COMPARE AND CONTRAST-CHARACTER TRAITS OF THE MAIN CHARACTER
The only person that I believe personified all the character traits of the main character was my late grandmother. Her story was somewhat similar to Malala’s. Her family was displaced from the present day Pakistan during the partition in August 1947. As her family was Hindu, they had to flee the predominantly Muslim Pakistan. She was only a little girl when her family started a new life in India after leaving behind everything they owned. Like Malala, she was intelligent and ambitious. She studied hard and grew up to become a doctor. She was very compassionate and often provided treatment free of charge to poor people. She never asked anyone to pay unless they could afford it. She was a rebel in the sense that even though she grew up in a traditional society that expected women to marry early and be dependent on men, she chose to be an independent professional woman. She was very wise and people always came to her for advice. She used to treat the whole person and her patients always left her clinic happier people, as she used to help them resolve their problems. She showed a lot of courage by defying the societal norms and becoming one of the first Indian women to join the Indian Air Force as a doctor. As an officer in the Air Force, she showed leadership qualities by leading the men under her command. In spite of her achievements, she always remained humble and used to say that she wished she could have done more to help people. In her later years she was very sick battling with an autoimmune disease. She used to be in a lot of pain but continued to be independent by sheer will power. She also had a keen sense of justice and believed in equality. She always treated the people who worked for her with respect.