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A Rhetorical Analysis Of Speech By Elie Wiesel

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Elie Wiesel strives for peace in a tormented world and atonement for human dignity as he implores Ronald Reagan to reconsider his decision to visit a Bitburg cemetery, a site where graves of Hitler's Waffen SS were found. Wiesel, Jewish political activist and Holocaust witness, begins his address to President Reagan by setting his medal as a symbol inclusive of “all those who remember what SS killers have done”. Using an anecdote of his own personal experience, and a rhetorical question, Wiesel uses humour and an understatement to claim he learned “small things” over the last forty years; however, “the perils of language and those of silence” are anything but. This emphasizes the magnitude of their importance. His deliberate diction is evident …show more content…

Wiesel does not simply request or ask Reagan not to go (diction), but rather he implores, he begs the President not to associate with the Waffen SS; "[his] place is with the victims of the SS". Although there are "political and strategic reasons" to justify Reagan's decision or, rather, indecision, the matter of millions of Jews being tortured and slaughtered transcends politics and calls into question the morals of nations (concession/refutation). It is not a war simply of countries against countries; it is a challenge of morals. Initially, Reagan was unaware of the SS graves, but now that is he aware, this issue is no longer a matter of political relations; his decisions are predicated on morality, the judgement of right and wrong. Should Reagan continue his insensitive actions with his new-found knowledge of the "terror, fear, isolation, torture, [and] gas chambers" (exemplification/catalogue), he would deserve no forgiveness, "for [he] knew what [he] did" – a parallel to Abe Rosenthal's ironic twist of Jesus' last words on forgiveness. Ronald Reagan's presidency almost seems trivial as Wiesel suggests that it is his moral judgement defining this issue. Being president, it is expected of him to make sound, political decisions; it would be political suicide, however, to engage in war. Wiesel

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