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What did elie wiesel think the dangers of indifference were
What did elie wiesel think the dangers of indifference were
What did elie wiesel think the dangers of indifference were
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The Perils of Indifference by Elie Wiesel is about how being indifferent to something, no matter how small, can cause a horrible outcome to occur, because of the lack of human conscience of the problem. Throughout the speech Wiesel uses the rhetorical triangle, pathos, ethos, and logos, to stir emotions in his audience, and put force behind the ideas he purposes. He presents the audience with situations that may normally arise happy feelings in people, to show how dark they truly are behind what they are told. He expresses that their is never a black and white, or a good or evil, but only the grey that fades between the two.Together these approaches develop a strong and inspiring speech, that both provokes the audience, and baffles them. Throughout the speech, Wiesel keeps the audience debating through his adept knowledge of the rhetorical triangle. Most prominently …show more content…
Through the quotes “We are on the threshold of a new century, a new millennium. What will the legacy of this vanishing century be? How will it be remembered in the new millennium? Surely it will be judged, and judged severely in both moral and metaphysical terms.(Wiesel 19-21)”, and, “Can one possibly view indifference as a virtue? Is it necessary at times to practice it to simply keep one’s sanity, live morally, enjoy a fine meal and a glass of wine, as the world around us experiences harrowing upheavals?( Wiesel 31-33)”, Wiesel establishes where he stands on this issue, and how future generations will depend on us. He points to the fact that the generation before us contributed their part, and now it is our turn. He grips the audience and explains to them that the future belongs to them and them only, and if they choose to be indifferent, then the world will
“From the depths of the mirror, a corpse was contemplating me. The look in his eyes as he gazed at me never left me” (115). It is important to note what the author tries to get at here. Every time he sees himself, he remembers that he had died. The experiences, the brutality, the inhumanity feel as if he should have been killed. Another example of this is when he first enters Auschwitz. “The beloved objects we had carried with us from place to place were now left behind in the wagon and with them, finally, our illusions.” (29). This quote not only foreshadows a loss of hope and a near end, but the words Wiesel uses in this paragraph really are responsible for its insinuation. He tells readers that, at this point, nothing they had brought with them could keep them from the truth; the truth they were about to
In the novel “Night” by Elie Wiesel, the author displays the transformation and the evolution of the average human being, through a horrible experience that he personally went through. When he is transported from one place to another, forced to leave everything behind, to go live in the ghettos, then in a horrible concentration camp. In the concentration camp Elie experiences numerous events that challenges his physical and mental limits. Some of these events made him question his faith, and whether there is such a thing as God, turning him from a conservative Jew to a reform Jew. Elie doesn’t love the concentration camps, yet he doesn’t hate it, in fact he does not care anymore. At a conference in 1986 Elie explains “The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference”. (Elie Wiesel), meaning that opposite of love is not hate, it’s getting used to use to the situation, to the point that the person doesn’t care whether what is happening is right or wrong. In the novel Elie experience physical, mental, and spiritual pain, that test his humanity and morality.
Many people have given speeches like his, but the significance of this lecture was the passion he showed and still felt for this Earth, and its people, after all the horrible events that had happened to him in his life. He tells anyone who will listen to his speech to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves. Wiesel vocalizes that being a bystander and allowing bad things to happen is just as bad, in his mind, as being the person who actually does those bad things. Elie Wiesel says, “In a way, to be indifferent to that suffering is what makes the human being inhuman.” Through his speech he tries to get anyone that is willing to listen to stop just accepting that the world is evil. He tells them to try and change it. The audience in the room he was speaking to never stood up and applauded. Instead, the audience gave Wiesel their undivided attention, never saying a
Along with rhetorical appeals, Wiesel also uses many rhetorical devices such as parallelism and anaphora. Wiesel depicts parallelism when he says, “to fight fascism, to fight dictatorship, to fight Hitler” (Wiesel lines 103-104). The parallelism and anaphora, in the quote, provide emphasis on the discrimination and abuse that has taken place around the world. Repeating the same initial phrase shows the significance of the words Wiesel is speaking. Wiesel mentions the victims of this extreme tragedy when he states,” for the children in the world, for the homeless for the victims of injustice, the victims of destiny and society.” (Wiesel lines 17-19). This use of anaphora and parallelism emphasize the amount of people the Holocaust has affected and impacted. The parallelism being used adds value to his opinions and balances the list of people Wiesel is making in his speech.
