do you not know, if you kill one person, you kill a whole humanity?” (Yousafzai).  In the same way, one person can stand up for all of humanity. Yousafzai made a choice. She chose to speak up rather than be silent. She and others could not stand by in the face of injustice. She represents these girls and children and their right to education. Why shouldn’t they have it?

Yousafzai points out that there have been many improvements already in education, then speaks on bureaucracy and demands further change in action for the bettering of quality worldwide education. She uses the rhetorical device of anadiplosis to emphasize that the struggle for education is ongoing. Anadiplosis is “the rhetorical repetition of one or several words; specifically, the repetition of a word that ends one clause at the beginning of the next” (“Glossary of Rhetorical Terms”). This device is used to link ideas together, and is described as when “the second clause starts with the same word which marks the end of the previous clause” (“Anadiplosis”). Yousafzai uses this rhetorical device when she states, “I will continue this fight until I see every child, every child — in school,” and also where she says, “And as I said we still see, we still see girls who have no freedom to go to school in the north of Nigeria” (Yousafzai). This form of repetition, using anadiplosis to link one clause to the next, emphasizes continuity over time. In doing so, Yousafzai shows the need for continued action in this cause.

Not much later in this Nobel Peace Prize lecture, Yousafzai uses anastrophe. Anastrophe, the transposition of normal word order, is important here because the speech is nearing its end (“Glossary of Rhetorical Terms”). She says, “Me. You. We. It is our duty” (Yousafzai). Yousafzai draws the audience’s attention through this uncommon word order. This technique has the potential to leave the listeners of her speech with a clear goal: to decide to act as Yousafzai and others have. Yousafzai’s distinct performance of this device, with pauses that imply the existence of full stops, catches the audience’s attention and prepares them to receive the unique delivery of her next sentence.

Yousafzai’s bold use of antithesis in this next line emphasizes the next sentence’s verbs: ‘becoming’ the first and ‘letting’ this be the last time. She declares, “Let us become the first generation that decides to be the last that sees empty classrooms, lost childhoods and wasted potentials” (Yousafzai). Antithesis is defined as “opposition, or contrast of ideas or words in a balanced or parallel construction” by the “Glossary of Rhetorical Terms” (“Glossary of Rhetorical Terms”). With a strong antonymic relationship, “first” and “last” are words that could hardly have more contrast. Yousafzai put a heavy emphasis on the end of her speech by using antithesis, and she goes on to use phrases with antithetical pairings such as ‘girl or boy,’ and ‘begin this ending.’ She continues with this pattern of pairings in phrases such as ‘years ago’ and ‘soon,’ along with “sisters and brothers, dear fellow children” (Yousafzai). With these numerous pairs of words using antithesis, Yousafzai puts emphasis on the end of her speech especially. With so many pairs of words representing the device called antithesis, most people who have listened to this lecture must have walked away with Yousafzai’s final words lingering, resonating in their minds. Both antithesis and aposiopesis are devices that encourage a magnified response of empathy and sympathy to the speaker’s cause of address, and encourage readers to notice the atmosphere this emphasis creates.

Aposiopesis is defined by the pausing or abrupt ellipses of or in speaking where the speaker is seemingly unable to continue due to the presence of passion (“Glossary of Rhetorical Terms”). Malala Yousafzai’s speech includes many examples of this device. She says once, “I’m proud — that we can work together,” and it is evident that in saying this she takes an aposiopesis pause which emphasizes her emotion. There is also aposiopesis when she says, “I want — there to be peace everywhere,” in which case the pause both catches the listeners’ attention and additionally demonstrates her passion for peace. Listeners may notice her use of aposiopesis again when she says “The first place this funding will go to is where my heart is, to build schools in Pakistan — especially in my home of Swat and Shangla,” and when she speaks of officials who already incorporate quality education into their kids lives but not the general public’s. Both these uses of the technique call attention to her passion and care for her home and for her cause. As she begins her lecture’s conclusion, she uses aposiopesis again, adding emotional pauses to her sequence of repeated phrases: “Let this be the last time — that… let this be the last time — that…  let this be the last time — that . . . let this be the last time —” (Yousafzai). One may notice that there is another pattern in this section, a repeated phrase.

The name of this rhetorical device is anaphora. Anaphora, according to Essential Literary Terms, “is the intentional repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of successive lines, stanzas, sentences, or paragraphs” (Hamilton 69). This is not the subtle kind of repetition seen in other devices like assonance, so the “pleasure of recognition” may or may not be Yousafzai’s purpose of using this device (“Assonance”). It most certainly does draw attention to the speaker and puts an emphasis on the words repeated. Yousafzai uses assonance at the very start of her lecture in giving thanks, thanking each individual or group beginning with the same, repetitious ‘thank you to.’ She utilizes it in the phrases, “it is for those . . . children,” then using ‘we,’ and on another occasion ‘we see.’ The anaphora in the conclusion of her lecture, repeating “let this be the last time,” emphasizes her call to action and helps make her claims more memorable to the listeners.

