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Perils Of Indifference By Elie Wiesel And Martin Luther King Jr.

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Comparative Rhetorical Analysis Rough Draft In the American speeches unit, we have been exposed to a number of examples of powerful rhetoric. Two speeches that particularly stand out are Elie Wiesel's "Perils of Indifference" and Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, as both speeches focus on the historical events of the tragedy, and by analyzing these speeches, we can learn valuable lessons about the power of language and its ability to effect change in the world. . These two speeches clearly have different two different historical focuses, with Wiesel referencing the Holocaust and King speaking about the Civil Rights Movement. However, both Wiesel and King used tragedies and mistakes of the past as touchpoints …show more content…

For example, their structure and use of rhetorical modes in their argument differ in multiple ways. Wiesel's speech is primarily a persuasive essay, with a clear thesis and supporting arguments. He asks, "What are the perils of indifference? They are a moral danger. They are a political danger. They are a danger to our security." Here, Wiesel is actually using an anaphora and by repeating the word “danger” he can bring attention to the word or instill them into your mind. On the other hand, King's speech is primarily an example of the demonstrative mode (a type of speech or writing that aims to celebrate or criticize a particular subject, usually in the present time), using metaphor and imagery to inspire his audience. He states, "I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.” (King 2) Here, King is using anaphora and imagery to inspire his audience. By using vivid imagery, he helps us to easily visualize his message, which in turn leads us to sympathize with his idea more strongly. Another difference between the two speeches is their usage of tone. Wiesel's speech is more somber and serious, reflecting the weight of the subject matter he is addressing. He speaks in a measured and deliberate manner, conveying the gravity of the atrocities he is discussing. In contrast, King's speech is more celebratory and hopeful, reflecting the optimism and energy of the civil rights movement. This is shown through the quote “I say to you today, my friends, though, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.” (King

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Wiesel/MLK Speech Response Wiesel and King use repetition and the tone of passion to convey a message of justice to the audience, that we need to fight for equality and to remember history so we don't repeat it. They use such passion in their speeches because they both grew up and faced the difficulties they were talking about. They want to be a voice and an influence for people to start standing up for equality. Wiesel repeatedly mentions “a young jewish boy discovered the kingdom of nights” because he is talking about his younger self dealing with living through the holocaust.

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Elie Wiesel and Martin Luther King Jr. use a passionate, direct tone as well as repetition to convey the need for equality and a sense of urgency. Wiesel’s speech was encouraging and touching when he used words like “kingdom of night” and “desperately” to make the readers feel sympathy that could change their minds about the world. He spoke confidently and his words were direct, which was all trying to address that “we must always take sides” or the world won’t ever change. If we stay silent and take no positions, the country will have a greater chance of failing because no one is willing to make a difference. In the same way, King wants to influence the way people view and act upon the world.

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The main theme of both speeches, freedom, shares both similarities and differences. Both Wiesel and King were persecuted, captured, and taken away from their freedom in isolation. Wiesel stated everyone “... freedom depends on ours, the quality of our freedom depends on theirs” and King uses the same theme in different words. He instead talked about promises and how even “... 100 years later, the Negro is still

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Martin Luther King Jr speech is more effective when using rhetorical strategies because he uses Juxtaposition and Anaphora in his speech to express

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both mention how one can overcome being fearful by speaking up with determination and taking control of one’s own life. In Wiesel’s famous speech “Perils of Indifference”, he speaks about the importance of indifference and how it’s affected people today. Wiesel states how every step could be changed towards greatness if everyone speaks out loud together. He even mentions how, “this time, the world was not silent. This time, we do respond.

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Furthermore, by saying this, Wiesel constructs a pathway to his argument that this is what indifference brings to the world. That indifference is what put the Jews in harm’s way with no one willing to take them into safety, because it wasn’t their problem to handle. On a larger scale, he is simply saying that Hitler wasn’t the only one wrong in the equation, it was anyone with

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He draws attention to the cruelties inflicted on other people when a person betrays their humanity. Standing by and watching people suffer is just as damaging as inflicting the suffering. The audience feels guilty for the times they may have been bystanders and became less than human. Wiesel emphasizes that other people are affected by indifference through his use of the phrase “Indifference, then, is not only a sin, it is a punishment.” This phrase switches the idea that indifference is something that hurts an individual to something that hurts numerous other people.

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King’s dialect showed the audience civil right issues, involving many rhetorical strategies using ethos, logos, and pathos, to a racially tempered crowd whom he viewed as different, but not equal. From the very beginning of it , King brings his crowd back to the origin of America when the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, that freed all slaves and gave hope to the former slaves. But immediately after Dr. King speaks out on how after 100 years Blacks still do not have the free will that is deserved. He points out the irony of America because Black Americans were still not truly free.

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Both of the pieces writing had logos which is a logical appeal and pathos which is emotional appeal.   In this essay I will compare the two pieces of writing that Martin Luther King Jr. wrote and how he used logos and pathos in both pieces.     When Martin Luther King Jr. did his I Have a Dream Speech he used two persuasive appeals, one was logical appeal and the other was an emotional appeal.

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The main idea of his speech is that all people were created equal and, although this is no longer the case nowadays, King felt it must be the case for the future. He argued peacefully, yet passionately and powerfully. In preparation for the speech, he studied the Bible, The Gettysburg Address and the US Declaration of Independence and he alludes to all three in his address. The intensity of King’s speech is built through parallelism, metaphors, bold statements and rhythmic repetitions:

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In paragraphs 16-24 he repeats the phrase “I have a dream.” This is an example of repetition. MLK also uses analogy in his speech in paragraph 4. In the text, King compares American civil rights to cashing a bad check. King compares the two to show how worthless the promise of African Americans civil rights is.

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The “I Have a Dream” speech is well known throughout history to be one of the most famous speeches to be on the subject of civil rights. Throughout the entirety of “I Have a Dream”, Dr. King uses pathos more than logos. “We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.”

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Martin Luther King 's uses various literary devices such as metaphors, personification, similes, and imagery in his speech so that his audience would be able to better understand and visual what he is saying. An example of a metaphor in King 's speech is when he compares the deprivation of African American rights with "a bad check that has come back from the bank of injustice marked with insufficient funds". He states that we must cash a check that will give us the riches of freedom and security of justice. This metaphor is referring to the freedom and rights that African American 's deserve and are promised but are not given. An example of personification in his speech is "Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

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Both these speeches had executed the art of persuasion extremely well. Even though both speeches had used many rhetoric devices they have many things in and uncommon. Further more, one of the many similarities is that both the speeches have a vast amount of metaphors. Dr. King uses metaphors to emphasize his point about the equality of blacks and whites. Similarly, Nelson Mandela uses metaphors to support his ideas.

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Throughout his speech he implies a lot of metaphors to make his speech effective and influencing. For example, King constantly describes the Negroes as being “crippled” by the “manacles of segregation”, “Storms of Persecution,” and “chains of discrimination.” Through these metaphors King indicates the crises the Negroes face. A few of King’s strongest metaphors are his references to prejudice: “the quick sands of racial injustice”, the “heat of oppression”, “the dark and desolate valleys of segregation”, and the “chains of discrimination.” King also indicates the unbearable inequality by creating an image: “the sweltering summer of the negro’s discontent.”

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