Holocaust Survivor, Elie Wiesel uses a variety of rhetorical methods in his Nobel Prize text called “Hope, Despair and Memory” which points out the crucial role that Hope, Despair, and Memory plays in our everyday lives. He makes a strong case that these 3 words are an active force that is necessary for our lives due to them helping us avoid future tragedies, rather than just having to deal with so much pain like he did at once and only thinking about that pain forever. Some rhetorical strategies Ellie Wiesel has used in this text is his tone which brings strong images from his memories, his referencing to someone or something from the past or present and his short stories which in the end create a huge story. To start off, Wiesel begins by establishing a tone that already sets the mood of the story, which is both dark and peaceful: When he tells the tale of the Besht and his servant who find hope in the seemingly insignificant act of reciting the alphabet, the story doesn’t always display a positive or negative tone, but demonstrates the rike that memory plays in society. “The master turned to his servant and asked,'remind me of a prayer,’” …show more content…
He emphasizes the weakness of civilization by drawing a contrast between the peaceful existence before the conflict and the terrifying reality of the Holocaust. When he says ‘All those doctors of law or medicine or theology, all those lovers of art and poetry of Bach and Goethe, who coldly deliberately ordered the massacres and participated in them, what did their metamorphisis signify? The references to important persons from the culture who were involved in the crimes highlights the serious moral and ethical breakdowns that can occur in any community. Wiesel highlights the need for alertness and the thoughtful cultivation of memory to save the future by highlighting these