Malala Yousafzai, a seventeen-year-old girl Pakistani, became the youngest ever recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, and during her acceptance at the UN General Assembly, she gave an incredible speech. Her speech deserves to be heard. It deserves to he learned; both for its truthful message, and for the oratory skills of the 17-year-old speaker. For one, the selection of the topic is appropriate for the audience. From the start, she manages to get the audience’s attention by stating that she hopes the podium would not be too tall for her as she has become accustomed to. Although she has a written script, she does not read it word by word, which demonstrates that she has rehearsed the speech well and exhibited a perfect grasp of the speech content.
The purpose of the speech is to persuade the audience to acknowledge the plight of women and children in war-torn areas, the world over. The greatest challenge that public speakers face is establishing their credibility to address an audience by establishing ethos. For Malala, her ability to establish ethos lay in her presenting herself, not as a victim of violence, but as a champion of peace. She proclaims: “it is an honor for me that today I am wearing a shawl of the late Benazir Bhutto.” Malala repeats the phrase “dear brothers and sisters” in nearly every paragraph. This repetition serves to emphasize that her message is directed at the youth. She employs the technique of climax by mentioning figures in sequence from the lowest to the highest. In mentioning the figures, she also gives her message credibility by offering supporting material. Finally, Malala employs gestures and other non-verbal techniques such as posture to keep the audience interested. Although her speech is effective overall, it is worth noting that she may have failed to maintain adequate eye contact, as she kept looking around.
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