In the “Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech,” Elie implied that his memory and many other victims’ memories of the Holocaust should never be forgotten because he believes the victims should be remembered and honored. He believes that others should continue to stand up against antisemitism and keep these memories forever, that way, nothing like the Holocaust ever occurs again. This central idea is shared amongst many other sources, including the book “Night” by Elie Wiesel, The social media article about Lily Ebert titled “It Happened,” and Elie Wiesel’s Acceptance speech. Elie Wiesel created a book called “Night.” Night was a memoir by Elie Wiesel.
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.
Elie Wiesel stipulated a certain, demanding tone in his speech given on the topic of indifference. The use of rhetoric language he uses is compelling to his audience, it draws them into his claim of indifference as he demands for a change. “What will the legacy of this vanishing century be? How will it be remembered in the new millennium?” Elie exclaimed to the President.
In the article “Meet Elie Wiesel” includes his quote, “look, it’s important to bear witness. Important to tell your story... you cannot imagine what it meant spending a night of death among death”. The quote shows Wiesel’s acknowledgement of others around the world not experiencing what he has and making sure to speak out for one’s self. In addition in Wiesel’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, he states, “When human lives are endangered , when human dignity is in jeopardy national borders, and sensitivities become irrelevant”(118).The speech makes the point of citizens throughout the world caring for everyone else even if it does not directly impact tem or their daily life. Wiesel continues to advocate for people around the world due to his
“The Perils of Indifference”, by Elie Wiesel, was a very interesting and thought inducing speech. He gave the speech in a well done manner, making gestures and telling it in a way that was very appropriate for the topic, making it more compelling. Mr. Wiesel delivered his speech on the 12th of April 1999 during the Seventh Millennium Evening at the White House, Washington, D.C.
Humanity's Responsibility “And this is one of the most important lessons of this, outgoing century’s wide-ranging experiments in good and evil.” This is a sample from Elie Wiesel's “Perils of Indifference” speech. Elie as a Holocaust survivor and made it a job to show America how cruel and horrible it is to be absent during crisis. Wiesel uses ethos to show his knowledge and experience on the Holocaust subject, imagery to describe the suffering and cruelty toward the Jewish people, and rhetorical questions to convey how we, as a society need to be able to question our actions, as well as our inactions.
He appeals to his audience by using pathos present in his repetition of “indifference.” he explains that the neutrality of indifference “is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor” (cite) he works to convince the audience to end their indifference because it does more harm than good. By not actively working to help the oppressed those who are indifferent avail the aggressor. Throughout his entire speech, Elie Wiesel effectively argues the
The dangers of apathy were stressed by Wiesel in a 1999 address he gave at the White House titled The Perils of Indifference. According to the speech, "to keep quiet when injustices happen is to condone injustice and to undercut human rights everywhere. " This statement shows that not stopping racial discrimination when you see it; means that you support it. With his Holocaust experience and the approaching future, Elie Wiesel expresses the need to stop indifference to provide future generations with renewed desire and promise.
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
In his 1986 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Elie Wiesel strives to inform his audience of the unbelievable atrocities of the Holocaust in order to prevent them from ever again responding to inhumanity and injustice with silence and neutrality. The structure or organization of Wiesel’s speech, his skillful use of the rhetorical appeals of pathos and ethos, combined with powerful rhetorical devices leads his audience to understand that they must never choose silence when they witness injustice. To do so supports the oppressors. Wiesel’s speech is tightly organized and moves the ideas forward effectively. Wiesel begins with humility, stating that he does not have the right to speak for the dead, introducing the framework of his words.
Throughout his literary works including his memoir Night and speeches "The Perils of Indifference" and "Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech," Elie Wiesel emphasizes his purpose of informing and persuading people to take action against atrocities. Wiesel passionately advocates for awareness and prevention of such events in the future. As a Holocaust survivor, Wiesel's personal experiences provided a deep understanding of the harsh realities of genocide. In his speech "The Perils of Indifference," Wiesel explains, "Indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor--never its victim."
At the time of Hitler's reign six million Jews died and even more suffered, yet the world remained silent. Six million lives could have been saved by simply speaking out against these tormentors. Eli feels strong about this subject and says, "Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor never the tormented"(Wiesel Acceptance Speech, pg 1). This helps the reader realize if society doesn't speak it takes the side of the tormentor.
Holocaust survivor and author of the novel, Night, Elie Wiesel in his speech, “The Perils of Indifference,” claims that indifference is not only a sin, but is an act of dehumanization. He begins to develop his claim by defining the word indifference, then enlightens the audience about his personal experiences living through the war, and finally asks the audience how they will change as they enter a new millennium. Wiesel’s purpose throughout his speech is to convince his audience not to be indifferent to those who were and are being treated cruelly and unjustly. He creates tones of guardedness , disappointment, abandonment, and hopefulness in order for his audience to see his perspective during the horrific times of the war.
In his Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech, Elie Wiesel illustrates how to remain silent while injustice is happening is to support that injustice and people should never stand by while injustice is happening. In Elie Wiesel's Memoir Night, Elie depicts how he watched his father get slapped with “...such force that he fell down and then crawled back to his place on all fours.” Elie then describes how he reacted and felt, he says “My father had just been struck, in front of me, and I had not even blinked.” (Wiesel 39). He then says that “remorse began to gnaw at me.”
In seeing human beings as less than human beings, individuals were able to treat one another with a lack of dignity and voice. Wiesel 's work reminds us that anytime voice is silenced, dehumanization is the result. This becomes its own end that must be stopped at all
