Malala: A Face for Sale
by selena truong
A published life narrative is never bare; texts of autobiographies and memoirs are all wrapped in what Smith and Watson call a “paratextual surround” (99)—the “publication, reception and circulation” in which frames a text (99).
The front cover is the first thing a potential reader sees; the way the text of a life narrative is displayed is important, as it is a great factor in what determines the success of a book. The front cover is an aspect of peritext—a subcategory of paratext, which includes what Gillian Whitlock, author of Soft Weapons: Autobiography in Transit, explains as “everything between and on the covers” (11).
Whitlock notes that when examining paratext, it is important to think about a number of questions— one specifically being: “how [does what we see] appeal to readers?” (14).
With this question in mind, I will be analyzing the significance of the peritextual aspect of the front cover of I am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban. As described by Acquarelli et al., a book cover serves “to protect, to decorate, and to promote” (1). Furthermore Acquarelli et al. also state that publishers focus their attention primarily on the aspect of promoting (1). The publishers of Malala’s memoir are American and published it in America for a western audience. A question arises here: What did theses publishers do in order to promote the memoir of an unknown, young girl from Pakistan who wanted to share her story?
The cover of Malala’s memoir consists of a large photograph of her face as she looks into the camera and the bold text of the title is written across underneath her chin. In this photo, Malala’s gaze is peaceful and calm—she looks approachable. However, perhaps it is not only her expression that may appeal to the potential western reader, but her appearance. Malala’s skin is light and glowing, her eyes are large and defined, her eyebrows are neat and symmetrical, her nose and face are quite slim and well proportioned, and almost no blemishes exist on her even complexion. Malala’s face looks beautiful—she fits the American standard of beauty…
Is is this a coincidence?
A year after Malala’s memoir was published, another edition of her story was published—the young reader’s edition. On the cover of this edition, Malala’s face looks recognizably different. On this cover, her skin is slightly darker, her eyes are smaller and not as defined, her nose and face are wider, her eyebrows are not quite symmetrical, and spots and blemishes are visible in her complexion. Malala still looks beautiful, but it is questionable as to whether this version of herself would fit the American standard of beauty.
It seems as though the publishers of Malala’s original memoir saw it necessary to have her face photoshopped. For, in order to increase interest and sales of a memoir of a culturally marginalized, and unknown girl, it is likely that the publishers knew that a western standardized version of a beautiful face would have to be presented in order to appeal to a potential reader and for them to thus want to know who is Malala? The appeal of the reader in the peritext of a book is a vital part of its success and unfortunately, Malala’s true appearance might have had to be sacrificed for this cause.
On another note, perhaps sacrificing Malala’s appearance did have some value in it. She did become famous and she was able to share her story with the western world. With this said, it is likely that because she was already famous and well-known for her cause, it was no longer necessary for her appearance to be altered to fit a shallow standard in her second edition for younger readers.
Maybe it is true that readers should not judge a book by its cover. However, in this case it is clear that analyzing the cover is a completely different story.
Works Cited
Acquarelli et al. “Visual Peritext: Covers and Other Visual Presentation Strategies.” Visual Peritext: Covers and Other Visual Presentation Strategies. N.p., 08 July 2010. Web. 05 Oct. 2016.
Smith, Sidonie, and Julia Watson. Reading Autobiography: A Guide for Interpreting Life Narratives. N.p.: U of Minnesota, 2010. Print.
Whitlock, Gillian. Soft Weapons: Autobiography in Transit. Chicago: U of Chicago, 2007. Print.
Yousafzai, Malala, and Christina Lamb. I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot By the Taliban. First edition. Little, Brown, & Company, 2013.
Yousafzai, Malala, and Patricia McCormick. I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World. Young readers edition. Little, Brown and Company, 2014.
I also agree that Malala’s face was touched up by photo editors to make her fit the “America standard of Beauty,” but I wonder why that is necessary? She is promoting herself as being from another country and being under the regime of the Taliban, so why not have a picture that symbolises that onto the cover? Part of the books title is that she was “shot by the Taliban,” and she was shot in the head, but the image on the book does not look like a girl who has been shot.
I am curious as to why the picture is of only her face and not, waist up, or even feet up. Is it to bring more focus to her face, so as to make her visibly beautiful. On the cover picture she is also wearing traditional clothing, which is to show, or rather perpetuate, that she is from a different culture and a different country, so I wonder if the publishers thought that was enough to depict that; and used her face to appeal to American’s by presenting the beauty they are accustomed to, like Selena has explained in her blog post.