Summary: Prologue (The Day My Life Changed)

Malala begins her story in England in 2013, one year after the day she went to school and never returned home. Malala describes the differences between life in England and Pakistan. She then recounts the day of her shooting: Tuesday, October 9, 2012. After her typical late start, she journeys to school by bus; she used to walk, but now takes the bus as a precaution. She imagines that if she is attacked, it will be at the entrance of her school. Malala takes other precautions for her safety but doesn’t really believe the Taliban will come after a young girl like her. She describes the sights and sounds of her journey home. Malala explains that her memory of that day stops near an army checkpoint, then reveals what happened in reality: two young men stop the school bus, and one gets on. He confirms that the bus belongs to the Khushal School and wants to know who Malala is. He then shoots three times, hitting Malala and two schoolmates. Malala slumps, bleeding onto her friend Moniba, and she is rushed to the hospital.

Analysis

Malala opens her autobiography by revisiting the most traumatic day of her life to signify the importance of the event in her personal development. Although most readers likely already know this about Malala, the first detail she shares is that a Taliban soldier shot her when she was sixteen. The purpose of the rest of the book is to explain how Malala arrived at the moment that changed her from an unknown Pakistani girl to a worldwide icon. Malala’s matter-of-fact style of writing implies that she has gained distance from the trauma and learned from it. In the Prologue, Malala describes the day in great detail but without emotion or bitterness, establishing a maturity and wisdom that belies her age. One reason Malala can talk about the shooting without malice is that, though tragic, it resulted in her realizing her unlikely dream of being a successful, educated activist. Malala’s story is unique in that she weaves her personal experience, motivations, and feelings with global issues to show how much politics can affect an individual’s life, and vice versa.

Malala’s school is the first glimpse of her early life in Pakistan before the shooting because it is the center of her world and a symbol of freedom and safety for her. Malala uses whimsical language to convey the carefree feeling of going to school. While other children might prefer to play, Malala and her friends cannot wait to go to school, and she is proud of her rigorous academics. This focus on Malala as a scholar sets the groundwork for much of the rest of the book as it establishes that Malala seems to have been destined for education given her proclivity for it and her parents’ unorthodox support. Malala’s determination to go to school despite warnings is the exact trait that makes her a target of the Taliban. Being shot by the Taliban and surviving to continue her mission as an activist establishes that Malala is the hero of this story, not a victim. After boarding the bus, her shooter asks, “Who is Malala?” Ultimately, no one answers his question, but Malala silently responds to her would-be assassin’s question by surviving to write this book. In her autobiography, Malala explains how her meager beginnings perfectly prepared her to play an important role in the global fight for women’s rights.