Monomyth

Having addressed that narratives propel stories of an individual typically does so by promoting the individual as a hero. It can now be compared to the ways I Am Malala also constructs a narrative that presents Malala as its hero. Arguably this has been achieved through the shaping of the narrative to reflect the conventions of other hero narratives. As previously discussed in section 4.1Billions explains the role of myths which can be linked to hero narratives. (1994 152 [Campbell 1968]) In another chapter from American Heroes in a Media Age Carol Wilkie Wallace also cites American mythologist Joseph Campbell and his book The Hero with A Thousand Faces (1968). . In the chapter titled ―Rhetorical Devices for Hero Making‖ Wallace writes, ―that a hero, both in myth and modern times, is really an archetype who story has common elements across time and culture. All these heroes have survived some form of the rites of passage — a rite of separation, initiation, and return.‖ (169) This is a statement that can be compared to Campbell‘s theory of ―monomyths‖. As Campbell (2008) argues monomyths are narrative structure that the stories of mythical heroes are

repeatedly shaped too. This thesis argues that the structure of the monomyth can also be compared to the structure of I Am Malala‘s narrative. Next I will aim to outline how the narrative of I Am Malala presents conventions of Campbell‘s theory towards hero narratives.

In comparison to a monomyths narrative arc, I Am Malala‘s narrative can be seen to follow the three step process with precision. This can be demonstrated in the ―Contents‖ list of sections; for instance ‗Part One: Before the Taliban‘ I Am Malala in this section presents the world she lives in as an ordinary world. The narrative describes the humble beginnings of the main character; a girl from Swat Valley in Pakistan who aspires for more than the

‗ordinary world‘ she resides within, ‗I dreamed of going to the top of Mount Elum like Alexander the Great to touch Jupiter and even beyond the valley…I wondered how free a

daughter could ever be‘ (2014 20) The title ‗Before the Taliban‘ signifies that this chapter relays the events before there is a need for a hero. The narrator (Malala) is presented to aspire to be an explorer just as the hero Alexander the Great foreshadowing the story that will entail.

Campbell‘s next stage ―the Call to Adventure‖ can be argued is the next section ‗Part Two: The Valley of Death‘. The narrative presents Malala leaving the ordinary and being called to an adventure. Campbell outlines that the ―Call to Adventure‖ entails ―A blunder—

the merest chance—reveals an unsuspected world‖ (42). The section begins with Chapter 9

―Radio Mullah‖ which explores the villain of I Am Malala, the Taliban. The chapter ―Radio Mullah‖ presents how the Taliban appropriated the media using a website and a pirate radio station in order to promote their ideals and gain power. In doing so, numerous outbreaks of violence between the government‘s army and the Taliban took place. For example ―They called it Operation Silence although it was very loud. Never had there been such a battle in the heart of our capital…The news showed shocking pictures of the wreckage, everywhere blood and broken glass, and dead bodies.‖ (Lamb and Yousafzai 106) This event is one of many whereby I Am Malala presents Malala‘s reaction to the horrors that surround the world she lives. As Campbell (2008) claims this part of the new world the hero is thrust in to ‗a place of strangely fluid and polymorphous beings, unimaginable torments, superhuman deeds, and impossible delight‘ (48) It can be argued Malala is presented to be called to adventure when she counters the Taliban‘s propaganda and Pakistan‘s violent climate through her involvement with the media in Pakistan.

The blunder Campbell is referring to can be argued is presented when in reaction to the Taliban bombing and destroying schools in Pakistan, Malala‘s father Ziauddin Yousafzai and Malala appeared on media outlets such as BBC Urdu and Voice of America in order to expose the destruction. As expressed in I Am Malala, Ziauddin was a local school teacher in Swat who was known to be a passionate advocate for equal rights to education amongst his community. He was against the Taliban‘s presence in Pakistan. Malala states that she and her father were very close. His beliefs heavily influenced Malala‘s; specifically his avocation for education. Arguably Ziauddin‘s role in I Am Malala can be compared to the ―helper‖ which Campbell states in myths, ‗The hero is covertly aided by the advice, amulets and secret agents of the supernatural helper whom he met before his entrance into this region‘ (81) Although Ziauddin is not a supernatural force being that I Am Malala is a story that intends to reflect reality, yet in the narrative he is presented to advise Malala, guiding her by his example and inspires her to take up her mission. Moreover, Malala states her reason for speaking out is a result of her father‘s influence and agreement in his beliefs ―I knew he was right. If people

were silent nothing would change‖ (Yousafzai, Lamb 117). This demonstrates that the narrative is constructed to show Malala speaking out to the media supporting her role as the hero through her and her father‘s defiance against the authority of the Taliban‘s destruction of schools.

