In the years of the Holocaust, darkness shadowed the Jewish people. They were forced to be ripped apart from their families, they were starved to the point of death, and they were overall dehumanized. These traumatizing events inspired Elie Wiesel to write his memoir, Night, which caused him to give a detailed record of the horrors of humanity that he endured. This also played a part in his speech “The Perils of Indifference”. Unfortunately, the world is not filled with light. The light at times is diminished with the darkest parts of humanity. The theme that “humanity is not always kind or forgiving”, is presented throughout the memoir and speech with the use of anecdotes, rhetorical questions and imagery.
With the use of anecdotes, Wiesel is able to bring the darkness of humanity to life. As Wiesel and his father slowly approach the trench of flames, Wiesel witnesses a horrible sight. “A truck drew close and
…show more content…
After questioning why some of America’s largest corporations still continued to have business with Hitler’s Nazi Germany, he asks a very powerful rhetorical question. “How is one to explain their indifference?” (“Perils” 22) With this question, the audience questions their prior government. Some of the questions that could be running through their minds are how could we have allowed this to continue?, How could America support this horrible action?, etc. As he lists more extremely mind provoking rhetorical questions, he asks one that causes the audience to take a pause and take time to think about their virtues. “Can one possibly view indifference as a virtue?” (“Perails” 7) He is basically asking, how could someone value the characteristic of indifference? Meaning, how can someone view indifference with positivity? This question causes the audience to really think about what they look at with