Similarities Between Malala Yousafzai And Atticus Finch
Many activists in our society get where they are today because they are not afraid, they do not back down, and do not turn away in spite of fear. This is the same for both Malala Yousafzai and Atticus Finch. Malala’s life was threatened by the Taliban, an extremist group ruling her hometown, Swat Valley. They attempt to suppress her by not allowing her to get an education, but Malala knows what they are doing is wrong. Her passion is education, and they can not take that away from her. Even after she was shot by the Taliban, she continues to stay strong. Atticus Finch also has adversities he must face in his life. He is faced with going up against an entire prejudice town to prove a black man’s innocence. He also tries to set an example for his children so they know what true courage looks like. Neither people would be able to get through these hard
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times, if it were not for this small, but incredibly important attribute. Courage, a trait that many struggle to acquire, is the key characteristic that allows Malala from I am Malala and Atticus Finch from To Kill A Mockingbird to fight for equality in the face of adversity.
Adversity is meant to strengthen the courage that is hidden behind fear. With this comes the ability to persist, which is what shapes the opportunity to succeed. During difficult times, one could: be afraid, shut down, and turn to denial, or turn to courage, and stand up in order to come out stronger. In society today, it is so easy to to preach courage, yet so hard to execute it. People are often afraid their voices will be silenced. They believe their lives will be threatened, so they do not use their courage, and do not stand up for the things that truly matter. “Rather than focusing on failure, and becoming discouraged from pursuing their goals courageous leaders look at challenges as opportunities to improve” (Keeping Your Courage in the Face of Adversity). This is extremely important to Malala and Atticus, two courageous leaders, because it is what helped them tremendously.
Malala Yousafzai is one of many motivational activists that courageously pushed forward when faced with adversity.
Although it came with life-threatening consequences, she never backs down when things got tough. She continues to impact the world greatly with her vast amount of passion, even at such a young age. In her book I Am Malala, she is faced with struggles including her religion, sex, and her rights to education. Malala’s toughest adversity in her life, is the Taliban. The Taliban tested her courage when they sent various threats to her as she was speaking freely about women's rights for education in a country that oppresses females. The Taliban has completely banned education for women entirely, because they are threatened by the fact that educated women could potentially have the power to act against them. In many situations, this extremist group has blown up hundreds of schools that allows girls to attend, and believe that educating girls is against the law. Malala, her love for education, and her immense amount of courage, has allowed her to stand up and fight against the Taliban, even if it meant
death.
Despite these adversities, the Taliban was unable to silence the courageous Malala. In 2009, Malala began to voice her opinion about girls rights to education, and life under the Taliban rule, when she started a blog. Malala then contacted New York Times, and was interviewed on the threats she was receiving from the Taliban. She stated in this interview that “At night when I used to sleep, I was thinking all the time that shall I put a knife under my pillow… The time was of fear, but some people can overcome fear and some can fight fear”(Malala Yousafzai: 'Death Did Not Want to Kill Me'). Fighting against her fears was exactly what Malala was willing to do. An immense amount of courage was needed to publically speak out against these threats because of the possible consequences on her life. Despite her receiving these ongoing threats from this extremist group, she stands up to the Taliban, and faces any and all adversities.
Unfortunately, her courage against the Taliban was not enough and she was shot in October of 2012 when members of the Taliban raided her school bus. At this moment in her life, Malala was going to face her biggest adversity yet, life or death. Doctors fought hard to remove the bullet and keep her stabilized, but after that it was her turn to continue fighting. Malala spent weeks fighting for her life and her determination allowed her to come out even stronger. Most importantly, after she recovered, she did not stop fighting for women's rights to education. She was brought to England after she was injured. There, she continued to be an inspiration and role model for the world. She began sharing her story, and continued to fearlessly fight.
