Life narratives are particularly important for providing a voice to groups typically marginalized or stereotypes (Couser 31). Through the stories written the ability to understand and empathize is harvested. Life narratives are ways to shrink the world and address the commonalities between people of marginalized groups and the rest of the world. Part of a life narrative, demonstrated in both I Am Malala and Cockeyed, is the mundane experiences.
It is noteworthy to consider the way that life narratives are used to grow sympathy and consideration for these kinds of oppressive systems. Instead of using numbers and pointing out the different systems that allow for these issues to fester, both Malala and Knighton tell their story to express the broken system. This raises the question of whether life narratives are the most effective method of addressing girls’ education and of addressing the treatment of individuals with disabilities. Are I Am Malala and Cockeyed about the individuals’ struggle against oppressive forces? Or are life narratives able to influence the way that audiences look at these issues?
Both I Am Malala and Cockeyed do not address current statistics or write about how to change the system. In I Am Malala, Malala first talks about her time in school and then focuses on the importance of fighting for girl’s education. Malala’s story does not immediately go into her fight for girls’ education. Instead the story develops with an increasingly better understanding of her as an individual. Cockeyed is similar in that it does not begin by discussing the challenges faced by people who are blind, and instead begins with the addressing of his character.
Cockeyed and I Am Malala both work to humanize their situation and share universal experiences. For example, I Am Malala mentions Malala’s experiences in school and moments with her family. In Cockeyed, Knighton writes about struggle with accepting his condition. Both stories are focusing on common human experiences. It is arguable whether this is a more influential way of starting conversations on the issues expressed in these life narratives. Although this is the case, it is noteable that two stories about two different issues about two different people could both take similar measures to convey a greater message and purpose in their writing.
Works Cited
Couser, G. Thomas. Signifying Bodies: Disability in Contemporary Life Writing. University of Michigan Press, 2009, pp. 31-48.
Yousafzai, Malala; Lamb, Christina. I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban). Little, Brown and Company, 2013, pp. 3-14.
Knighton, Ryan. Cockeyed. Penguin Random House Canada, 2006.
Gurneet (Neetu) Dha
October 17, 2016 — 8:59 pm
I like how you mentioned that their life narratives don’t at all try to use statistics or any sort of numerical data to represent the struggle of their oppressed group. That instead they use their story to show the struggle and the significance. But, in a way their stories are like statistics. They can be just as, or even more, mind-blowing to the reader. The point of statistics is to show the numerical data and usually, it is used to show just how mind-blowing some facts can be. And these life narratives are meant to do the same thing but instead it focuses on the one being and their story and that is more than enough to show the struggle.