WORD LISTS

"I Am Malala" by Malala Yousafzai, Part Five-Epilogue

Thu Jul 23 11:20:35 EDT 2015
An ordinary Pakistani girl is shot by the Taliban while fighting for her right to an education. In this memoir, Malala Yousafzai, the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, tells her story.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Prologue–Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five–Epilogue
complicated
I was in a high bed, and all around me, complicated machines beeped and purred.
excruciating
Meanwhile, the bright lights in my room were excruciating, like hot white daggers to my eyes, especially my poor left eye, which wouldn’t close.
distorted
Who was this poor, distorted Malala?
specimen
The Latin verb "specere" means "to look at" and the noun "specimen" means "that by which a thing is known." But in looking at herself in the mirror after being shot in the face, Malala does not know herself. Ironically, Malala had once wanted to be a doctor, but her close brush with death and extended stays in hospitals convinced her that becoming a political leader would enable her to help more people.
I was like a scientist studying a specimen.
cooperate
Especially now that Malala has fully recovered and is able to smile without upsetting her parents, the example sentence can be seen as humorous. The choice of the verb "cooperate" might be a pun that alludes to the operations Malala underwent and to the global cooperation she is now working towards.
The left side of my face still would not cooperate.
fracture
When the bullet hit my temple, it fractured the bone, sending splinters of bone into the lining of my brain.
condition
Dr. Fiona explained that the surgery had been a success but that I had developed an infection and that my condition had started to worsen.
ordeal
Suddenly I saw that they had some gray hairs and wrinkles. Had they always had them? Or had this ordeal aged them somehow?
awkward
I thought I was grinning—but my parents saw something that looked like an awkward, crooked frown.
brink
Literally, a brink is "the edge of a steep place" or "a region marking a boundary." But the example sentence uses the noun in a figurative phrase to describe the dangerous condition between life and death. Ironically, because her life was on the brink, in order to save her, the doctors had to push her closer to death with a medically induced coma so that they could fly her to a better-equipped hospital on the other side of the world.
He had never doubted the rightness of our cause—but that cause had taken his daughter to the brink of death.
therapy
I told her what the doctors had told me: I would have to undergo several surgeries and months of physical therapy, but my face would eventually improve.
recovery
My recovery was a blessing, a gift from God and from all the people who had cared for me and prayed for me.
endure
But while I was in Birmingham watching Shrek and his talking donkey, my poor parents had been thousands of miles away, enduring their own terrible pain.
abandoned
My father did not want me to wake up in a strange country without my family there. He was worried about how confused I would be, how abandoned I might feel.
transpire
And yet, as my parents told me everything that had transpired while I was in a coma or in my windowless hospital room, it was almost as if they were telling me a story about someone else.
astonished
I was astonished at how many cards there were.
overwhelming
It was exciting, overwhelming, and—because my brain was still not working right—confusing.
devour
The Latin "vorare" means "to swallow" and another definition of "devour" is "eat greedily." But the example sentence's use of the verb shows that Malala is more of a voracious reader than eater. It supports one of the first images in the memoir, in which she leaves her breakfast half-eaten to rush off to school.
I was finally able to read again and devoured The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a book given to me by the former prime minister of the United Kingdom, Gordon Brown.
progress
Compare with "recovery." The prefix "re" means "back" and "pro" means "forward." Both words refer to Malala's life after the shooting. But if Malala had to choose between the two, she would likely focus on "progress." Despite the concluding words of her memoir ("My world has changed, but I have not"), her goal is to keep improving herself and the world.
My progress was steady and my spirits got better every day.
attache
He would be Pakistan’s education attache.
perplexed
My mother, who cannot speak English like the rest of us, wanders perplexed through the shops, inspecting the strange foods for sale.
adapt
Meanwhile, we have all adapted, little by little, to this new place.
marvel
I was marveling at all the different types of people in this city.
humanitarian
I am making books, documentaries, and speeches, and I am meeting interesting people, doing social media campaigns, and engaging in humanitarian work.
tragedy
But out of the violence and tragedy came opportunity.
extraordinary
On my sixteenth birthday, I was given the most extraordinary gift: I was invited to speak to the United Nations.
solemn
It would be a far cry from the solemn and fearful birthdays I had spent in Pakistan not long ago.
dignity
I speak not for myself, but for all girls and boys.
I raise up my voice not so that I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard.
Those who have fought for their rights:
Their right to live in peace.
Their right to be treated with dignity.
Their right to equality of opportunity.
Their right to be educated.
ambition
The terrorists thought that they would change our aims and stop our ambitions, but nothing changed in my life except this: Weakness, fear, and hopelessness died.
immeasurable
But I know that with the immeasurable height, God has also given me a responsibility and a gift: the responsibility to make the world a more peaceful place, which I carry with me every moment of every day

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