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Comparing Frederick Douglass 'And' Malala Yousafzai, The Fighter

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Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass and “Malala Yousafzai, the Fighter”: Comparing the Universal Theme of Power Having a Negative Impact on Others The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass and “Malala Yousafzai, the Fighter” by Aryn Baker both share the universal theme that the desire for power robs people of good morals and causes them to take inhumane actions to oppress others. The settings of historic America and present day Pakistan along with the characterizations of slave holders and the Taliban support the theme. In both pieces of writing, the revolutionizing settings heighten the theme. In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the slave owners of historical America impose harsh treatment …show more content…

In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the Americans in the slave market forcibly bring Africans from their country to America. Then, they sell them to masters who put them in a state of bondage for the remainder of their lifetimes. Douglass is a slave who strives for an education and uses his knowledge to travel to northern America where he is free. As previously mentioned, “Malala Yousafzai, the Fighter” explores the ambitions of the Taliban which is a powerful extremist group that enforces harsh rules of the sharia on women. Ironically, both groups of people are religious are characterized as heartless because of the negative impact they have on others of lesser power. For instance, after becoming a free man, Frederick Douglass is unable to speak at white people meetings regarding the end to slavery because he “[feels] [him]self a slave and the idea of speaking to white people weigh[s] [him] down” (Douglass 121). Most of his religious masters deprive him of his basic needs for life such as food and sleep which dehumanize Douglass to a point where he loses his confidence to speak up for himself entirely. Likewise, the Taliban force harsh religion on others to stop people’s determination to fight against them. For instance, Humid Mir, a television news reporter who exposes the horrors of the Taliban on his news broadcasts, escapes death thanks to a …show more content…

He defeated the Carthaginians led by the legendary general, Hannibal at the northern city of Zama in Africa. By doing so, he ended the nearly 20 year old war. In this battle, the Romans were numerically deficient in infantry but where outnumbered in cavalry. After an extended skirmish between Rome and the Carthaginians, the light infantry and the mix of light infantry and war elephants deployed by Hannibal, and cause the man formations of the 2 sides to meet. Hannibal sends his army in echelon formation to envelop the roman flanks but ends up loosing the battle. The Battle of Zama was the last and decisive victory to the second Punic war. Zama was one of the three wars between Carthage and Rome and resulted in the destruction of Carthage and is annexed by Rome. A modern but similar battle to Zama was the Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon, another legendary general, led the French to battle against the English and their allies. Although Napoleon had a great reputation, Wellington, the general of the European side, proved to have more intelligence when he outsmarts Napoleon's plan and defeats the French. Both battles saw the final defeat of a famed and "invincible" military leader, Hannibal at Zama and Napoleon at Waterloo. Also, both battles were decisive battles in that they ultimately end the great wars. The Battle of Zama ended the 2nd Punic war and the Battle of Waterloo ended the Napoleonic wars. All in

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