payment page
Summary: Chapter 16 (The Valley of Sorrows)
Three months after leaving, Malala’s family returns to a Mingora that has been devastated by war and is still occupied by the army. Miraculously, her home and the Khushal School survived despite the damage the army did to the school. Malala’s father finds a letter from the army blaming the Pashtuns for the Taliban. The peace in the valley remains fragile, and Taliban leaders are still at large. Still, Malala is happy to return to school. She describes numerous opportunities to learn and use her voice, including going to Islamabad at the invitation of Shiza Shahid, where she meets more liberated Pakistani women.
Malala is chosen as speaker of a yearlong District Child Assembly Swat, which aims to improve the lives of children. Ziauddin also continues to speak out, but he struggles to pay his teachers. The Taliban murder some of their critics. In the summer, extreme monsoons devastate Pakistan, drowning thousands and destroying countless schools and homes. Once again, the government is slow to respond. Most of the aid comes from Islamic groups and the Pakistan and American armies. Many now understand that the Taliban have not left Swat. Malala decides she must become a politician to help her country solve its problems.
Summary: Chapter 17 (Praying to Be Tall)
Five-foot Malala stops growing at age thirteen and worries about being too short to be authoritative. Religious tensions continue in Pakistan. Many men have gone missing, a controversial blasphemy-law case leads to the murder of the governor of Punjab, and Ziauddin gets another death threat. Tensions rise between America and Pakistan when a CIA agent kills two Pakistanis and Navy SEALs kill Osama bin Laden during a secret raid. Some Pakistanis feel embarrassed that Pakistan has been harboring Osama bin Laden, while others feel humiliated that Pakistan was not included in the operation. America believes that Pakistan is an unreliable ally that’s received millions of dollars in aid.
Meanwhile, Malala receives prestigious recognition as a peacemaker. Archbishop Desmond Tutu nominates her for an international peace prize, and the Pakistani government awards Malala its first National Peace Prize, naming it after her. Malala requests that the prime minister rebuild schools destroyed by the Taliban and open a university for girls in Swat. Malala feels happy to celebrate with school friends, but her parents worry about her safety. Ziauddin uses some of Malala’s prize money to help the family. Malala plans to start an education fund.
Analysis
In Part Three of the book, Malala becomes even more confident and comfortable in her activism as she elevates her work and reaches ever larger audiences. Although her home is in shambles and she lives with continuous uncertainty, she grows personally and professionally. Her activism provides escape from her harsh reality. In Chapter 16, Malala describes the family’s return to Mingora as a bad dream. They have experienced bombings and gunfire, but they have never seen the aftermath of a war. This is one of the few sections of the book where Malala’s tone becomes emotional, illustrating the shock she feels upon returning to her village. Places where she played as a child and shops that her family went to are now burned shells. The ashen heaps that used to be familiar locations mirror the emptiness the family feels. They were not expecting it to be untouched, but they are shocked by the level of devastation. Homecomings are often filled with joy and relief to be in one’s own surroundings again, but the family experiences no such joy. Their home is forever changed.
On her trip to Islamabad, Malala has a chance to mentally and emotionally recover from the trauma brought on by living under the Taliban. In this space, she experiences intense personal growth and achieves new levels in her activism. Malala and her classmates may have just come from the devastation in Mingora, but they are focused and vocal during their workshops. Already naturally intelligent and well-spoken, Malala now has nothing to lose. She arrives in Islamabad with no hope for the future. But in the city, she experiences a transformation as she observes new ideas and different perspectives. She meets female lawyers and activists and sees a future outside of Swat Valley. Inspired by the modernity of the women around her, she feels reinvigorated. Even more than before, Malala views education as the only way of achieving the freedom she sees in the city. While in Islamabad, Malala and Moniba tell General Abbas they want the Taliban brought to justice for what they did to Swat Valley, illustrating a new level of confidence and boldness in Malala. She returns home with new hope, but she is still realistic, remaining skeptical that the government will come through.
In Chapter 17, both Malala and her father reach higher levels of notoriety, which increases the risk of continuing their work. In addition to his activism, Ziauddin has become a liaison between civilians and the army. Malala is not shielded from the many women who visit her family home asking for information about their husbands. The violence has taken so many men that it is hard to discern whether they are missing or dead. Since the Taliban now specifically targets people who speak out against militancy, Ziauddin begins receiving regular death threats. Ziauddin continues his work undaunted, which sets a powerful example for Malala. She will emulate this example as her work will increasingly put her in the path of danger. She is following in Ziauddin’s footsteps and gaining more recognition, soon to be even more recognized than her father. This makes her mother uneasy. Still, Toor Pekai never tells Malala to stop her work, showing that she understands the importance of her daughter’s activism.
