This was the first assignment we had to write in our communications class. The task was to pick a speech of our choosing and analyze it in terms of the use of rhetorical concepts, theories, and paradigms. I had combed through about twelve speeches before choosing Malala’s. One reason I did choose this, outside of how powerful it is, is the fact that this speech was recorded, so I was able to watch and listen to hoe the speech was delivered and how the audience responded. Got 100% on this assignment, but let me know in the comments what you think.
Written on April 3rd, 2024
For millions of children in many parts of the world, primary, let alone secondary education is either not provided, or those who seek it are kidnapped and or killed. Some believe this to be a cultural view on, especially women. That having a formal education is only for men and that a girls are to be married off young to raise families instead of pursuing their dreams. For many children, going to school is dangerous and considered a crime. Malala Yousafzai knew this when the Taliban came to her home of Swat and shot her and others on a bus taking them to school. Malala survived and has not let fear hold her back as she stands for the right of education for all children. Malala won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 and delivered her acceptance speech in Oslo, Norway with a call-to-action message for the leaders of the world (Yousafzai, 2024). In the following pages, we will apply concepts of rhetorical theory to Malala’s speech, analyze how it was delivered, and remark on how her clear message cannot be ignored to those she calls out.
Rhetorical Theory and Criticism
Rhetorical theory is a field of study within communications that looks at how we create our message, both in context and grammatically, and how we choose to deliver that message. Rhetoricians look at how Aristotle’s five canons help to breakdown rhetoric, providing a sort of guide or outline to ensure our message is received. These are invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery (Newson &Montenegro, 2024). While we cannot see into Malala’s mind as to how she physically went about planning her speech, we can analyze her speech and through deductive reasoning, find her motivations, style, and methods of providing artistic appeals.
First, and foremost, Malala begins her speech as what it is intended to be, an acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize for her work with the Malala Fund, which aims to bring education to girls who live in countries where this is not innately accessible, becoming the youngest Nobel laureate (Yousafzai, 2024). After thanking her parents, the committee, and Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian human rights activist for children labor laws and close friend, Malala begins to state that the award is not just for her, but for the “forgotten children who want education” and begins to introduce the issues around education in her country and those like it (Yousafzai, 2024). Further on, we see several examples of Malala’s use of emotion, or pathos, to draw the audience’s attention to the ethical injustice of what schooling is like for a vast number of children around the world. Being a target of the Taliban herself for fighting for her own education, Malala knows firsthand the real-life dangers and threats there are to face in her goals. In her speech, she states: “When my world suddenly changed, my priorities changed too. I had two options. One was to remain silent and wait to be killed. And the second was to speak up and then be killed. I chose the second one.” (Yousafzai, 2024). By this statement we see that, her fearlessness to continuously go against those who tried to killer her paired with the fact that she is saying this during a Nobel Peace Prize acceptance, her motivations never faltered after her attempted assassination. These are heavy words and actions for a seventeen-year-old but Malala goes on further, adding equal amounts ethos and pathos to drive home her point of the importance of education for all.
Malala shares a few stories about the struggles her sisters have faced in their own lives and the lives of those in other countries affected specifically by terrorist activity preventing girls from proper education. She used evenly mixed ethos and pathos through her speech to elicit an emotional response from the audience on ethical matters. She then speaks to the children of the world, her “brothers and sister”, to be the change, stating that the “so-called world of adults” are not doing enough and cannot do enough, if they do actively push for education rights as well (Yousafzai, 2024). By addressing the children in a room full of adult, many of whom are world leaders and people in various degrees of power, she is not only making her statement for change, but perhaps trying to show the “so-called world of adults” that they have not done their children justice.
