Rhetorical Analysis Of Elie Wiesel

When the story of a horrific tragedy is reported on the news, Americans may feel remorseful, but only temporarily. The thought is pushed quickly out of the mind as they are consumed with other, less important things. Rather than donating to charity, volunteering, or giving aid to the homeless, humanity looks on. This is not a recent development; Americans have been immune to tragedies since before World War II. Elie Wiesel, a man who has become a human’s rights activist after spending two years in Buchenwald and Auschwitz at age fifteen, spoke at the White House about The Perils of Indifference during the 1999 Millennium Lecture series. His speech urges the audience to take action against injustices rather than remaining indifferent to human

He uses this to encourage his audience to reflect on the previous thousand years’ legacy and adopt an attitude of consideration going forward. He spoke the day after the anniversary of Buchenwald’s liberation, which coincidentally took place the day before Theodore Roosevelt’s death. Wiesel speaks about Roosevelt, “He is very much present to me and to us” (312) making his time of death relevant by referencing how he influenced Wiesel directly by being indifferent to the suffering of the Jews. He uses Roosevelt’s choices as an example of the consequences of indifference. The timing of his release from Buchenwald is used to begin his speech, explaining how he felt at that time to lead into the weight of the topic. Wiesel uses opportune timing to impress the weight of his topic upon his audience and encourage them against staying

The speaker uses his experiences in the concentration camp and the location of his speech to increase his credibility. He speaks directly to the president, “I stand before you, Mr. President” (310) to ensure the audience of the importance of the topic at hand. The president and White House are associated with importance; if the president is involved it must be important. Since Elie Wiesel is speaking in front of the president at the White House, the speaker and his subject must be important. Wiesel separates his younger self from his current self to deflect sympathy from the audience. A speaker is not credible if they attempt to make listeners feel pity for them, because the audience will view him in a degrading way. Similar to this, Wiesel is humble. He does not speak of his Nobel Peace Prize, and is emphasizing the importance of the future instead of the past in hopes of moving forward in the future. This increases Wiesel’s credibility because he is not bragging or exaggerating his words, and he has experienced this issue first hand, which allows the audience to trust Wiesel and believe his stance on the