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Fariya Athar Baig

Aqib Ali

Writing and Communication- SS 100

18th November 2018

A critique on Malala Yousafzai’s Nobel Peace Prize speech.

Malala Yousafzai, a child education activist, was shot by the Taliban in 2012. During that

time, the Taliban were against the idea of girls getting education and took measures to stop them

from going to schools. However, Yousafzai refused to abide by their oppressive rules and

continued to fulfil her passion for education, due to which she was shot in the head. She survived

the attack and since then, she has devoted herself to work for child education. Due to her selfless

dedication and efforts to stand up for children’s educational rights, she became the youngest and

the first ever Pakistani Nobel Peace Prize laureate at the age of only 17. She received this award

on the 10th of October 2014 in Oslo, Norway. While accepting her Nobel peace prize, she gave a

very powerful and motivating speech that campaigned for educational rights for children,

especially girls. Malala Yousafzai’s successful speech makes use of oratory techniques of

persuasion such as ethos(1), a versatile tone(2), and a suitable diction(3). She also portrays adept

use of rhetorical devices(4) such as anaphora and rhetorical questions, and a convincing delivery

of the speech through her body language and her pitch(5).

Malala Yousafzai is of the view that children, especially girls, are deprived of their basic

right to education in developing countries. She is committed to work for this cause and wants her

audience to stand up for their rights and ensure that every child gets quality education so that

peace can be maintained.

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Yousafzai appeals to the eminent authority of Kailash Satyarthi to establish her

credibility. Kailash Satyarthi, who had an equal share of the Nobel prize with Yousafzai, is an

Indian human rights activist. During his 35-year work experience, he has founded movements

such as “… Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save the childhood movement), [which] have liberated

more than 85,000 children from exploitation and developed a successful model for their

education and rehabilitation” (“Let Every Child Be Free to Be a Child”). Moreover, he is also

recognized for receiving “… some of the most prestigious awards, [for his work on education

policies and child labor] from countries like USA, Spain, Netherlands …” (“Let Every Child Be

Free to Be a Child”). By referring to this prominent authority, she tries to show that she shares

the same values and goals as him. Her commitment to work for girls’ education by working with

Satyarthi makes her point more difficult to refute by the audience because they might disagree

with a 17-year-old, but not an influential, experienced, and widely known activist who has

worked for the same cause for so long. This also shows that she is aware of her capabilities and

the limitations of her age and experience. By aligning herself with a well-established personality,

she dispels her audience’s biases about her age and origins. Moreover, continuing upon the

notion of peace that she starts her speech with, she builds on the existing narrative of Pak-India

relations. She mentions how an Indian and a Pakistani will work together for a common cause

which establishes her credibility as a pacifist who aims to improve relations between the two

countries which were at unease since the 1947 partition. Therefore, her reference to Kailash

Satyarthi helps her succeed at persuading her audience to see her work as valid.

Yousafzai’s persuasive and variable tone further augments her argument as it appeals to

the emotions of her audience. She begins with a tone of gratitude to express her happiness for

receiving the prestigious award. Then her tone becomes sorrowful when she describes the
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terrorist attack on her and the destruction of all the schools to show how bad the situation was in

Swat. After that she develops an encouraging tone when she tries to convince her audience of her

mission. For example, she says “…we all need to contribute. Me. You. We. It is our duty” which

stresses upon the urgency of taking action to resolve this issue. Her tone also becomes humorous

at some points, for example when she says, “I am also the first recipient of the Nobel peace prize

who still fights with her brothers.” Even though at such a platform, her audience expects her tone

to be formal throughout, she varies her tone constantly, which makes her audience linger on

every word. She takes her audience on an emotional journey with her; they feel her sorrow when

she narrates her personal experience and sympathize with her when they realize her suffering.

They lighten up their mood with her at her ironical joke and realize the optimism and the passion

in her voice when she tries to encourage them for her mission. Moreover, they feel courageous

and motivated when they realize how brave she is. In addition to that, the pain with which speaks

on behalf of children across the world conveys a heart wrenching message that resonates with

people. For example, when she says, “I am not a lone voice, I am many… I am those 66 million

girls who are deprived of education.” It proves the severity of the prevalent situation which adds

fuel to the already blazing fire of the audience’s willingness to finally take action to end this

deprivation not only in Pakistan, but also across the entire world. This enables her to establish an

emotional connection with them. Furthermore, it also shows how expressive she is with her

emotions, which makes her appear as an honest individual. This versatile tone, hence, is

captivating and ensures that the audience’s interest is always present during the speech.

