The Perils of Indifference Analysis Elie Wiesel, in his remembrance speech, “The Perils of Indifference” (1999) illustrates the dangers of the indifference that admitted the horrors of the Holocaust. Wiesel tells his illustration with an emotional tone and supports his thesis by drawing on memories of his own Holocaust experience. Wiesel’s purpose is to bring attention to the people that were treated with indifference in the 20th century, in order to advise the US and people everywhere to do better in the new century. Wiesel is specifically addressing the White House at the Seventh Millennium Evening lecture, but his emotional message is intended for all people, as he tells the consequences of apathy toward others. Eliezer Wiesel was born in Sighet, Romania on September 30th, 1928. Wiesel's parents were Shlomo and Sarah Wiesel, and he grew up with two older sisters, Beatrice and Hilda, and one younger, Tzipora. Growing up in a Jewish home, Wiesel was influenced by his religious roots and pursued religious studies at a nearby yeshiva. However, this stopped in 1940 when Hungary annexed Sighet and the Wiesels became one of the thousands of …show more content…
It was given to recognize the events of the 20th century as the world moved into the 21st century. Wiesel looked back on how people were treated with indifference and asked that the US government and people do better in the new millennium. This was a great speech because of the timing and message. The 20th century was full of wars, poverty, and hatred among peoples. Not only did these terrible things happen, but the victims of them were, in general, treated with indifference by governments and society. Wiesel reviewed the events of the 20th century and used an emotional tone to encourage a kinder society going into the next century. Along with real-life examples, Wiesel also uses many rhetorical devices to argue his
Wiesel pinpoints the indifference of humans as the real enemy, causing further suffering and lost to those already in peril. Wiesel commenced the speech with an interesting attention getter: a story about a young Jewish from a small town that was at the end of war liberated from Nazi rule by American soldiers. This young boy was in fact himself. The first-hand experience of cruelty gave him credibility in discussing the dangers of indifference; he was a victim himself.
Being the last sentence of the book, and out of all the passages I highlighted this one stood out to me and described Wiesel’s experience in just a few simple sentence. He looked at himself for the first time in many years, and did not recognize himself he saw a different person. This showed me that the concentration camps changed him he was a different person inside and out. The events that occurred to him had scared him so much that the man he saw in the mirror wasn’t him, but one who had been drained of life that looked lifeless from the events occurred in the concentration camps. He was weak and this whole passage embodies his weakness and the whole point of the concentration camps.
Elie Wiesel enlightens his audience of the injustice Roosevelt submitted Jewish refugees to. Wiesel exclaims that he doesn't not understand if, "Roosevelt was a good man, with a heart." Wiesel questions the indifference in the president of the free world and why he didn't allow these refugees into the country. If Wiesel had not presented this information to his audience about the root and extreme problem of indifference in the country, do you think people would have realized just how terrible the problem is and how neglectful we are of our
Utilization of the repetition of questions allows Wiesel to make the audience ultimately feel as if they are in control of deciding what they think is morally correct. Within almost every paragraph, Wiesel asks his listeners rhetorical questions which truly have one compassionate answer. By using the questions, Wiesel manages to assist the listener in choosing his side without simply telling them what the right answer is. For example, when Wiesel asks if “the human being [has] become less indifferent and more human,” he implies that indifference in unconditionally inhumane. The question of “what will the legacy of this vanishing century be?” fills the audience with the duty of making the end of the century and the upcoming century the most
Indifference need to be gain awareness and be stopped. He develops his claim by narrating the dangers of indifference, and how it affected his life then, describes how wrongful it is to be treated in such a way. Finally Wiesel illustrates examples of how indifference affected the world. Wiesel’s purpose is to inform us about the dangers of indifference in order to bring change about it. He establishes a straightforward tone for the president, ambassadors, politicians, and congressmen.