Another ―blunder‖ which can be considered the cause of an unexpected aid is when the narrative shows Malala being presented with the opportunity to write a blog about her experience of the Taliban. This can be argued is when the second phase known as the

initiation of Campbell‘s narrative arc. In this phase the hero is presented with a form of trials and victories. (Campbell 28) It is presented when the idea for a blog occurred from a

Pakistani correspondent of the BBC Urdu website team Abdul Hai Kakar who contacted Ziauddin Yousafzai. As the narrated in I Am Malala outlines, women‘s voices are

discouraged from being heard, for example the Taliban telling women to stay inside and not to talk to anyone who is not part of their family. It can be argued that their voices, when they are heard, are powerful in this narrative (Lamb and Yousafzai 95) because they symbolise a weapon that can be used against the Taliban. This is an event that demonstrates the power of language. Arguably, the power of language is Malala‘s magic amulet that provides her with a tool that allows for journey to progress alongside the determination of her will.

The event that led to another blunder to power on a global scale occurred as Malala describes during one day she overheard her father discussing the opportunity and volunteered herself to write a diary about her concerns for her education and life with the Taliban‘s violent rule. Hai Kakar suggested she should write an anonymous online blog due to the knowable risks of violence by using a pseudonym called ‗Gul Makai‘.

Gul Makai means ‗cornflower‘ in Pashto and is also named after a famous Pashtun heroine that Malala outlines is a main character of a story that resembles Romeo and Juliet.

However it does not end in tragedy. Malala states that: ‗Gul Makai uses the Holy Quran to teach her elders that war is bad and they eventually stop fighting and allow the lovers to unite‘

(Yousafzai, Lamb 2014: 130). The story acts a symbol of the power of education via the teaching of Islam. Arguably, this is unlike the conventions of hero narratives in Western stories use the teachings of Christian faith to guide the hero.Tthe event of in I Am Malala of titling of Malala ―Gul Makai‖ places Malala alongside the narrative of Gul Makai; a heroine whose intention to provide education based on the teachings of Islam provides her with power her to triumph over the obstacle of war and separation from her lover.

Malala‘s states her native language is Pashto as she is of Pashtun heritage. Therefore, Malala‘s pseudonym was given in respect of her Pashtun heritage, a symbol of her ambition

and her power to stand up for what she believed in. According to Malala, her relationship with her culture has influenced her passion for literacy and has provided the motivation to drive of events connected to her ambition forward.

The narrative journey leads to the blog titled ‗Diary of Pakistani School Girl‘ to have received international recognition. This can be argued is the first event the hero in the narrative of I Am Malala succeeds in the ‗Road of Trials‘ of Campbell‘s initiation phase.

The diary of Gul Makai received attention further afield. Some newspapers printed extracts. The BBC even made a recording of it using another girl‘s voice, and I began to see that the pen and the words that come from it can be more powerful than

machine guns, tanks or helicopters…We were learning how powerful we are when we speak. (2014: 131).

At this point Malala‘s presented relationship with the media is in association with the power of literacy. It sheds light towards the power of literacy to break boundaries within a

patriarchal system.

The narrative continues and relays that from January to March in 2009 Malala wrote diary passionately about the struggles her community faced and how she wished to attend school. According to Malala, her involvement with the blog influenced her and her father to speak out in as many TV interviews as possible just as she had done before. ‗The more interviews I gave, the stronger I felt and more support we received. (Yousafzai, Lamb 2014:

117, 135) Once again the narrative shows the ways in her eyes the media provided up her with strength; a weapon to be used against the authority of the Taliban.

A key event in the narrative of I Am Malala arrives when Malala‘s father was approached by American journalist Adam Ellik who worked for The New York Times. The role of Adam Ellik in the narrative of I Am Malala can also be seen as another ‗helper‘ of the hero (Campbell 2008). This can be argued occurs when Adam films a documentary called

―Class Dismissed in Swat Valley‖. Ellik‘s documentary released in October 2009 is conveyed to have originally was intended to focus on Malala‘s father Ziauddin. Being that he was a well-known advocate for education and owned a school under threat by the Taliban.

