Title Significance

Entry 4: Title Significance

The title “I Am Malala: The Girl who Stood up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban” is literally Malala saying her name. She is introducing herself and her story to the world. It also lets the reader know that this will be an autobiography. By putting her name first, she indicates the fact that she wants to be known as Malala Yousafzai and not only as the girl that was shot by the Taliban. Before she wrote “I Am Malala”, people knew of the girl in Pakistan that they had heard about on the news, but not of Malala and her dreams and goals. The title is literally Malala identifying herself. Malala’s shooter enters the bus demanding, “Who is Malala?”(9). After her anecdote about the shooting, she states proudly, “Who is Malala? I am Malala and this is my story”(9). This shows Malala wanting to tell everyone who she is and what she fights for and that is also reflected in the title.

This passage also shows that Malala wants her story to be heard. She has a lot of pride in who she is and what she lives for and wants to be known as more than just a survivor. She also wants people to know her whole story, not just of the shooting but of her whole life. Early on in the novel, she talks about why she was named Malala, “I was named after Malalai of Maiwand, the greatest heroine of Afghanistan...Malalai went to the battlefield with other women from the village to tend to the wounded and take them water. She saw their men were losing, and when the flag bearer fell she lifter her white veil up high and marched onto the battlefield in front of the troops. ‘Young love!’ she shouted. “If you do not fall in the battle of Maiwand, by God, someone is saving you as a symbol of shame.’ Malalai was killed under fire, but her words and bravery inspired the men to turn the battle around...in Malalai we Pashtuns have our very own Joan of Arc”(14-15). Malala, named after Malalai, also becomes like a Joan of Arc figure to Pashtuns. Like Malalai empowered the soldiers to turn the battle of Maiwand around, Malala empowers many to fight the battle for girls education. Although, Malalai died, she still left a lasting impression on the men whose lives she saved. Malala survived the attempt on her life, and in titling her book “I Am Malala: The Girl who Stood up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban” she shares the fact that she cannot be silenced. She is saying “I Am Malala” and I am invincible and I will not be stopped.

“I Am Malala: The Girl who Stood up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban” has the title that it does to introduce Malala and her story, but also to show that she wants to be heard and will never stop fighting for her cause.

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