To compare Malala’s courage to literature, Atticus from To Kill a Mockingbird defends Tom Robinson in a trial in which he thinks there is no hope. As a black man in the 1930’s, Tom was at a disadvantage going into a rape accusation trial against Maywell Ewell, a white woman. Despite these challenges, Atticus courageously and fearlessly faced this adversity and took on the trial. Due to Tom’s skin color, the entire town was against him. This made it extremely hard for Atticus because he had to stand up and go against what an entire town believed to be true. Out of the many hardships he faces in this book, his adversity to fight alongside Tom Robinson was one of his hardest. Atticus truly believed Tom was innocent and was disgusted how society depicts black men and how racist his town is. He voices his opinion by saying “whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash”(Lee 295). This relates back to courage in the face of adversity, because Atticus took what he believed in, and boldly spoke out in spite of the towns beliefs.
Unfortunately, with great courage comes consequences to not only him, but his children too. At school, Scout was terrorized by a boy who tells her that her dad is no better than the black man he is working for. Throughout all of this, Atticus managed to stay strong to not only prove the town wrong, but to set an example of courage and standing up for what you believe in to his kids. He wants to show his kids that courage is a key characteristic to have. In one of the most memorable moments in To Kill A Mockingbird, he describes what courage really is telling his children that it is “when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what” (Lee 149). This was a very important moment for the theme of courage in To Kill A Mockingbird because Atticus is, in sense, saying that he knew he was out of luck at the very start when he took on the case, but he took on the case anyways. Atticus’ many acts of courage in the face of adversity made him a strong man, and great father figure to his children.
Malala from I Am Malala and Atticus from To Kill a Mockingbird show real life issues and how hard it was for them both to courageously fight when the odds were stacked against them. It took Malala a tremendous amount of courage to take her passion for learning and education and turn it into a lesson for the world. She alone went up against an entire extremist group for what she believed in and fought with her bravery alone. Atticus, similarly to Malala, was forced to go up against a racist town to defend an innocent black man, which had to take an immense amount of courage as well. In doing so, he showed his children what courage truly meant. These leaders relate directly to the ongoing theme in society of courage in the face of adversity because they were all challenged with adversity and used courage to come out stronger. While researching, it was very saddening to see how large of an issue this truly is. I believe it to be very unfortunate that people are afraid of having courage for what they believe in because they are afraid of being silenced by the public. Sadly this is happening, so much so that it has become a pattern in our culture. Fortunately for Malala from I Am Malala and Atticus from To Kill A Mockingbird, courage, a trait that many struggle to acquire, was not stopping them from fighting for equality in the face of adversity.
times, if it were not for this small, but incredibly important attribute. Courage, a trait that many struggle to acquire, is the key characteristic that allows Malala from I am Malala and Atticus Finch from To Kill A Mockingbird to fight for equality in the face of adversity.
Adversity is meant to strengthen the courage that is hidden behind fear. With this comes the ability to persist, which is what shapes the opportunity to succeed. During difficult times, one could: be afraid, shut down, and turn to denial, or turn to courage, and stand up in order to come out stronger. In society today, it is so easy to to preach courage, yet so hard to execute it. People are often afraid their voices will be silenced. They believe their lives will be threatened, so they do not use their courage, and do not stand up for the things that truly matter. “Rather than focusing on failure, and becoming discouraged from pursuing their goals courageous leaders look at challenges as opportunities to improve” (Keeping Your Courage in the Face of Adversity). This is extremely important to Malala and Atticus, two courageous leaders, because it is what helped them tremendously.
Malala Yousafzai is one of many motivational activists that courageously pushed forward when faced with adversity.
Although it came with life-threatening consequences, she never backs down when things got tough. She continues to impact the world greatly with her vast amount of passion, even at such a young age. In her book I Am Malala, she is faced with struggles including her religion, sex, and her rights to education. Malala’s toughest adversity in her life, is the Taliban. The Taliban tested her courage when they sent various threats to her as she was speaking freely about women's rights for education in a country that oppresses females. The Taliban has completely banned education for women entirely, because they are threatened by the fact that educated women could potentially have the power to act against them. In many situations, this extremist group has blown up hundreds of schools that allows girls to attend, and believe that educating girls is against the law. Malala, her love for education, and her immense amount of courage, has allowed her to stand up and fight against the Taliban, even if it meant
death.
