We Are Displaced

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | YA | Published in 2018

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapters 1-3

Part 1, Chapters 4-6

Part 2, Introduction and Chapters 7-9

Part 2, Chapters 10-12

Part 2, Chapters 13-15

Part 2, Chapter 16-Epilogue

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

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Part 1, Chapters 1-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1: “I Am Displaced”

Chapter 1 Summary: “Life As We Knew It”

Yousafzai reminisces about her childhood in the Swat Valley of Pakistan, which she says is referred to as the “Switzerland of the East” due to its forested mountains and natural beauty. Her early childhood was a peaceful and happy one, and while she had some awareness of a group called the Taliban, their presence felt like a very distant problem. However, her family’s fears about a Taliban occupation grew as the group became more prominent in their region.

While the beginning of the 21st century saw some advancement for women’s rights in Pakistan, in the Swat Valley, a growing number of people adhered to more conservative interpretations of Islam. Yousafzai says that because an extremist organization donated aid to locals after an earthquake, they gained legitimacy in the eyes of some people in the community, causing more people in the Swat Valley to become interested in their belief system. These people, who Yousafzai explains were aligned with the Taliban, advocated for women to cover their faces, for men to maintain long beards, and that activities such as dancing or watching Western movies were “sinful” (Location 109). Ultimately, they encouraged Pakistanis to burn their electronic devices and claimed that allowing girls to attend school was not Islamic. Yousafzai shares that her Muslim family was adamantly opposed to this interpretation of Islam, and that as a child, she was confused about why the Taliban did not want girls to receive an education. Her father, Ziauddin, established two schools, one of which was for girls, and the family became increasingly concerned about the Taliban’s activities. Yousafzai remembers seeing more Taliban members in her town, identifiable by their long beards and black turbans, and feeling frightened of them.

Chapter 2 Summary: “How Could This Be Happening?”

The Taliban escalated its violence in the Swat Valley by bombing girls’ schools and murdering anti-Taliban locals, displaying their bodies in the city square. Yousafzai remembers that her father remained outspoken against the Taliban insurgency, but grew more worried for his personal safety. The Pakistani government deployed troops to counter the Taliban, and Yousafzai and her family felt desensitized by the increasing violence, often hearing bombs and firearms nearby. She recalls how, in 2008, the Taliban ordered local girls’ schools in the Swat Valley to close. This was deeply personal for Yousafzai, as her father had to close one of his schools and her own education was stopped. As a result, she felt that her future was becoming very uncertain, explaining, “A ban on girls’ schools meant a ban on my dreams, a limit on my future” (Location 176).

Chapter 3 Summary: “Internally Displaced”

The Taliban’s ban on girls’ education was very unpopular in the Swat Valley. While they already destroyed many girls’ schools that had closed, they softened their policy and allowed girls in Kindergarten through Grade 4 to attend school to appease the local population. While Yousafzai was in Grade 5, she took advantage of this new rule by pretending she was a year younger to go to school again. Despite the dangerous environment, her father continued to publicly oppose the Taliban in TV and radio interviews.

In 2009, the Pakistani government gave all civilians two days to leave the Swat Valley, as the government wanted to launch a military offensive to oust the Taliban from the area. While Yousafzai’s father was inclined to stay, her mother saw the city evacuating and quickly made plans to go to her brother’s house in Shangla. Yousafzai witnessed people leaving the area in a panic with only basic possessions, with many fleeing on foot with their children. Yousafzai’s father left the family in Shangla and went to Peshawar to meet with friends who were also anti-Taliban activists. Yousafzai writes that she, her mother, and her siblings completed most of the journey in their friends’ vehicle but walked the final 15 miles. When they finally arrived at her uncle’s modest home in the town of Shangla, he told them that the Taliban had recently been there, leading Yousafzai to feel that “Nowhere was safe” (Location 240).

Part 1, Chapters 1-3 Analysis

In these passages, Yousafzai discusses how the Taliban’s violence and intimidation had a profound impact on her childhood and her family. Violence was a major factor in the Taliban’s ability to occupy villages and impose their rules on locals. Yousafzai demonstrates this by recounting her personal experiences. She recalls her family hiding music cassettes when an armed Taliban member pulled them over in their car. She felt her mother’s fear and remembers the Taliban telling her to cover her face. She recalls that the man’s weapon intimidated her into silence, writing, “I wanted to ask, ‘Why? I am only a child.’ But the Kalishnikov slung over his shoulder stopped me from speaking” (Location 138). As the Taliban’s presence grew, Yousafzai and her family lived in increasingly fearful circumstances. She recalls sprinting to school to avoid encountering the Taliban and sitting with her family at night while hearing the attacks in the distance.

Yousafzai’s story also raises the theme of civilians’ experience of war. As a resident of Mingora who had to evacuate the city along with thousands of others, Yousafzai’s first-hand experience of fleeing war captures the panic, anxiety, and physical exhaustion displaced people endure. She uses descriptive imagery to highlight the chaos and danger of the evacuation, writing, “From the relative comfort of our crowded car, I stared out in awe at the flood of people. Women with a bag on one shoulder, a child on the other. […] A woman with a scarf tied around the hands of her two daughters to make sure she didn’t lose them in the crush” (Location 216). Yousafzai’s testimony demonstrates the toll this journey took on her as an 11-year-old child, as she went through “three days of uncertain travel” (Location 233). She remembers, “We all just wanted safety and to see something familiar. To stop moving. I had never wanted to simply sit so badly in my life” (Location 233).