Yousafzai began her lecture with a sentence listing the many names of other children for whom she speaks; she returns to that message later in her speech, saying,  “This award is not just for me — it is for those forgotten children who want education. It is for those frightened children — who want peace. It is for those voiceless children who want change” (Yousafzai). The way she states these sentences combines the emotional pauses of aposiopesis with the repeated words at the beginning of successive phrases of anaphora (“Anaphora”). Yousafzai reiterates her commitment to amplifying the voices of the voiceless when she says “I am here to stand up for their rights, to raise their voice” (Yousafzai). In this active sentence, she uses asyndeton, which is a lack of conjunctions between coordinating phrases, clauses, or words. In this case asyndeton is utilized to place more emphasis on the verbs and objects of the sentence by removing the conjunction and its distracting continuance (“Glossary of Rhetorical Terms”). This shows that the main five rhetorical devices, anadiplosis, anastrophe, antithesis, aposiopesis, and assonance are not the only ones in this lecture. Yousafzai expertly combines careful rhetorical choices for the delivery of her passionate content to emphasize the purpose and impact of her lecture. To the listener, a considerable number of sections in this speech stand out from the others. The emphasis and efficacy of her Nobel Peace Prize lecture is in respective part due to the rhetorical devices Malala Yousafzai chose to use.

Works Cited

“Anadiplosis.” Literary Devices . 22 Oct. 2013, literarydevices.net/anadiplosis/. Accessed 25 Oct. 2022.

“Anaphora.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, 2022. merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anaphora. Accessed 28 Oct. 2022.

“Anastrophe.” Changing Minds. changingminds.org/techniques/language/figures_speech/anastrophe.htm. Accessed 28 Oct. 2022.

“Assonance.” Changing Minds. changingminds.org/techniques/language/figures_speech/assonance.htm. Accessed 28 Oct. 2022.

“Audience of Malala Yousafzai’s Nobel Peace Prize Speech.” Studienet . studienet.dk/malala-yousafzai-nobel-speech/analysis/audience. Accessed 25 Oct. 2022.

“Glossary of Rhetorical Terms.” University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences. https://mcl.as.uky.edu/glossary-rhetorical-terms. Accessed 25 Oct. 2022.

Hamilton, Sharon. Essential Literary Terms . 2nd ed., Norton, 2017.

“Malala Yousafzai – Facts.” NobelPrize.org , Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2022. Sat. 29 Oct 2022. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2014/yousafzai/facts/.

“Rhetoric.” Funk & Wagnall’s New Encyclopedia . 5th ed, 1991.

Yousafzai, Malala. “Malala Yousafzai: Nobel Peace Prize Lecture 2014.” YouTube , uploaded by Nobel Prize, 9 Jan. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2DHzlkUI6s.

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name: V Ware

institution: Student, Cameron University

Rhetorical Analysis 1 - "Use of Rhetoric in Malala Yousafzai’s Nobel Peace Lecture" Copyright © by V. Ware is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Malala Speech Rhetorical Analysis: Empathy & Collective Voice

This essay will provide a rhetorical analysis of Malala Yousafzai’s speech. It will explore how she uses empathy and a collective voice to advocate for education and women’s rights. The piece will discuss the use of rhetorical devices such as ethos, pathos, and logos, and how Malala’s personal story adds power to her message. At PapersOwl, you’ll also come across free essay samples that pertain to Social Science.

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• 1 Amplifying Voices: Malala’s Rally for Global Educational Equity
• 2 Rhetorical Devices in Malala’s Speech: Uniting Voices for Global Change
• 3 References

Amplifying Voices: Malala’s Rally for Global Educational Equity

In the state of Texas, children are required to attend school. If a child doesn’t attend school on a regular the child and their parents will be fined for non-compliance with attendance. As a child, they are taught that the key to success is school. The school sets the foundation for individuals’ future endeavors in life. As early as kindergarten, teachers ask students what career they would like to pursue when they get older.

The thought that children all across the world aren’t able to have that same opportunity to peacefully attend school. In some instances, they are risking their lives in order to even attend school to help better their future. Malala’s speech allowed us to understand that children’s lives are at stake for them to attend school. Individuals can no longer turn a blind eye to the warfare that these children are forced to succumb to. Throughout Malala’s speeches on different occasions, she continually grabs her audience’s attention with the things that she has personally gone through, things she has personally witnessed, and supporting facts about other children in other parts of the world. At such a young age, she was able to identify herself as a victor and not a victim. She speaks for all the children around the world.