Despite these adversities, the Taliban was unable to silence the courageous Malala. In 2009, Malala began to voice her opinion about girls rights to education, and life under the Taliban rule, when she started a blog. Malala then contacted New York Times, and was interviewed on the threats she was receiving from the Taliban. She stated in this interview that “At night when I used to sleep, I was thinking all the time that shall I put a knife under my pillow… The time was of fear, but some people can overcome fear and some can fight fear”(Malala Yousafzai: 'Death Did Not Want to Kill Me'). Fighting against her fears was exactly what Malala was willing to do. An immense amount of courage was needed to publically speak out against these threats because of the possible consequences on her life. Despite her receiving these ongoing threats from this extremist group, she stands up to the Taliban, and faces any and all adversities.
Unfortunately, her courage against the Taliban was not enough and she was shot in October of 2012 when members of the Taliban raided her school bus. At this moment in her life, Malala was going to face her biggest adversity yet, life or death. Doctors fought hard to remove the bullet and keep her stabilized, but after that it was her turn to continue fighting. Malala spent weeks fighting for her life and her determination allowed her to come out even stronger. Most importantly, after she recovered, she did not stop fighting for women's rights to education. She was brought to England after she was injured. There, she continued to be an inspiration and role model for the world. She began sharing her story, and continued to fearlessly fight.
To compare Malala’s courage to literature, Atticus from To Kill a Mockingbird defends Tom Robinson in a trial in which he thinks there is no hope. As a black man in the 1930’s, Tom was at a disadvantage going into a rape accusation trial against Maywell Ewell, a white woman. Despite these challenges, Atticus courageously and fearlessly faced this adversity and took on the trial. Due to Tom’s skin color, the entire town was against him. This made it extremely hard for Atticus because he had to stand up and go against what an entire town believed to be true. Out of the many hardships he faces in this book, his adversity to fight alongside Tom Robinson was one of his hardest. Atticus truly believed Tom was innocent and was disgusted how society depicts black men and how racist his town is. He voices his opinion by saying “whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash”(Lee 295). This relates back to courage in the face of adversity, because Atticus took what he believed in, and boldly spoke out in spite of the towns beliefs.
Unfortunately, with great courage comes consequences to not only him, but his children too. At school, Scout was terrorized by a boy who tells her that her dad is no better than the black man he is working for. Throughout all of this, Atticus managed to stay strong to not only prove the town wrong, but to set an example of courage and standing up for what you believe in to his kids. He wants to show his kids that courage is a key characteristic to have. In one of the most memorable moments in To Kill A Mockingbird, he describes what courage really is telling his children that it is “when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what” (Lee 149). This was a very important moment for the theme of courage in To Kill A Mockingbird because Atticus is, in sense, saying that he knew he was out of luck at the very start when he took on the case, but he took on the case anyways. Atticus’ many acts of courage in the face of adversity made him a strong man, and great father figure to his children.
Malala from I Am Malala and Atticus from To Kill a Mockingbird show real life issues and how hard it was for them both to courageously fight when the odds were stacked against them. It took Malala a tremendous amount of courage to take her passion for learning and education and turn it into a lesson for the world. She alone went up against an entire extremist group for what she believed in and fought with her bravery alone. Atticus, similarly to Malala, was forced to go up against a racist town to defend an innocent black man, which had to take an immense amount of courage as well. In doing so, he showed his children what courage truly meant. These leaders relate directly to the ongoing theme in society of courage in the face of adversity because they were all challenged with adversity and used courage to come out stronger. While researching, it was very saddening to see how large of an issue this truly is. I believe it to be very unfortunate that people are afraid of having courage for what they believe in because they are afraid of being silenced by the public. Sadly this is happening, so much so that it has become a pattern in our culture. Fortunately for Malala from I Am Malala and Atticus from To Kill A Mockingbird, courage, a trait that many struggle to acquire, was not stopping them from fighting for equality in the face of adversity.