Yousafzai uses appropriate diction that relies mostly on pathos to convince her audience.

By using impactful adjectives such as “forgotten”, “frightened”, and “voiceless” children, she

adds to the horror of her narrative and draws the attention of the audience towards the children
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who are deprived of education. This word choice tugs at their heartstrings and forces them to

realize the need to stand up for the basic rights of these deprived children. Moreover, she uses

phrases that make the audience more compassionate towards children like Malala. For example,

she says, “We had a thirst for education because our future was right there in that classroom.”

The use of this word “thirst” shows how desperate she and her friends were to enhance their

knowledge, dream big, and work towards achieving those dreams. It makes the listeners condole

with the sufferers even more and helps them understand why she was standing up for their rights

in the first place. This was to make sure that no other child would suffer like she did, and under

no circumstances should the flame of their determination to achieve their goals be put down. She

also uses collective pronouns in her speech, such as the use of “us” and “we”, which make the

audience feel like their input to resolve this issue is extremely important. This further boosts their

motivation to help her in her mission. Further, she punctuates not just the significance of

education in her life, but also the extent of trauma at the loss of it by using juxtaposing

statements such as “Our beautiful dreams turned into nightmares”. It can therefore be established

that her diction allows her audience to connect with her real thoughts, enabling her to convey her

message successfully.

Yousafzai also makes expert use of rhetorical devices. The first device that she uses is

anaphora. For example, when she says, “Let this be the last time…” several times, it allows her

to successfully put emphasis on the importance of education for each and every child - especially

girls. It also allows her to stress on the gravity of what will happen if educational rights are

continued to be denied, thus pressing on the urgency to finally take action. Anaphora also gives

her speech a lyrical effect which makes it more appealing for her audience to listen. Moreover, it

enables her to concentrate her speech to her primary argument which is the reason why she got
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the Nobel prize, the reason why she wants to gain support of her audience, and the reason that

she risked her life for. Besides anaphora, she smartly employs the use of rhetorical questions. For

example, she asks, “Why is it that giving guns is so easy but giving books is so hard?” and “Why

is it that making tanks is so easy, but building schools is so hard?” These rhetorical questions not

only engage her audience but also force them to ponder on the denial of educational rights in

developing countries. Yousafzai’s questions bring to light the stark contrast between ignorance

and education which is further emphasized by the obvious misallocation of resources. Moreover,

considering the fact that many people in the Nobel committee and her audience are from

developed countries, where children’s educational rights are fully supported, it makes them

confront their ignorance for not supporting developing countries where this is an issue.

Therefore, Yousafzai effectively uses rhetorical devices to awaken the conscience of her

audience to finally take action for this common cause.

Also critical to Yousafzai’s speech is her body language. She maintains eye contact with

her audience throughout her entire 27-minute speech. This not only keeps her audience attentive,

but it also makes it seem like a conversation where her audience may respond in the form of nods

or applause. She uses appropriate hand gestures for her claims. For example, her hand gesture of

raising her finger in an attempt to say no when she says, “it is not time to pity them,” further

stresses upon her argument and grabs the audience’s interest, thereby helping her bolster the

argument. Moreover, she varies her pitch, sometimes to emphasize a point and sometimes to

break the monotony of her tone. This helps her deliver her speech in a rhythmic way, which

makes it intriguing for her listeners and signifies certain claims. For example, the points where

her voice grows louder, for example when she says, “…so it becomes the last time…” thrice,

indicate the relatively more significant points. Similarly, she lowers her pitch to maintain the
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flow of her speech so that it does not sound monotonous. In addition to that, she uses short

sentences mostly and pauses at certain points; this not only adds more emphasis, but also allows

her audience to register and fully comprehend what she is saying. Overall, Yousafzai’s smart use

of body language and tone variations help her appear confident and assertive, commanding her

audience’s attention.

In conclusion, the compelling use of ethos establishes Yousafzai’s credibility, while her

riveting tone and diction appeal to her audience’s emotions, enabling her to establish common

ground with her listeners because of shared sentiments. The use of rhetorical devices and her

impressive body language allows her to clearly deliver her main idea. Thus, her audience is more

than convinced to join her in her efforts to ensure that no child, be it a girl or a boy, is deprived

of their basic right to education.

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Works Cited

Dir. Malala Fund. YouTube. YouTube, 11 Dec. 2014. Web. 16 Nov. 2018.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOqIotJrFVM>

““Let Every Child Be Free to Be a Child.”” The Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation (US).

N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2018.

<http://satyarthi-us.org>