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Analysis Of Elie Wiesel's The Perils Of Indifference

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Author and Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel, in his powerful speech, “The Perils of Indifference,” suggests that choosing to be indifferent to the suffering of others only make matters worst. He develops his message through the use of pathos which grasps readers with emotions and personal descriptions of the torment he and other prisoners went through during the Holocaust. “Abandoned” and “Forgotten” were how the author and the other prisoners felt (Wiesel). Further, Wiesel uses repetition to emphasize the meaning of “indifference.” Wiesel delivers the meaning of indifference in many ways to help the audience understand the true meaning. Wiesel’s purpose is to inform the world in order to accomplish compassion in the future for those suffering injustice around the world. He establishes a critical tone for readers by using stylistic devices such as pathos and repetition in order to develop his message …show more content…

In the article, “Memories of the White Rose,” George J. Wittenstein infers that “fifty-four years ago three German students were arrested.” They were sentenced to death and were “executed by beheading” on the same day (History Place). These students were “grown up” under the influence of the regime and took a stand against the Nazi tyranny (History Place). These were young students who took a stand against the Nazi regime. Wiesel admits in his speech that when adults are going through war, “children perish” (par. 23). Adults are not the only ones going through suffrage but children are too. Wiesel wants individuals to take a stand against indifference. Only time will tell if individuals learned from the past. Wiesel implies, “Have we really learned from our experiences?” (par. 22). The future holds that answer. Through efforts of resistance, individuals will better not only themselves, but the

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Jewish writer, professor,political activist, Elie wiesel in his memorable speech “ The perils of indifference” asserts that being “indifferent” is a major impact in people's lives. He develops his message by emphasizing the world’s indifference. For example on paragraph 13 wisel states “Indifference, then is not only a sin,it is a punishment.” Meaning that lack of concern leads to “inescapable consequences”. In addition throughout Wiesel’s speech he talks about what indifference means to him and how it is not impactful to humanity and the inhumanity of it .

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The entire world was so ignorant to such a massacre of horrific events that were right under their noses, so Elie Wiesel persuades and expresses his viewpoint of neutrality to an audience. Wiesel uses the ignorance of the countries during World War II to express the effects of their involvement on the civilians, “And then I explain to him how naive we were, that the world did know and remained silent. And that is why I swore never to be silent when and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation” (Weisel). To persuade the audience, Elie uses facts to make the people become sentimental toward the victims of the Holocaust. Also, when Weisel shares his opinion with the audience, he gains people onto his side because of his authority and good reputation.

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In his speech Wiesel describes the injustices faced by people in the twentieth century, focusing mainly on the holocaust. The intended purpose for this speech was to persuade the audience to stop practicing indifference to the victims of injustice, but to show compassion to those suffering. Throughout his entire speech, Wiesel uses a distressed, sympathetic, and critical tone when he is describing how people were treated with indifference. He advises the American government to not be indifferent to victims of injustices, he also hopes that people in the twenty first century will be indifferent.

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When the young boy asks, “Who would allow such crimes to be committed? How could the world remain silent”, (paragraph 5) again the audience is prompted to emotionally respond. They have to realize that it was all of them, all of us, who remained silent and that this silence must never happen again. Wiesel demonstrates a strong use of pathos throughout his speech to encourage his audience to commit to never sitting silently by while any human beings are being treated

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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.

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Wiesel is also an author of many famous books like “Night”, “Dawn”, “Day”, and many more. Even though Wiesel had many obstacles throughout his life he still accomplished so

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An important lesson that can be taken away from Wiesel's life is to always be grateful for what you have. This is an important lesson, because gratitude leads to happiness. If nobody was thankful for what they had, then they would always be trying to get more, and if they did not get it, then they would be frustrated and agitated. For example, in Night, Wiesel has significantly less than any of us have now, so he is grateful when he gets a single extra ration of bread or soup, and he is delighted to have this. He writes “Our first act as free men was to throw ourselves onto the provisions.

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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.

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Wiesel informed people of what happened in the holocaust, yet his true purpose was to persuade and inspire change in the mindsets of powerful people. The speech was given in front of the president, his staff, and members of Congress. His purpose was to stop indifference when it comes to injustice, whether or not it is in America. “Indifference elicits no response. Indifference is not a response.

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In his speech “The Perils of Indifference” his purpose of this speech was to show the president that all he went through, and the president acknowledge everything and make an award for him. Elie Wiesel also talks about how all the children, and everyone is affected by this because there were children like himself that survived and lived on with the trauma of everything that happened. He shows this in the quote “What about the children? Oh, we see them on television, we read about them in the papers, and we do so with a broken heart. Their fate is always the most tragic, inevitably.

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Wiesel’s goal is to get more people to stand up to the “bully” and address the problem. Once people rally together and acknowledge the victims, the aggressor can no longer feel superior to the poor group of people.

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Using juxtaposition, Elie Wiesel reflects on the horrors that have occurred this past century and their effects on people. He tells a story about a young Jewish boy who was just freed from the Buchenwald concentration camp and was “finally free, but there was no joy in his heart.” This boy has just been released from imprisonment but has experienced such horrors that he is not able to enjoy his freedom. This shows the true effect of his imprisonment and torture, and how this experience will haunt him for the rest of his life. He may grow up, but this experience will never leave him.

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He also questioned if we, as humanity, have learned from the past and became less indifferent. Mr. Wiesel, brought an emotional hook to the audience by giving details regarding his suffering. At the end of the speech

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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.

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Wiesel’s speech shows how he worked to keep the memory of those people alive because he knows that people will continue to be guilty, to be accomplices if they forget. Furthermore, Wiesel knows that keeping the memory of those poor, innocent will avoid the repetition of the atrocity done in the future. The stories and experiences of Wiesel allowed for people to see the true horrors of what occurs when people who keep silence become “accomplices” of those who inflict pain towards humans. To conclude, Wiesel chose to use parallelism in his speech to emphasize the fault people had for keeping silence and allowing the torture of innocent

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