84 pages • 2 hours read
Christina Lamb, Malala YousafzaiI Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2012A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 21-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 4:"Between Life and Death", Part 5: "A Second Life"
Chapter 21 Summary: “God, I Entrust Her to You”
News of Malala’s injury spread throughout the town. Her father was at a meeting when he received the news. When he arrives at the hospital, he notices TV cameras and photographers. He knows Malala must have been shot. “All children are special to their parents, but to my father I was his universe. I had been his comrade in arms for so long, first secretly as Gul Makai, then quite openly as Malala” (246).
Unfortunately, Malala’s mother does not know what was going on. She was told several stories, including one about Malala hurting her foot. But when her mother hears a helicopter going over the house, she knows it was Malala’s. She takes her scarf off her head and tells the sky, “God, I entrust her to You” (250).
Malala is flown to a military hospital. Once there, a neurosurgeon speaks with her father. He worries the man is far too young to be taking care of Malala. The military hospital makes her father uncomfortable, particularly after the doctor said Malala’s condition was serious, but did not operate. Many people come to the hospital and wait outside to offer their support. “While I was hovering between life and death, the Taliban issued a statement assuming responsibility for shooting me but denying it was because of my campaign for education” (256).
Soon, it is decided Malala should go abroad.
Chapter 22 Summary: Journey into the Unknown
Malala’s father begins to lose hope. The science told him she wasn’t doing well: deteriorating vital signs, an induced coma, etc. However, her mother continues to pray. She is certain Malala will survive.
Malala is flown to Birmingham, England and one of her new doctors spends most of the flight moving around and checking monitors. The doctor says, “If anything had happened to her it would have been blamed on the white woman. If she’d died I would have killed Pakistan’s Mother Teresa” (263).
Meanwhile, her family remains under threat from an attack. On top of that, the family has trouble getting a passport to go with Malala.
Chapter 23 Summary: “The Girl Shot in the Head, Birmingham”
Malala wakes up, alone, in Birmingham’s hospital. One of her doctors, Dr. Javid, speaks to her in Urdu, but she still doesn’t understand where she is. “I repeated the questions to anyone who came in. They all said the same. But I was not convinced. I had no idea what had happened to me and I didn’t trust anyone” (277). With her family still in Swat, the doctors call Malala’s family to update them. Malala is unable to speak, but she is able to hear her father’s voice.
Malala works hard towrite, but she forgets words and letters. Her doctor tell her she was shot on the school bus, along with two of her friends. “I felt nothing, maybe just a bit satisfied. ‘So they did it.’ My only regret was that I hadn’t had a chance to speak to them before they shot me. Now they’d never hear what I had to say. I didn’t even think a single bad thought about the man who shot me—I had no thoughts of revenge—I just wanted to go back to Swat. I wanted to go home” (282).
Malala finally gets her voice back. She speaks to her parents on the phone, but worries she sounds different. Her father assures her she sounds the same. Finally, she learns her family will come to Birmingham.
Malala thinks about all the things she wants to tell Moniba, but, she notes, “I didn’t realize then I wouldn’t be going home” (289).
Chapter 24 Summary: “They Have Snatched Her Smile”
When her family arrives, Malala is astonished at their appearance—they seem tired, older, and greyer. She also noticed they seemed uncomfortable by her appearance. Her father laments, “The Taliban are cruel—they have snatched her smile….You can give someone eyes or lungs, but you cannot restore their smile” (292).
Her attacker is revealed to be Ataullah Khan, who was arrested during the military operation in Swat, but was released shortly after his arrest. Despite the sad news, the United Nations announces something bright: they have designated November 10 as Malala Day.
Malala continues to work toward recovery. She does facial exercises daily and begins to read again. She reads The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, to which she relates.
The president of Pakistan comes to visit Malala. Although the hospital fears the media frenzy, they allow him to come. After all, he is going to pay the hospital bill. “[President] Zardari told the high commissioner to give my father a post as education attaché so he would have a salary to live on and a diplomatic passport so he would not need to seek asylum to stay in the UK” (298).
Epilogue Summary: One Child, One Teacher, One Book, One Pen…
Malala recovers and the family moves into a rented house. Her mother is lonely. In Swat, she was social, but now she doesn’t have any friends. Her father continues to go to conferences, speaking out about education. “I used to be known as his daughter; now he is known as my father” (306).
Malala goes back to school, but she too has trouble making friends. She Skypes with Moniba and saves her jokes for those sessions.
She tries not to think about the shooting, but even when she does, she doesn’t remember exactly what happened. The scene changes for her each day.
Malala makes a speech at the U.N. “I didn’t know how my speech was received until the audience gave me a standing ovation. My mother was in tears and my father said I had become everybody’s daughter” (310). Her mother is so proud, she allows herself to be photographed for the first time.
Malala wonders when she will go back to Pakistan. She can’t yet, but she knows she will. She also knows she will continue to fight for education.
Chapter 21-Epilogue Analysis
These final chapters present the father-daughter bond as a lifeline. When Malala’s father finds out she has been shot, he rushes to the hospital and stays by his daughter’s side. He laments the Taliban knew how to take out two birds with one shot—Malala is his soulmate. He wonders how a father can live without a daughter.
As Malala’s life hangs in the balance, a binary opposition is introduced: science versus religion. While her mother prays, her father fears her death based on the scientific evidence available to them. Even when the worst is over for Malala, her father is sad that the Taliban stole her smile—something he contrasts with transplantable organs like lungs, kidneys, and more. Her smile is something less scientific, it is not a body part. No, her smile is an inner, perhaps spiritual, thing. The Taliban tried to take away the fire in Malala.
Finally, the power of words is tested. After all, the Taliban proclaims they didn’t shoot Malala because of her campaigns. Yet, strangely, they do not say what made them choose an innocent girl to hurt. If the Taliban says her words had no power over them, their lie is revealed in front of the U.N. After recovering, Malala’s speech on education and girls’ rights receives a standing ovation. Her words do, indeed, have power.
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