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Summary: Chapter 4 (The Village)
Malala is told that like her mother’s father, she is humorous and wise, and like her Baba, to whom she feels especially close, she is vocal. She recounts her visits to her parents’ home village in the mountains of Shangla, where her family travels during the Muslim holidays of Big Eid and Small Eid. She details the landscape and weather, and describes the rustic, impoverished lives of the villagers; men often work far from home, and there is no electricity, running water, or hospitals. Despite the poverty, the village has a strong sense of community and hospitality, and Malala has fun playing with her cousins and other children, who think of her as a city girl.
When Malala is a teenager, a male cousin criticizes her for not properly covering herself. Malala highlights the difficult, restricted lives of the women in Shangla. They must cover their faces, cannot speak to males who aren’t close family, and are sometimes treated brutally. When Malala asks her father about this, he tells her life is harder in Afghanistan under the Taliban. Malala does not realize that the Taliban will soon affect her life in Swat, even though her father promises to protect her freedom and encourages her to pursue her dreams.
Summary: Chapter 5 (Why I Don’t Wear Earrings and Pashtuns Don’t Say Thank You)
Malala introduces her friends: her best friend and schoolmate Moniba, who sets the rules in their friendship, and her neighbor and playmate Safina. When Safina steals Malala’s toy mobile phone, Malala steals Safina’s jewelry to get revenge. Discovering this, Malala’s parents tell her this behavior will bring shame to the family. Malala vows to never lie or steal again, and stops wearing jewelry to remind herself of this vow. She talks about the Pashto belief of neither forgetting nor forgiving; both cruelties and kindnesses are bound to be repaid, which is why Pashtuns rarely say thank you.
However, Malala decides she doesn’t like the Pashtunwali code of badal, or revenge. She prefers nonviolence. She recounts when General Pervez Musharraf seizes power from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to become Pakistan’s fourth military dictator. This event causes the international community to boycott Pakistan. In school, Malala is a top student, always in competition with Moniba and her academic rival, Malka-e-Noor. Malala enters a public speaking competition to win back her parents’ approval. She delivers a speech written by her father that focuses on the importance of doing good using methods that harm none. Malala comes in second, which teaches her an important lesson about being a gracious loser.
Analysis
Her childhood visits to the small village of Shangla illustrate Malala’s strong bond with her heritage, but also the conflicts she feels with her Pashtun culture. Malala is just a young child in these chapters, suggesting that she has always felt discomfort about the typical path of Pakistani women. Still, in Shangla, she finds it hard to believe that a woman’s time is entirely taken up with toil and hard work in the kitchen. Shangla is a remote place that has been forgotten by modernity and serves as a metaphor for the traditional life of Pakistani women, who seem to be stuck in the past abiding by traditions that no longer benefit them. Malala’s parents act as her heroes when they support her choice to eschew the practice of covering her face while on holiday. Although Malala is sad about the reality of her female relatives, the village itself brings her great joy. Both sides of her family came from the village, and she feels a deep connection to the scenery. Visits to the village provide a break from Mingora and her rigorous studies. Already Malala senses the conflict between her dreams and her culture’s expectations for women.
This section explores the idea of honor as Malala juxtaposes personal and national stories about what it means to be honorable. Making an uncharacteristically childish decision, Malala steals from her friend Safina, deeply disappointing her family, which is unbearable for Malala. Ironically, this event is one of the few times that Malala acts her age, and she carries the guilt for the rest of her life. Eventually, Malala chooses peace by swearing off jewelry altogether because she refuses to compromise her character over material things. Her experiences show that honor requires we learn from our mistakes, not that we behave perfectly. In great contrast to her own personal growth, Malala discusses Musharraf’s dramatic power coup in the same chapter. Following in the footsteps of so many corrupt Pakistani leaders, Musharraf promises to end the corruption in the government, but he fails to honor his promise, choosing to enrich himself with American money while still helping jihadis. While Malala and her family love their country, the constant flow of corrupt leaders shows that the country’s leadership fails to exhibit the same principles as its citizens.
