W7 Course project (please read carefully below)
Course Project: Novel Analysis Essay
I am Malala
Just like any other Pushtun girl, coming from the Swat Valley in Pakistan, Malala had a tale to tell. It is a tragedy that was mixed with anguish and discontentment about the betrayal by her native people. Living amidst a fierce militia group, the Taliban, and in a society that is still conservative, Malala against all odds picked up her courage to champion for the girl child’s education. The heroic nature in her manifested from the very moment she begun following her instincts about the importance of equality in Pakistan.
Detailed in her book, Malala describes her dreadful situation in the hands of the militia men of Pakistan. The men become weary with her vigorous for gender education rights. Transiting between the fateful ordeals, Malala remains a frail figure within her society, whose distinction would mark the end of an a awakened struggle for women rights. Torn between herself, she was agile to regaining her momentum in the pursuit of her ideologies, especially following the Tuesday 9 October 2012 fate.
Campbell’s monomyth recognizes a hero’s journey, and how their adventures help in shaping up the history of various phenomena. Heroes are always called to undergo some series of adventure (Campbell 12). Malala’s father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, being used as a mentor figure, Malala found a sidekick she could confide in while striving to achieve her ambitions. The strong name and the defiant will she possessed epitomized hope for girl child education. She kept the faith throughout her race for the fulfillment of gender equality, displaying all the braveness in her, as she trudged on to deal with the monster in her society. Using the Campbell model of the hero’s journey, a linkage between the heroin Malala, and Campbell’s hero model will be developed to show how Malala goes through the journey described by Campbell in his book. By reviewing five of the ten stages suggested by Campbell, the paper will strive to demonstrate that Malala was indeed a hero. A detailed account of her struggle through adversities just to promote gender sensitivity will be displayed in the paper to depict her heroic endeavors and how they marry with Campbell’s journey.
The Call
In Campbell’s model, this is the initial stage in which a hero begins their journey in an ordinary condition. Upon receiving some piece of information, they are faced with the decision to either accept or decline the call (Campbell ). A call to adventure reveals the unsuspected world in which the individuals are drawn to foster relationships, with forces that are dynamic and unclearly understood. Malala in this perspective is at the center of the ongoing gender discrimination. Scanning the immediate happenings in her environment, she concurs with her father’s ideology about girl child education. Assessing her situation, Malala finds herself amidst the change process. She devotes to pursue the innate reality that she continues to live. Malala is positive and has an inward drive to pursue her conscious reality. The heroin takes a responsive approach to her society’s problems and advances towards them despite her tender age to risk such precious undertakings, as other may consider them. She is adamant in following her desires. These she gleefully pursues not only to the benefit herself, but also to the benefit of others too regardless of whether she transgresses the established social order.
Guidance
This stage refers to mentoring of an individual to be a steward of particular philosophies as dictated by the society. In being a good steward, Malala emulates much of her deeds from the father, who takes the center stage in her entire tale. Being raised in a family that is unperturbed by the ongoing war of ideology and interests, she is courageous to pursue her desires. The father stands as a fortress to shield her from the whirlwinds and storms of the political and social turbulence. Being a girl child, she is able to interact much more with her family members, school mates, and friends. This trend is able to set her leadership pace in fulfilling her desires in Pakistan. She is able to gather much from her training, which later helps her to face the reality in the real world. Malala is not faint hearted and her determination is vivid throughout her unspoken, yet attention and respect seeking tone and gestures.
Crossing of the First Thresholds
Campbell considers this stage as “the point of no return” (64). It is the stage where heroes defiantly, override objects that obstinate their way to triumph. Malala throughout her quest gets entangled in many issues that threaten to derail the accomplishment of her mission. However, as the famous saying goes, what does not kill her only seems to make her stronger. Despite being loved by few, the majority seems to be indifferent about Malala’s intense perpetuity of the fight for girl child education. Venturing into the unknown, Malala suffers in the ruthless hands of the Taliban militia, something that almost compromises her mission. This comes as a hefty blow to her core mission, in reviving what was neglected by her immediate society. Suffering from gun attacks that almost bring her to her knees, she vibrantly snapps out of her consternation and revives her campaign. Taking a new paradigm in fighting for rights of women to then stun of her “wowsers.” She defies her fears and doubts to overcome the threatening situations she faces in her early childhood. The brutality, although leaving scars all over her body, does not fracture her passion for what she yearns for the most; seeing women elevated to the social dignity that should be accorded to them.
The Road of Trials
The hero, in this stage, passes though many tests of courage and resilience. A hero is required to be resourceful and intelligent as they undergo a transition in their environment. Relating this to Malala’s account, the post militia attack exposes her to an array of injustices. Pegged to the fact that she is taken for further treatment, she opens her eyes to the reality of the other side of life. Malala is stunned by the unending love that she is accorded in the U.S. Not everything was the Pakistan way, where tomorrow is always unpredictable and each day life is barely lived. Following the dingy situation she was used to, Malala comes to realize that there is a better perspective to life, overflowing with compassionate support; the same ideologies she believed in. Being showered with flowers, letters and various accolades, she realizes that not everybody was a savage, as his people way back in her hometown. Having heeded her father’s advice and following in the shadow of his footsteps, she uses the new opportunity and platform presented to her by the U.N. and her loving family in the U.S to relentlessly fight to achieve gender balance and respect for women’s rights throughout her society.
Gifts
According to Campbell, these are rewards that are accorded to heroes and heroines. The hero takes possession of the treasure won, owing to their face to face encounters with death. Malala was on the brink of death, but she mysteriously survives to be hailed as a Nobel Prize Peace winner. She escapes death by a whisker of to claim her rightful place within the society. Narrating her ordeal, Malala transforms lives and lights candles on the dingy walls of gender discrimination. She stands firmly to denounce the Taliban and any other militia groups that stuck to the conservative ideologies that demonize girl child education and women’s rights. Malala is a gift to not only her society but also the world collectively. She is passionate and enthusiastic about her endeavors. The whole society has something to emulate from her struggle in what she believed and deemed right. Girls can return to school and sit in classes in Afghanistan and Pakistan to gain the whiteman’s knowledge, women can take a leading role to influence their social life in Asia and even empower the society, all which, come from Malala’s sole efforts to save her drowning society.
Conclusion
Campbell has helped analyze the heroic role that Malala played in shaping the Asian society. Malala however, does not limit her struggle to the salvation of her Middle Eastern society, but rather adopts a universal perspective to come to the rescue and freeing of the female gender, stuck in conservative atrocities. Malala owes much of her struggle to her father who not only gave her the breakthrough dosage, but also oversaw her mission in life. By the power of her voice, Malala hopes to inspire change within the global society. Much blood shade, and her defiant nature costing her and her loved ones, she was set for doom. Taliban does not approve of her activities and the society is sensitive to norms, however, Malala’s thoughts wonder liberally, through the norms pervading her society. She eventually truimphs despite the challenges that come her way. Her quest, the betterment to the world through peaceful coexistence and denouncing of gender discrimination.
Works Cited
Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. , 2008. Print.
Yousafzai, Malala, and Patricia McCormick. I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World. , 2014. Print.
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