Her speech empowers her emotive message to come through adequately. She appeals directly to the people who cherish the significance of education and regard for human rights. She assumes early on in her speech that everyone is aware of who Benazir Bhutto is. “I am wearing a shawl of the late Benazir Bhutto.” (Malala, par. 1). Benazir was a Pakistani chief who consumed all her time on earth fighting for education. She goes on in her speech to give her audience a more vivid picture of things that individuals have faced in the past and continue to face in the present day. She is giving her speech to all the children around the world, not just for herself. She looks at everyone; she constantly refers to everyone as brothers and sisters several times throughout her speech. In her eyes, we are all one who deserve the same rights and opportunities to pursue our education. She allows everyone to understand that no child, boy or girl, should live in fear of wanting to learn something new. She does a magnificent job of opening her audience’s eyes to the idea of individuals who are ignorant due to lack of knowledge. Due to their ignorance, they fear the unknown: education. The blind leading the blind.

Rhetorical Devices in Malala’s Speech: Uniting Voices for Global Change

She also identifies herself with activists before her time who also believed in standing up for what they believed in regardless of the price they may have to pay in the end. (Malala, par. 5) “I have inherited from Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, and Mohammed Ali Jinnah.” She understands that change comes with many sacrifices. She stands before her audience in great humility. Even after being shot in her head by terrorists, she had chosen to forgive them, just as the pioneers before she did. Even though she has experienced the mercilessness of individuals who don’t understand the significance of education, she understands the significance of the need for change, even if it means putting herself in harm’s way to get it done. She isn’t afraid of the consequences that may follow her after her speech. She is giving the speech to the children who can’t speak for themselves. She speaks for the individuals who have experienced the same circumstances, died, and the many others who have been harmed. She demonstrates that she is here to speak to everyone in the general population to help uncover the issues that influence numerous individuals, and it merits significantly more consideration. (Malala, par. 3) “I am just one of them. So here I stand. So here I stand, one girl, among many.”

Overall, Malala did an amazing job with her delivery of her message. She made sure she had plenty of supporting facts to support her claims on what is really going on around the world. She allows her audience to understand that this issue will require the work of everyone for anything to change. She allows individuals to see that no matter what the situation is, a child should be able to pursue their dreams and aspirations. She uses her personal story and the stories of others to convey her message to everyone listening. She allows them to see the world through her eyes and the eyes of many other children who can’t speak. Despite the nature of the topic, she didn’t leave out any of the facts. She opens the doors for everyone to see themselves and not just as individuals. She constantly uses the terms brother and sister throughout her speech. As a whole, it is our duty to understand that this is a fight for all of us. “No child left behind.”

• Yousafzai, Malala. “I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban.” Little, Brown and Company, 2013.
• Lamb, Christina. “The Making of Malala.” Sunday Times Magazine, 2013.
• UNESCO. “Education for All Global Monitoring Report.” UNESCO, various years.
• Crenshaw, Kimberlé. “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color.” Stanford Law Review, 1991.
• Bitzer, Lloyd F. “The Rhetorical Situation.” Philosophy & Rhetoric, 1968.
• Booth, Wayne C. “The Rhetoric of Rhetoric: The Quest for Effective Communication.” Blackwell Publishing, 2004.

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Malala Yousafzai: 16th birthday speech at the United Nations

"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." {"content":{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"\"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.\"","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"}],"nodeType":"document"}}

New York, New York

Bismillah hir rahman ir rahim. In the name of God, the most merciful, the most beneficent.

Honourable UN Secretary General Mr Ban Ki-moon, Respected President General Assembly Vuk Jeremic Honourable UN envoy for Global education Mr Gordon Brown, Respected elders and my dear brothers and sisters; Today, it is an honour for me to be speaking again after a long time. Being here with such honourable people is a great moment in my life.

I don't know where to begin my speech. I don't know what people would be expecting me to say. But first of all, thank you to God for whom we all are equal and thank you to every person who has prayed for my fast recovery and a new life. I cannot believe how much love people have shown me. I have received thousands of good wish cards and gifts from all over the world. Thank you to all of them. Thank you to the children whose innocent words encouraged me. Thank you to my elders whose prayers strengthened me.

