50 pages • 1 hour read
Malala Yousafzai, Patricia McCormickI Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World (Young Readers Edition)
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | YA | Published in 2014A 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.
Part 5, Chapters 24-29Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 5: “A New Life, Far from Home”
Chapter 24 Summary: “A Place Called Birmingham”
Malala awakens October 16 in a hospital in Birmingham, England. She has a tube down her throat and is unable to speak. Her vision is doubled, she has a terrible pain in her head, and she cannot lift her left hand. A Muslim chaplain prays with Malala, and a doctor speaks to her in Urdu, telling her she is safe. Malala is convinced something terrible has befallen her father, but she is initially unable to speak or write her questions. A nurse prints an alphabet for her, and Malala points to letters to spell “father” and “country.” When doctors explain she is in England but do not answer questions about her father, she is positive he has been hurt. Malala also worries about how her family will pay for her expensive medical treatment.
Dr. Fiona Reynolds brings Malala a green teddy bear and a notebook for her to write in. Dr. Fiona explains that Malala’s father is safe in Pakistan and she need not worry about her treatment cost. Malala cannot remember exactly what happened to her and is tormented by horrible images she cannot separate from reality, like being shot on a bus with her father, and a man preparing to choke her. Malala only knows she is alive because an angel has not asked her the two questions a Muslim hears after dying.
Chapter 25 Summary: “Problems, Solutions”
Malala’s head hurts terribly, her hearing is muffled, and bright light irritates her eyes. She has trouble remembering basic words. She wonders where her green teddy bear went when it is mysteriously replaced with a white one, though the doctors insist the bear was always white.
Malala is obsessed with two problems: knowing where her father is, and how her family will pay her medical costs. She worries that her parents are searching Mingora for her and resolves to solve this problem by phoning them from the hospital desk, until she realizes she does not have money for the call. She thinks she must get a job and earn some money. The doctors assure her that the government will pay for her treatment.
Dr. Fiona eases Malala’s fears about her father by bringing her a newspaper photograph showing her father and Atal, with her mother just visible in the background. Malala is thankful her father is alive but now fears her parents are selling everything they own to pay her medical fees. Dr. Javid Kayani, the first doctor who spoke Urdu to Malala, makes a call to her parents. Malala cannot speak but is thrilled to hear her father’s voice. Her father promises the family will see her soon.
Chapter 26 Summary: “A Hundred Questions”
When Malala looks in a mirror, she sees that her head is half-shaved, she has a huge bruise over her left eye and stitches in that eyebrow, and her face is “swollen to the size of a melon” (143). The left side of her mouth droops, and she sees black dots to the side of her left eye and her left hand, which she later finds out are gunpowder residue. Although previously Malala was self-conscious about her looks, she is not sad or frightened by her appearance. She does not cry, as Dr. Fiona expects her to. She is simply thankful to be alive.
Malala is increasingly frustrated by the gaps in her memory and the lack of answers to her questions about what happened. Dr. Fiona finally acknowledges that Malala was shot. Shazia and Kainat, two other girls on the bus, were also shot and survived. Malala does not remember them. Malala is angry that she did not get a chance to reason with the Taliban and wants to know exactly what the bullet did to her. Malala has many questions for Dr. Fiona but ultimately asks one: When she can go home?
Chapter 27 Summary: “Passing the Hours”
Malala is bored. She wakes early every day—unlike in Pakistan, where she used to sleep in—and visits with nurses to pass the time. When her vision improves, she watches videos, including Shrek, which she loves. A hospital communications representative asks to take her picture. Malala finds this ridiculous, since her face is all swollen, but agrees, partly to repay all the kindness she has experienced, and in hopes her parents will see it and come to her sooner.
Doctors remove the tube from Malala’s throat, and she can finally speak. Dr. Fiona explains that the bullet fractured bone in Malala’s temple and sent shards into her brain lining, making her brain swell. Doctors removed part of her skull to give the brain room and sewed the bone under her abdominal skin to replace later. The surgery was successful, but Malala developed an infection and was placed in a medical coma. Dr. Fiona and Dr. Javid, who were already in Pakistan, were consulted in Malala’s case. They believed she would die unless she received better care. The two doctors flew with Malala to England in a private jet supplied by the United Arab Emirates.
Chapter 28 Summary: “We Are All Here Now”
Malala has two more phone conversations with her father, who promises the family will arrive soon. On her 10th day in the hospital, Malala moves from the intensive care unit to a room with a window. She sees that Birmingham is gray and rainy and all the houses look the same. She misses the sunshine, mountains, and waterfalls of Pakistan.