Elie Wiesel Rhetorical Speech Analysis Elie Wiesel, a holocaust survivor and winner of a Nobel peace prize, stood up on April 12, 1999 at the White House to give his speech, “The Perils of Indifference”. In Wiesel’s speech he was addressing to the nation, the audience only consisted of President Clinton, Mrs. Clinton, congress, and other officials. The speech he gave was an eye-opener to the world in his perspective. Wiesel uses a variety of rhetorical strategies and devices to bring lots of emotion and to educate the indifference people have towards the holocaust. “You fight it.
The characterization of Moshie and Mrs. Shachter shows the indifference and denial of the Jews of Sighet. The chilling juxtaposition of a beautiful landscape containing a camp of death illustrates how the world not only was indifferent to the inhumane suffering, but also continued to shine brightly as if nothing really mattered. This timeless theme of denial and its consequences during the Holocaust echoes the struggles of those in our time who are persecuted solely due to their beliefs. The reader takes away the important lesson of never turning away from those who need it greatest, each time one reads Elie Wiesel’s memoir,
In the speech, titled “The Perils of Indifference,” Elie Wiesel showed gratitude to the American people, President Clinton, and Mrs. Hillary Clinton for the help they brought and apprised the audience about the violent consequences and human suffering due to indifference against humanity (Wiesel). This speech was persuasive. It was also effective because it conveyed to the audience the understanding of
It becomes clear that Elie Wiesel`s commentary on human nature is that, during extreme circumstances, people are selfish and would achieve anything for their own survival. Furthermore, In Wiesel’s novel people strived to survive this injustice. For example, the Holocaust caused countless amount of
Kamalpreet Kaur 10/25/2015 2nd period English 11 Final Draft Essay Night by Elie Wiesel is a Holocaust memoir about his experience with his father in the Nazi German concentration camps in Auschwitz and Buchenwald in 1944–1945. Elie Wiesel was born in Sighet, Transylvania on September 30th, 1928. On December 10, 1986, in the Oslo City Hall, Norway, Elie Wiesel delivered The Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech. Elie Wiesel is a messenger to a variety of mankind survivors from The Holocaust talked about their experiences in the camps and their struggle with faith through the
I believe that Mr. Wiesel was trying to put forth the ideas that if you don’t try to make a difference, the world will never change for the better. We should all do our upmost to make our world a better, and more improved place for our youth to
Elie Wiesel voiced his emotions and thoughts of the horrors done to Jewish people during World War II whilst developing his claim. Wiesel “remember[s] his bewilderment,” “his astonishment,” and “his anguish” when he saw they were dropped into the ghetto to become slaves and to be slaughtered. He repeats the words “I remember” because he and the world, especially those who suffered in the ghettos and camps, would never be able to forget how innocent suffered. Consequently, he emphasized that “no one” has the right to advocate for the dead. Like many other people in the world, he lost his family during the war.
In his 1986 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Elie Wiesel strives to inform his audience of the unbelievable atrocities of the Holocaust in order to prevent them from ever again responding to inhumanity and injustice with silence and neutrality. The structure or organization of Wiesel’s speech, his skillful use of the rhetorical appeals of pathos and ethos, combined with powerful rhetorical devices leads his audience to understand that they must never choose silence when they witness injustice. To do so supports the oppressors. Wiesel’s speech is tightly organized and moves the ideas forward effectively. Wiesel begins with humility, stating that he does not have the right to speak for the dead, introducing the framework of his words.
In seeing human beings as less than human beings, individuals were able to treat one another with a lack of dignity and voice. Wiesel 's work reminds us that anytime voice is silenced, dehumanization is the result. This becomes its own end that must be stopped at all
Finally, the author expresses the dangers in ignorance and forgetfulness, “Because if we forget who the guilty are, we are accomplices” (Wiesel). He also conveys how if we forget the guilty, we do not care about what crimes they put forth. We cannot be ignorant to the oppressors, for the effect is the same as to side with them. In conclusion, Elie Wiesel persuades the audience and expresses his bias on neutrality during World War II by using his authority and personal