I would like to thank my nurses, doctors and all of the staff of the hospitals in Pakistan and the UK and the UAE government who have helped me get better and recover my strength. I fully support Mr Ban Ki-moon the Secretary-General in his Global Education First Initiative and the work of the UN Special Envoy Mr Gordon Brown. And I thank them both for the leadership they continue to give. They continue to inspire all of us to action.

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.

So here I stand, one girl among many.

I speak not for myself, but for all girls and boys.

I raise up my voice — not so that I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard.

Those who have fought for their rights:

Their right to live in peace. Their right to be treated with dignity. Their right to equality of opportunity. Their right to be educated.

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. The terrorists thought that they would change our aims and stop our ambitions but nothing changed in my life except this: Weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage was born. I am the same Malala. My ambitions are the same. My hopes are the same. My dreams are the same.

Dear sisters and brothers, I am not against anyone. Neither am I here to speak in terms of personal revenge against the Taliban or any other terrorists group. I am here to speak up for the right of education of every child. I want education for the sons and the daughters of all the extremists especially the Taliban.

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. 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. And this is the forgiveness that I have learnt from my mother and father. This is what my soul is telling me, be peaceful and love everyone.

Dear sisters and brothers, we realise the importance of light when we see darkness. We realise the importance of our voice when we are silenced. In the same way, when we were in Swat, the north of Pakistan, we realised the importance of pens and books when we saw the guns.

The wise saying, "The pen is mightier than sword” was true. The extremists are afraid of books and pens. The power of education frightens them. They are afraid of women. The power of the voice of women frightens them. And that is why they killed 14 innocent medical students in the recent attack in Quetta. And that is why they killed many female teachers and polio workers in Khyber Pukhtoon Khwa and FATA. That is why they are blasting schools every day. Because they were and they are afraid of change, afraid of the equality that we will bring into our society.

I remember that there was a boy in our school who was asked by a journalist, "Why are the Taliban against education?” He answered very simply. By pointing to his book he said, “A Talib doesn't know what is written inside this book.” They think that God is a tiny, little conservative being who would send girls to the hell just because of going to school. The terrorists are misusing the name of Islam and Pashtun society for their own personal benefits. Pakistan is peace-loving democratic country. Pashtuns want education for their daughters and sons. And Islam is a religion of peace, humanity and brotherhood. Islam says that it is not only each child's right to get education, rather it is their duty and responsibility.

Honourable Secretary General, peace is necessary for education. In many parts of the world especially Pakistan and Afghanistan; terrorism, wars and conflicts stop children to go to their schools. We are really tired of these wars. Women and children are suffering in many parts of the world in many ways. In India, innocent and poor children are victims of child labour. Many schools have been destroyed in Nigeria. People in Afghanistan have been affected by the hurdles of extremism for decades. Young girls have to do domestic child labour and are forced to get married at early age. Poverty, ignorance, injustice, racism and the deprivation of basic rights are the main problems faced by both men and women.

Dear fellows, today I am focusing on women's rights and girls' education because they are suffering the most. There was a time when women social activists asked men to stand up for their rights. But, this time, we will do it by ourselves. I am not telling men to step away from speaking for women's rights rather I am focusing on women to be independent to fight for themselves.

Dear sisters and brothers, now it's time to speak up.

So today, we call upon the world leaders to change their strategic policies in favour of peace and prosperity.

We call upon the world leaders that all the peace deals must protect women and children's rights. A deal that goes against the dignity of women and their rights is unacceptable.

We call upon all governments to ensure free compulsory education for every child all over the world.

We call upon all governments to fight against terrorism and violence, to protect children from brutality and harm.

We call upon the developed nations to support the expansion of educational opportunities for girls in the developing world.

We call upon all communities to be tolerant — to reject prejudice based on cast, creed, sect, religion or gender. To ensure freedom and equality for women so that they can flourish. We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back.

We call upon our sisters around the world to be brave — to embrace the strength within themselves and realise their full potential.

Dear brothers and sisters, we want schools and education for every child's bright future. We will continue our journey to our destination of peace and education for everyone. No one can stop us. We will speak for our rights and we will bring change through our voice. We must believe in the power and the strength of our words. Our words can change the world.

Because we are all together, united for the cause of education. And if we want to achieve our goal, then let us empower ourselves with the weapon of knowledge and let us shield ourselves with unity and togetherness.

Dear brothers and sisters, we must not forget that millions of people are suffering from poverty, injustice and ignorance. We must not forget that millions of children are out of schools. We must not forget that our sisters and brothers are waiting for a bright peaceful future.

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.

One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world.

Education is the only solution. Education first.

Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani activist, student, UN messenger of peace and the youngest Nobel Laureate. As co-founder of Malala Fund, she is building a world where every girl can learn and lead without fear.

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