Anna Comnena In Anna Of Byzantium

Malala Yousafzai was born on July 12, 1997 to in Mingora, Pakistan. As a child, she attended a school that her father ran and loved learning and education. In her society, most families didn’t find a need to send girls to school. In Pakistan, girls were married off at a young age and were only responsible for cooking and cleaning. Malala was considered luckier than most other girls there, because she got the chance to go to school and her family didn’t view women lesser to men.

In 2007, the Taliban, a terrorist group started to take over the Swat Valley, the province in which Mingora was located. The Taliban prohibited girls from attending school and also banned cultural activities like dancing and singing. The Taliban created strict, discriminatory laws. The consequences for breaking these laws were often public beatings or death. The

Taliban bombed and destroyed 400 schools by the end of 2008. Many girls and teachers at Malala’s school left out of fear. However, Malala and her father refused to give up.
Malala gave her first speech against the Taliban in September of 2008. The title of her speech was titled “How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?” This act of leadership inspired more people to gain courage to stand up to the Taliban. Seeing an 11-year-old lead and go against such a feared terrorist group caused more people revolt against the Taliban. As a result, the Taliban continued attacking more and more schools and enforcing their unfair laws more strictly, but the army of the Swat Valley also started to fight back. People now knew that they could defy the Taliban.
In 2009, Malala began writing a blog for the BBC Urdu under the name “Gul Makai”. She wrote about how she was scared that her school might be closed down and about how there was too much war everywhere. Her act of authority was very dangerous as the Taliban would kill anyone who defied them. Her identity was then revealed in a documentary for the New York Times. She had to stop writing her blog, now that the Taliban knew who she was. She received death threats from the Taliban, but continued to give speeches defying the Taliban for three years. Many people told her she was crazy, but she didn’t care and continued to peacefully protest. She revolted bravely and inspired many people to do the same. Because of all her speeches and blog entries on television and the internet, other countries also became aware of the situation and more people in Pakistan gained the courage to stand up to the Taliban. The Taliban began to slowly lose a little of its power over the Swat Valley.
Then, on October 9, 2012, the Taliban decided to get revenge for all of Malala’s revolting. Malala was coming back from her school on her school bus. Suddenly, two masked gunmen got on the bus and asked who Malala was. The other girls’ looks gave her location away. The first gunman shot three bullets. One hit Malala’s head and the other two grazed two other girls in the bus. Malala was transferred to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham where she slowly recovered. Since the bullet went in the very edge of her head, she was still alive. She left the hospital in about three months after the attack.
On October 10, 2014, Malala Yousafzai won the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the youngest person ever to do so. In her acceptance speech, she said, “ I tell my story, not because it is unique, because it is not. It is the story of many girls.” She said that to explain how life was for girls when the Taliban took control and how it isn’t just her that has faced this problem.
Malala Yousafzai can be compared to Anna Comnena in Anna of Byzantium.

Both Anna and Malala were looked down upon by some others because they were female. In Anna of Byzantium, the foreign ambassadors think that Anna isn’t worthy of the throne since she isn’t male. Many others think that John, the first male child of the emperor should be heir since he is male. The Taliban thought that women didn’t need education and were inferior to men. They enforced unjust laws against everyone, especially women and girls like Malala. Both Malala and Anna didn’t give up because of the views of others. They both were stubborn for what they thought was right. Malala believed in getting an education and Anna believed that she should be heir to the throne as promised, no matter her gender. They both fought for their beliefs. Both of them also loved education and are very intelligent. However, Malala was peaceful while Anna wasn’t. Malala made peaceful speeches and blogs and spoke to interviewers. On the other hand, Anna wanted to kill her brother John to get what she wanted. Anna was also very prideful, while Malala was very caring toward

others.
Malala Yousafzai is a very brave activist who fights for female education. She defied the Taliban and got shot, but still didn’t give up. She now lives in Birmingham and travels all over the world promoting equal rights and education.