Paper One Commentary

The text presented is Malala Yousafzai’s speech to the Norwegian Nobel Committee in 2014. The text provided is identified as a political speech due to Yousafzai’s use of rhetorical devices, persuasion techniques and her implementation of memorable sayings. Yousafzai is a Pakistani activist for female education and gender equality. It was Yousafzai’s vehement avocation for women’s education that caused the Norwegian Nobel Committee to venerate her with a Nobel peace prize in 2014. Yousafzai was mindful of her multicultural audience, her purpose to admonish inequality, her content that catered to her presence at the Norwegian Nobel Committee and her theme of world peace and education. Style, structure, tone and mood aptly gathered Yousafzai’s thoughts into a well-crafted speech. Yousafzai’s audience, purpose, content and theme were the core of her speech on which style, structure, tone and mood were built.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee received an international, multicultural audience. With an awareness of her audience, Yousafzai strategically advocated her cause, whereby she elucidated the international impact of inequality in educational systems proving it is not merely her struggle, “I am those sixty-six million girls who are deprived of education.” Furthermore, Yousafzai aptly employs eponym because “Great people, who brought change” have never been from one nation “like Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa and Aung San Suu Kyi.” Through referencing the world’s peace leaders, Yousafzai was able to appeal to her multicultural audience. Additionally, Yousafzai’s use of eponym has drawn lines of parallel between the world’s peace heroes and herself, denoting that she is worthy of the Nobel peace prize. This juxtaposition causes the privileged individuals in her audience to value her advocacy, which they may have debased heretofore due to their lack of exposure to gender inequality in more economically developed countries.

Malala Yousafzai’s purpose, not only within the context of her political speech, but her purpose in life is to raise awareness of inequality in education and women’s rights.  Yousafzai employs the persuasion techniques of humor and personal sentiment; ethos has enabled her to cohere to her multifarious audience. Furthermore, in attempts to connect with her audience to effectively advocate her purpose, Yousafzai frequently mentions her family and reminisces on humorous memories. “I am pretty certain that I am also the first recipient of the Nobel peace Price who still fights with her younger brothers.” She says in a humorous tone. Humor is the result of the irony in the situation: the contrast created by the serious tone that accompanies a Nobel Peace Prize recipient and the juxtaposing personal tone that is referenced. Yousafzai chooses to identify as the “annoying bossy sister” in order to be viewed by her audience through an ethos lens of humility. Additionally, she chooses to implement anaphora in the pathos influenced phrase “Dear sisters and brothers” in order to stimulate feelings of comfort and trust. Through utilizing the audience’s trust, she can efficiently advocate her purpose, equality and the right to education. As for the content of her speech, it was tailored to fit the purpose of her attendance at the Norwegian Nobel Prize Ceremony.

The content of Yousafzai’s speech was primarily influenced by world peace and equality. Malala Yousafzai elaborated on her passion for education, equality and world peace. The theme of Yousafzai’s speech revolved around world peace, this is appropriate as she is accepting the Nobel Peace Prize. She says “The world can no longer accept, the world can no longer accept that basic education is enough.” Through her use of anaphora, Yousafzai renders a potent and memorable statement in which she stimulates feelings of fear and urgency in the audience’s mind, which will prove useful for her campaign. Yousafzai employs amplification in order to emphasize the value of her content and to entice the audience. She says “this is for the forgotten children who want education. This is for the frightened children who want peace. This is for those voiceless child who want change.” Yousafzai uses anaphora in the repeating phrase at the beginning of each of the three sentences “This is for…”, with each sentence she increases the intensity of the content she provides. Yousafzai amplifies the need to nurture, she transitions from forgotten children, to frightened children, to voiceless children She also transitions from children who want education, to children who want peace, to children want change. Evidently, in each of the three sentences, the intensity is gradually magnified. Yousafzai uses a plethora of rhetorical devices, more specifically different forms of repetition in order to mimic the style and structure of political speeches.

The tone of this political speech stresses urgency, however the mood brings forth hope for the future.  To wrap up her speech, Yousafzai employs anaphora and repeats the phrase “Let it be the last time…” demanding that world leaders take action to “Let it be the last time that we see a child out of school.” Yousafzai’s use of chiasmus inspires the audience because “this is where [she] will begin but not where [she] will stop.” And the audience feels a moral duty to join her as she embarks on this journey to reaching educational equity. She provides a simple solution, effectively persuading world leaders “to unite and make education their top priority”, additionally persuading them that the fight for equality is not a tedious task. Malala Yousafzai’s hope began when her Muslim Pakistani father refrained from “clipping her wings” and allowed her to “fly”. Yousafzai’s hope was soon infectious; she “had two options. One was to remain silent and be killed. And the second was to speak up and then be killed.” However, she charismatically states, “I chose the second one. I decided to speak up.” This creates a hopeful mood for the future. Seventeen-year-old girls are taking the initiative to bring about world peace, thus world leaders must reflect upon themselves and ensure they work harder to secure the future. They must fathom the urgency of the situation in order to catalyze such international initiatives. Tone and mood added flavor to the speech, it was often pathos driven. However, in conjunction with style and structure the content of the speech was elevated and further enhanced.

The style and structure of political speeches is recognizable by the implementation of the formal register and by the gradual but inevitable ending often evokes action for a certain cause. Yousafzai establishes her formal register from the opening of the speech; she appropriately addresses the audience by saying “Your majesties, your royal highnesses, distinguished members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.” Furthermore, Yousafzai refrained from using slang and swear words. Despite her formal register, Yousafzai has frequently said “Dear sisters and brothers,” and through anaphora, the audience feels a personal connection to Yousafzai due to her use of pathos, which evoked feelings of trust and empathy. As for structure, Yousafzai frequently draws juxtaposing parallels, “Why is it that countries which we call strong are so powerful in creating wars, but so weak in bringing peace? Why is it giving guns is so easy but giving books is so hard? Why is it, why is it that making tanks is so easy, but building schools is so hard?” Through the use of hypophora and antithesis in these rhetorical questions, Yousafzai reinforces the urgency of the situation. The questions she asks are not to be answered but rather to create a tone of mimicry to scrutinize the world’s politicians and their priorities. Yousafzai says “We ask the world leaders to unite and make education their top priority.” On a larger scale, the structure of the speech starts by Yousafzai introducing how she began advocating for female education, it ended by her urgently calling for help and for a change. The mood of urgency is emphasized through her use of anaphora in the ending paragraph where “Let it be the last time” is frequently repeated. In the last lines of the speech, she summarized what needed to be done effectively and efficiently.

In conclusion, Malala Yousafzai incorporated rhetorical devices and persuasive techniques into her speech while regarding her audience and purpose in order to deliver a successful political speech that effectively advocated for female education. Stylistic features have heavily impacted the construction political speech. Her fruitful use of rhetorical devices has enhanced the message in her speech. For example, through use of eponym and direct references to world-renowned activist, to indirect lines parallel drawn through denoted content, Yousafzai has succeeded at advocating her cause and the importance of education and equality simultaneously. Through her appropriate use of register and her implementation of memorable sayings, Yousafzai has delivered a powerful political speech.