However, after discovering Malala‘s talent for English, Ellik decided to follow Malala.

Malala describes her choice to be involved in the documentary had been influenced by the many attacks conducted by the Taliban which had destroyed over 400 hundreds of schools in Swat and across Pakistan (2014: 120).

Malala goes on to state that the numerous appearances speaking out against the Taliban on various television and radio news shows in Pakistan further created a larger following. This resulted in a nomination for the International Children‘s Peace Prize in 2011 followed by being awarded Pakistan‘s National Youth Peace Prize. Once the documentary made by The New York Times had been released Malala received further attention from international audiences of Malala‘s story. Malala states that after the New York Times

documentary had been released, she realised the power of the media ―We saw then the power of the media‖ (Lamb and Yousafzai 137). However, the documentary had revealed Malala‘s identity to the Taliban.

This event can be argued led to Malala‘s ultimate trial the narrative in I Am Malala. In the narrative this leads to the Taliban‘s attack where Malala was shot in the head on her way to school on a bus. This can be seen as the event which will lead to the final phase of the hero‘s journey called ‗separation‘, ‗the adventure of the hero normally follows the patterns of the nuclear unit above described: a separation from the world, a penetration to some source of power, and a life-enhancing returns.‘ (2008: 28) The stage of ‗separation‘ as Campbell

outlines can be compared to when Malala is flown to a hospital in Birmingham, United Kingdom to recover from her injuries. Malala is presented to survive the attack where she suffered no brain damage and after receiving treatment for her injuries she returned to school in Birmingham in March 2013.

According to Campbell the ‗return‘ phase of the hero‘s narrative occurs after the hero has accomplished their quest. Malala‘s quest has not accomplished as such yet she can be compared to being reborn. ‗what happens in the interval of the hero‘s nonentity, so that he comes back as one reborn, made great and filled with creative mankind is also unanimous in declaring‘ (2008: 28) This can be compared to the event where Malala awakes from her coma in the hospital in Birmingham, ‗Rehanna told me that thousands and millions of people and children around the world had supported me and prayed for me…I realised what the Taliban had done was make my campaign global.‘ (2014: 243) The narrative shows that Malala‘a attack led people from across the globe to come together. Malala ‗made great‘ as a survivor of the attack which the ‗thousands and millions of people‘ are ‗unanimous in declaring‘.

I Am Malala‘s ―return stage‖ can also be considered through the presentation of Malala‘s campaign after the attack. The narrative presents the events of the UN naming a day after, her speech at the UN and Malala being nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. ‗the hero shall begin the labor of bringing back into the kingdom of humanity, where the boon may redound to the renewing of the community, the nation, the planet, or the ten thousand worlds‘

(167) As the presented hero, Malala embarks to renew her community, the global one that follows through the power now given to her after she survived her attack.

Overall, it can be argued the narrative of I Am Malala follows Campbell‘s theory of a hero‘s journey precisely. More so, drawing back from Billion‘s citation of Campbell‘s theory towards the role of myths, ―Myths validate and enforce the moral order so that the individual is able to function within his or her particular society, thus contributing to social cohesion‖

(Billions 1994: 152 Campbell 1968]). It can be considered that the narrative of I Am Malala validates the presentation of Malala‘s moral order in to affect change in society. This can be compared to its statement that explicitly says that the book intends to promote girls to aspire to raise their voices to promote change in their communities. The narrative which reflects Campbell‘s narrative arc is the structure from which those intended to read the book (young girls) can be influenced to break the conventional as does Malala. Malala as a hero is neither a Greek god, a warrior, mythical or even male. Therefore, it can put forward that the narrative of I Am Malala breaks conventions of Campbell‘s hero narrative which has been applied to so many stories.

That is to say, Bruner‘s theory which claims autobiographies must put forward stories that break conventions through already established conventions, . For example, the

convention of ―Gul Makai‖; a narrative that breaks the conventional of its connected narrative Romeo and Juliet whereby the heroes do not die, they succeed in their ambition due to their understanding of the Quran‘s teachings. The narrative construction of Malala‘s autobiography breaches the conventional will be outlined through comparisons made between her narrative and the news media‘s narratives. This will aim to demonstrate how narrative structures shed light on the cultural conventions which are represented by news media. Next this thesis will aim to present how I Am Malala breaks conventions associated to the role of the villain.