That same day, 16 days after she was shot, her family arrives. Up to this point, Malala has been strong and courageous and not cried during any of her painful or frightening experiences. When she sees her family, however, they all cry a great deal. Malala notices that her parents look older and worn out. She knows that her appearance, with the left side of her face not functioning, is alarming to them. Malala’s injuries cause her father great distress. He feels that he should have been shot instead of her. Malala has trouble speaking in detailed sentences but comforts him by simply saying Aba. Malala explains her face will improve with more surgery and physical therapy but will never be as it was. Malala says she is at peace with her new face, and her family must get used to it. She thanks God for her recovery.
Chapter 29 Summary: “Filling in the Blanks”
Malala learns everything that happened after she was shot. The school bus driver took her immediately to the hospital in Swat, where the doctors did not believe her injury was serious. Still, the army transferred Malala to a military hospital in Peshawar. Her father and Madam Maryam accompanied Malala while her mother and friends prayed fervently. Neurosurgeon Colonel Junaid determined that the Swat doctors’ diagnosis was wrong, and he elected to operate immediately. Junaid saved Malala’s life.
Two days later, however, Malala’s condition deteriorated. During this time, Malala’s family stayed nearby but had little say in her treatment. Dr. Fiona and Dr. Javid demanded Malala be transferred to England for the best care, saving her life a second time. Malala’s mother and brothers had no travel documentation and could not yet go to England. Her father reluctantly decided to stay behind with the family, which was vulnerable to another Taliban attack, until they could all travel together. Malala remembers nothing about all these details, and she considers her lack of memory a blessing.
Malala’s story makes international headlines. The Taliban take credit for the shooting, saying Malala’s campaign for education is “an obscenity.” Fazlullah warns that the Taliban will try again to kill Malala. Learning all that happened makes Malala believe that truth will always expose lies. Rather than silencing Malala, her message now reaches even more people.
Part 5, Chapters 24-29 Analysis
Malala focuses on the physical and emotional aspects of her hospital stay, using vivid sensory detail to put the reader in her position. She also, at last, relieves readers’ suspense, answering questions about her attack that arise from her suspenseful Prologue. In these chapters, Malala also emphasizes the importance of her Islamic faith, again discussing how it differs from the Taliban’s Islamic extremism. Malala’s survival is a turning point in her life. The violence of the Taliban and the inefficacy of the Pakistani government underscore Malala’s surety in her cause and career.
Malala describes the physical effects of the shooting and her subsequent surgeries at length. She repeatedly shares specifics of her double vision, inability to see color correctly, weeping left eye, swollen face, and terrible pain in her head. These specifics allow the reader to vicariously experience Malala’s trauma and empathize with her suffering. Malala personalizes her experience in the hospital with references to familiar things, like the teddy bear and the movie Shrek, which also help the reader connect to her situation.
In addition to Malala’s physical pain, she details her significant emotional distress. She worries constantly about her father’s safety and her financial obligation to the hospital. She is also anxious about her mental state: The girl who prided herself on being top of her class can only write and speak in “baby sentences.” Although she is certain she is the same inside, the new struggle to express herself is frightening, and she is left feeling helpless and isolated from home and family.
At the same time, Malala stresses her hopeful nature and demonstrates her inner strength. She does not cry until she sees her family again. Even then, she attempts to reassure her devastated, guilt-stricken father. These chapters again illuminate her father’s importance and influence in her life. Malala’s fearful dreams and waking images focus on her father: images of him being hurt, and of not being able to reach him. When she sees him again, Malala feels a wordless connection and is convinced they will continue their activism together.
Malala’s near-death experience changes her outlook on life. She does not care if her face looks deformed; she is thankful for having been granted a “new life.” She believes that God protected her from remembering her attack. Malala believes that her mother’s faith was rewarded. Her mother’s hours of prayers and willingness to remove her head scarf and symbolically offer Malala to God’s care show the power of her belief.
Malala views her new chance at life as a confirmation that her cause is just, true, and in accordance with her religious faith. She recalls her mother’s quote from the Quran: “Truth will always triumph over falsehood” (164). Malala represents that truth and, by extension, the true nature of Islam. The Taliban, in contrast, deal in violence and spread fear, ignorance, and falsehood. Malala sees herself as speaking for education and peace, “crimes” that the Taliban think are pro-Western and anti-Islam. Malala learns the opposite “lesson” from what Fazlullah intended. She is even more determined to spread her message.
Finally, Malala’s drive to become a politician who creates real change is also confirmed when she discovers new examples of the Pakistani government’s inefficiency. Not only did a government official dawdle in issuing travel documents for her mother and brothers, but the government could not find Malala’s would-be killers any more than they could find those who assassinated Benazir Bhutto. Instead, they arrested Malala’s kindly, helpful bus driver. Malala finds these incidents frustrating, absurd, and, in their own way, departures from truth.
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