The Perils Of Indifference By Elie Wiesel

In April 1999, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel addresses the President, First Lady, several members of the government, and the American public with a speech titled “The Perils of Indifference.” He provides examples of indifference during World War II. Similarly, he reasons why indifference in the future has the potential to cause disaster. As the country turns its back on people, a multitude of victims suffer. Wiesel feels the responsibility to spread awareness as he personally felt the effects of indifference.

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.

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. Finally he 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 unjust. He creates tones of tranquility, disappointment, abandonment, and happiness in order for his audience to see his perspective during the horrific times of the Holocaust.

The speeches “Perils of Indifference” by Elie Wiesel and Barack Obama’s Presidential nomination speech both use rhetorical strategies. They use these to persuade the audience to agree with their opinions. ” Perils of indifference” by Elie Wiesel persuades the audience to stop being indifferent because it is dangerous. In Barack Obama’s Presidential nomination speech, he persuades the audience to make America a better place. While these speeches both use different rhetorical strategies Elie Wiesil has the stronger argument because of his use of rhetorical questions and pathos.

When Ellie Weisel says “Indifference, then, is not only a sin it is a punishment” he makes a powerful claim about human nature. An example of this is the Nazi invasion of Europe, where many countries did not stop the Nazis from murdering the Jewish people. They chose to remain silent because they were scared of the Nazis fighting back. When faced with opposition it is better to speak up than show indifference and stay silent.

In the novel, Night, he was persuading the audience by expressing the feelings of the officers towards the prisoners. An example of this is when he said, “Dozens of inmates were there to receive us, sticks in hand, striking anywhere, anyone, without reason.”. In, “The Pearls of Indifference”, he was informing the audience about the differences between anger and indifference. To support this, it says in the story, “Indifference, after all, is more dangerous than anger and hatred. Anger can at times be creative.

Indifference need to be gain awareness and be stopped. He develops his claim by narrating the dangers of indifference, and how it affected his life then, describes how wrongful it is to be treated in such a way. Finally Wiesel illustrates examples of how indifference affected the world. Wiesel’s purpose is to inform us about the dangers of indifference in order to bring change about it. He establishes a straightforward tone for the president, ambassadors, politicians, and congressmen.

Elie Wiesel Rhetorical Speech Analysis Elie Wiesel, a holocaust survivor and winner of a Nobel peace prize, stood up on April 12, 1999 at the White House to give his speech, “The Perils of Indifference”. In Wiesel’s speech he was addressing to the nation, the audience only consisted of President Clinton, Mrs. Clinton, congress, and other officials. The speech he gave was an eye-opener to the world in his perspective. Wiesel uses a variety of rhetorical strategies and devices to bring lots of emotion and to educate the indifference people have towards the holocaust. “You fight it.

In the speech, titled “The Perils of Indifference,” Elie Wiesel showed gratitude to the American people, President Clinton, and Mrs. Hillary Clinton for the help they brought and apprised the audience about the violent consequences and human suffering due to indifference against humanity (Wiesel). This speech was persuasive. It was also effective because it conveyed to the audience the understanding of

When the young boy asks, “Who would allow such crimes to be committed? How could the world remain silent”, (paragraph 5) again the audience is prompted to emotionally respond. They have to realize that it was all of them, all of us, who remained silent and that this silence must never happen again. Wiesel demonstrates a strong use of pathos throughout his speech to encourage his audience to commit to never sitting silently by while any human beings are being treated

Holocaust survivor and American Jewish author, Elie Wiesel in his serious and pensive speech, “The Perils of Indifference,” asserts that “to be indifferent” of the world’s problems “is what makes the human being inhuman” and is the reason that genocides along with millions of deaths have occured (The Perils of). He supports his claim by revealing to his audience his personal experience in the concentration camps of the Holocaust to appeal to their emotions so that they can understand what he had to go through; moreover, Wiesel uses strong, emotionally loaded language to further create a stronger impact when describing our world and society as being involved with “so much violence” and “so much indifference.” Additionally, he uses imagery to illustrate indifference as “not only a sin,” but “a punishment.” Wiesel’s purpose is to make “the human being become less indifferent and more human” in order to bring about change in

Throughout his speech, his use of Emotional appeals, logical appeals, and word choice to help him convince the reader of how being indifferent is the same as being violent. In the passage,”The Perils of Indifference,”by Elie Wiesel, he claims,”To be indifferent is just as fatuous as being violent.” In order to explain and support why this

Uriah Witt Professor Michael Jernigan English 102 20 FEB 2018 The Pathos Behind Indifference An elderly man makes his way to a podium of the White House, in attendance is President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham-Clinton. He had prepared a speech that will tug at the heart strings of every person in attendance, along with everyone watching from home. The date is significant to Elie Wiesel’s speech, 12 April 1999, 45 years to the day he had been liberated by American Soldiers from Buchenwald concentration camp in Nazi Germany. With sadness in his eyes and heart he delivered his speech The Perils of Indifference.

Ishmael Beah is the author of the memoir A Long Way Gone and therefore he went through the treacherous past of being a child soldier in Africa. Elie Wiesel performed the speech “The Perils of Indifference” and explained his aversion for people who were not helping others in need. These authors showed how indifference in the world takes away humanity and takes away the basic rights of every human being. Both authors hope to use their literature to change how people see the victims of brutality around

In this essay we will review the historical side and the persuasive writing side of Elie Wiesel’s speech “The Perils of Indifference”. We will give some background information on why they gave this speech. Tell you what appeals he used and if he used all three of the persuasive writing appeals ( emotional, logical, ethical ). Why the speech is very widely admired and cherished and still highly regarded. Also how the author used the appeals.