Rhetorical Components and Speech Delivery
While this is at its core, an acceptance speech, Malala uses several rhetorical components to make her telos, or purpose clear. In watching the recorded video of Malala’s speech, there are several moments when the audience is clearly moved, leading to grand applause and even tears from some of the audience members. In comparing the video recording to the printed text of her speech that Malala has on her website, the dictation of the text, including pauses and emphasis, we can also see, she placed these ‘power statements’ in strategic locations and delivered them with specific gravitas. Her audience reacted both appropriately, and presumptuously, how she wanted them to by doing this. By this observation, it is clear that Malala knew not only how to address the room, but at what points during her speech to act on the audience’s pathos.
A Clear Message
Malala states her experiences and motivations for why she fights for educational rights for children through the middle third of her speech. In the final third, she calls to the world leaders, some of whom are sitting in the room with her, and tells them to take a look at their own children’s education. She asks them, “why do leaders accept that for children in developing countries, only basic literacy is sufficient, when their own children do homework in Algebra, Mathematics, Science and Physics?” (Yousafzai, 2024). This is calling their attention and the world’s attention to the hypocrisy that they show when they argue for reasons why improving the current education systems is difficult or not feasible in certain situations or countries, while their own children’s access is virtually unlimited. It prompts thought to how they can ignore other people’s children but secure these things for their own. Malala then states, “leaders must seize this opportunity [Sustainable Development Goals] to guarantee a free, quality, primary and secondary education for every child.” (Yousafzai, 2024).
Malala concludes her speech with an alliteration of the phrase “let this be the last time that…” where she lists out her goals for her current and future work with human rights and the right to education. Malala again addresses her “brothers and sisters” when she states, “…let us become the first generation that decides to be the last that sees empty classrooms, lost childhood, and wasted potentials.” (Yousafzai, 2024).
Conclusion
Throughout Malala’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, we can observe clear use of rhetoric devices employed to elicit pathos from the audience on matters of ethical thinking. She demonstrates a clear understanding of rhetoric in the eyes of Cicero, a Roman orator and lawyer (National Geographic Society, 2023). Cicero strongly disagreed with the thought that eloquent speech did not play a role in political science, but that it was in fact an integral part, that the goal of speech is to persuade the audience (Cicero, ca. 90 BCE). This is evident in the way that Malala presented her speech, where she used alliteration and a slow and steady speech rate to add emphasis on the ethical matters and a faster rate for times of comedic relief. She knew her audience in the way in which she spoke, but also in how she addressed the leaders in the room as well.
Whether she had won the Nobel Peace Prize or not, I have followed Malala’s story since the news announced the attempt on her life and why. Having a proper education is what makes us who we are and allows us to follow our passions and dreams. While I have not gone through the harrowing dangerous that millions of children have had to in order to get an ounce of the educational support I am beyond grateful to have access to, I agree with Malala’s statements, motivations, and goals. Without education, we loose so much potential from each generation. We must remember to have gratitude and stay humble with our ability to attend the college that the is very paper is being constructed for. For many children, having basic school is a matter of life and death, and the privilege that I have is not lost on me.
Malala Fund. (2024). Malala’s Story [Web Page]. https://malala.org/malalas-story?sc=footer
National Geographic Society. (2023). National Geographic Education: Cicero [Web Page]. https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/cicero/#:~:text=Marcus%20Tullius%20Cicero%20was%20a,as%20a%20high%2Dranking%20consul
Newsom, V., & Montenegro, M. (2024). 1.2 The Foundations of Rhetoric [Web Page]. https://olympic.instructure.com/courses/2475745/pages/1-dot-2-the-foundations-of-rhetoric?module_item_id=83071347
Newsom, V., & Montenegro, M. (2024). 1.3 Roman Rhetorics [Web Page]. https://olympic.instructure.com/courses/2475745/pages/1-dot-3-roman-rhetorics?module_item_id=83071348
The Nobel Prize. (2014). Kailash Satyarthi: Facts [Web Page]. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2014/satyarthi/facts/
SDSU. (2021, May 26). What is Rhetoric? [Web Page]. https://rhetoric.sdsu.edu/about/what-is-rhetoric#:~:text=Rhetoric%20has%20a%20number%20of,knowledge%3B%20the%20classification%20and%20use
Write. Read. Repeat. 
Leave a comment