In this essay we will review the historical side and the persuasive writing side of Elie Wiesel’s speech “The Perils of Indifference”. We will give some background information on why they gave this speech. Tell you what appeals he used and if he used all three of the persuasive writing appeals ( emotional, logical, ethical ). Why the speech is very widely admired and cherished and still highly regarded. Also how the author used the appeals. He wrote this speech for the Millennium Lectures. The Millennium Lectures are where they discuss the past millennium and what's going to happen in the future. They are basically like an end of the millennium assessment. When writing this speech he had to keep in mind that he was writing about the past millennium and trying to make indifference the main point of the speech. By that I mean he wanted to say how it was so popular in his millennium and was wondering if we …show more content…
Elie spoke of his past and the several events that took place during his time in concentration camps. While showing an immense amount of gratitude to what the current day “Government” he also talks about the terrible mistakes we made as a country during World War II. Elie wonders why we didn't intervene as much as we should have untill after the war saying “Why was there a greater effort to save SS murderers after the war than to save their victims during the war?”. Elie does speak of christians though saying “But then, there were human beings who were sensitive to out tragedy. Those non-jews, those Christians, that we called the “Righteous Gentiles,” whose selfless acts of heroism saved the honor of their faith. Why were they so few?” . He does a tremendous job of deliberately making us feel awful about not intervening, but then gives us hope that we can still do right and
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.
Lack of concern, lack of interest, lack of sympathy. These are all ways to describe indifference and none of them are good. Elie Wiesel made sure America knew that this is how they acted when the Jews were in desperate need of help. In the speech The Perils of Indifference Elie Wiesel uses hypophora, juxtaposition, and paradox to effectively elicit the guilt that should come from being indifferent. With hypophora, Elie is able to highlight the wrong doings that could have been avoided.
The word choice and the moderate/slow speed were very appropriate for the topic. He often used the words “indifference”, “hatred”, “humanity”, “learned”, and “victims”. The word “indifference” got emphasized quite a bit, more than other words. During the whole speech he was looking around at his audience, only checking his papers from time to time. While making an important statement he might sweep his arms in a downward motion, taking a pause after finishing.
He expresses his beliefs about self-cultivated moral character, where he stated that if an individual look at him/herself as a victim he/her is failing to him/herself. It is not America failing the individual because the individual is not living the
By using rhetorical questions Wiesel subtly convinces the audience to care more about how their indifference will affect the upcoming generations. Elie Wiesel also uses repetition right through his speech. He repeats the word “indifference” meaning the lack of interest, concern, or sympathy. He tells his audience that he knows indifference is the easiest option but that indifference leads to suffering in all forms. Through repetition, he persuades his audience that indifference is the reason for many tragedies from the Holocaust to assassinations.
Wiesel emphasizes the problem of apathy using pathos and ethos to make his case. Elie Wiesel achieves this in a number of ways by putting the audience and himself on an equal footing, and because of his earlier success, he has credibility even before he starts talking about the idea of indifference. Elie Wiesel urges his audience to take action to fight the indifference in society and between nations. This speech attempts to educate listeners on the speaker's viewpoint on indifference and how societies respond to disasters.audience in his shoes and the shoes of others who have suffered as a result of indifference. Elie Wiesel's life has been marred by tragedy.
Henry Hultberg Mr. Bolton CIHS Public Speaking 7 March, 2023 Great Speech Analysis: The Perils of Indifference Elie Wiesel, in his persuasive speech, “The Perils of Indifference”(1999) emphasizes the dangers of apathy and indifference and that people should not look away from the pain and suffering that people go through. Wiesel develops and supports his thesis with his use of imagery, repetition, and rhetorical questions(vocabulary. com). Wiesel’s purpose is to persuade the audience that people should not turn away from human suffering and ignore it. Wiesel is addressing the White House, as he emphasizes in a formal tone that being indifferent to other people's suffering only increases the suffering that people face.
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.
The Modern Day Holocaust Society needs to realize that indifference is a major problem in the world. One reason indifference needs to be reduced is that studies show that it can cause depression or lack of motivation There is people who do not care about the homeless four year old boy sitting on the side of the street weighing less than 30 pounds. Indifference is causing major problems around the world. Many people are being killed, starved or shunned upon by others because someone is not as good as them.
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.
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
Humanity is capable of doing many things, both good and bad. Humans are selfish, we prioritize what is important to us and what is not. Brutal situations such as the Holocaust show the extent that a human being will go to survive. Elie and his fellow prisoners go through many hardships, such as starving and leaving loved ones to die. Each day for them, is a blessing because they do not know when they are going to die, it could be the next day or even the next hour.
When Wiesel conveys indifference in this way, he does so from the experience
Elie was faithful and did what he was supposed to do. He wonders why God would punish him and so many others by letting them suffer and be killed. In class we talked about people losing their faith in the Holocaust and that if you lose your faith you have nothing to hold on to and
Holocaust. Death. Suffering. These are but a few of the words that may begin to describe this tragic period in the history of man. The Perils of Indifference and Night are both publications by the Elie Wiesel, one of the many victims to the Holocaust, but one of the very few victims who lived to tell his story.