Viewing "Brand Malala" from Five Perspectives

                                                                                                                           

Yasmine Abou Hamdan

Ms. Dania Adra

English 203

26 September , 2015

                                   Viewing "Brand Malala" from Five Perspectives
            The text “Brand Malala” addresses a social issue which is the Pakistani school girl Malala being shot. This text exposes how western politicians exploited Malala to distort the eastern image by giving her all the attention while rights in the east and west are still being violated, she says, ”Exploitation of women whether emotionally, physically, financially, is so ingrained in our society”(Grayson 594).This makes the text very essential to society as it exposes a violation of a social issue which is gender justice. This text pictures an image of injustice in eastern society, it also projects an image of the western society which is not a perfect one either, that’s because women have been asking for their rights in courts and are not listened to. Furthermore, the text “Brand Malala” influences society by exposing problems and social tensions and thus leaving an impact on western society mainly, encouraging it to ask for the rights being violated as a means to achieve justice. In addition, the text highly reflects current times as famous western figures such as Justin Beiber, were used to market the “Malala Brand”, Grayson states, "To ease the entry into western homes via multimedia, we are told Malala likes pop star Justin Beiber, is championed by actor and UN ambassador Angelina Jolie and what transition would be complete without the obligatory photo with a smiling David Beckham”(Grayson 596). It is also related to the past, as the issue of gender equality is an old issue and women’s rights have been violated for a long time.

           A different way of interpreting this text is from an emotional point of view. All in all, we can sense the writer's disapproval of the advertisement of Malala with no clear goal of gender justice.She explains her disapproval with a tone of anger.The writer is sarcastic at times as she says, “I doubt she fully realises the extent to which she is being exploited by her new “mentors” in the UK”(Grayson 593). The quotations around the word mentors prove her sarcasm. This sarcasm also appears when she describes how western politicians are using Malala to fake their caring about eastern women, she quotes words as “rescuing” and “save” that also prove her being sarcastic towards the idea of western politicians interested in protecting women in the east. Words like “misogynist” and “avid supporter”(Grayson 594) used to describe Gardor Brown, show feelings of hatred and anger towards him. Finally, in the conclusion, the tone is twisted to an encouraging and hopeful one when she says, “Malala should not be used as a diversion to distract away from other women that have been fighting in British courts for years to highlight injustice and the wrong doing of government”(Grayson 598).
           Furthermore by interpreting the text from a rhetorical perspective, we can conclude that the text “Brand Malala” is a nonfictional expository essay and an impersonal text. The sentences used are long sentences that’s to explain how Malala is being exploited. We notice also the use of rhetorical questions as she questions, “how many people can name the other girls injured when Malala was shot? What quality of care and support did they receive? Are they represented by PR companies?”(Grayson 596). She raises these rhetorical questions, to highlight the fact that western politicians weren’t actually saving these girls but using Malala as a figure to expose how the east violates women's rights.
          From a logical point of view, Grayson in the text “Brand Malala” debates the issue of Malala being used by western politicians. She proves this by stating how these politicians avoid certain violations in their country and how they didn’t give equal attention to the girls being injured as they did to Malala. The writer finally reaches a conclusion that gender justice isn’t served by exploiting one woman and suppressing the others(Grayson 598).In addition, the issue of Malala shouldn’t be used as a means to ignore British women who have been trying to attain justice years ago as Malala wouldn’t want this either. To reach this conclusion, the writer provides convincing evidence showing how Malala was given a lot of attention whereas the same people giving her attention seem to ignore other but similar cases for example:
                I recall one campaigner harmed by the state writing to Gordon

                Brown on his deathbed requesting a meeting in a list ditch attempt

                to obtain gender justice for widows left behind. The BBC spoke

                highly of the activist, noted how he “died a disappointed man”

                ignored by Gordon Brown. Such requests were repeated by others

                many times.
We also notice that the text uses an inductive approach as the conclusion stated above was based on prior examples and evidence.In addition, we notice parallelism in paragraph fourteen of the text when she says,"Malala the book,Malala the film, Malala the award nominee,Malala the portrait". Parallelism in here serves in showing how the west has turned Malala into a celebrity. We can also spot parallelism in paragraph five when she says,"emotionally, physically, financially". Parallelism here shows that exploitation of women in the west exists in different forms.
           Finally, by viewing the text from an ethical perspective, we notice that it focuses highly on the duty of western politicians and society as a whole to condemn all violence specifically against women as to attain gender justice. Grayson finds wrongness in the way western politicians are dealing with Malala’s case and ignoring other violent actions specially in their countries.The writer believes that all violation must be condemned and all rights must be respected.In addition, the text circulates around essential morals and values as respecting women's rights.
















                                                              Work cited

“”Brand Malala”: Western Exploitation of a schoolgirl.” Shifting Narratives: A Reader for Academic Writing. Ed.Sinno Z., R., Bioghu-Karkanawi L., Fleszar D., N. Jarkaz, Moughabghab E., Nish J. M., Rantisi R., Ward A.Beirut:Middle East,2015.Print.