Thus the theme of inhumanity can be seen through discrimination, fear and survival. Discrimination is seen when the Hungarian police beat the Jewish people because of their religion. Also, fear can be seen when Elie is whipped because Idek is afraid Elie would tell everyone of his affair. Lastly, survival is seen when the men beat each other for food. The reader can therefore conclude that what Elie Wiesel was trying to say about inhumanity was that other people are capable of treating other humans like animals and that it makes this victims feel less like people. This has implications about the real world and everyday life because there are maybe many instances throughout one’s life when they are being treated inhumanly. Additionally, many countries today suffer people are not being treated well, and the author seems to suggest that it should be stopped.
In the eyes of Elie Wiesel, author of Night, indifference whether it be in relationship abuse or another problem, is mentally damaging and needs to be eliminated. In his memoir, Night, Elie Wiesel illustrates how indifference can harm the mind of the victim when he says, “Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live,” (Night 34). In this, Wiesel is speaking of his first night in Auschwitz. When he mentions silence he is referring to the indifference that the Jews in concentration camps faced from the rest of the world. Wiesel refers to that night as the time he lost his desire to live because he saw so much indifference toward the suffering of the inmates and the horrific things that were happening to them. After this, his desire to stay alive was destroyed because he watched as the world stood by, indifferent to the senseless murder of millions. Throught this, Wiesel illustrates that indifference will impact people for the rest of their lives. Because indifference
Wiesel says this because he wants to keep the Holocaust from happening again. He probably meant that it is selfish to keep something to yourself when it is important and you can prevent it from happening. When he was being tortured, the other citizens did nothing to help. Maybe he just wants to make up for what others did not do for him.
A common example of injustice occurring right now in our own culture would be the glass ceiling. The discrimination and injustice minorities face in the workplace is immense and should be taken action against. However, instead, today’s generation does not want to take the next step and create a movement against this injustice. This generation has become so absorbed in technology that they believe everything can be done through speaking about issues on social media. Although, social media may not be a bad platform to begin movements, action must be taken beyond the internet in order the create a positive impact around the world. All in all, Wiesel is attempting to get future generations to stand up against injustice occurring all over the world in order to fix the issues the world
It was the end of the war and he no longer has a family after he was relocated and wiesel is basically a walking corpse. “And in spite of myself, a prayer formed inside me, a prayer to this God in whom I no longer believed.” was written in page 91 which clearly states that he no longer believed in God. Now the last piece of evidence to prove that he doesn't care for others anymore would by when his father left the land of the living. On page 112 Wiesel writes how he felt about his passing ‘And deep inside me, if I could have searched the recesses of my feeble conscience, I might have something like: Free at
Wiesel’s loss of religion becomes the loss of identity, humanity, selfishness, and decency.... ... middle of paper ... ... This man is obviously beside himself and does not trust anyone except Hitler, his archenemy.
Indifference is seductive, inhumane, and the line between good and evil. Indifference is helping the enemy, it is death. Writer and Holocaust Survivor, Wiesel Elie in his speech, “The Perils of Indifference”, argues that being indifferent to those who are suffering assists the enemy. He supports his claim by first defining and describing indifference as “seductive”, “tempting”, and “easier.” Wiesel goes on to illustrate the dangers of indifference by using personal experience and historical events as examples. Finally, the author creates awareness of indifference from the past, present, and future. Wiesel’s purpose is to describe why indifference is inhumane in order to persuade people not to be indifferent. He establishes a serious tone, critical, and somber tone for Politicians, Ambassadors, Mr. President, and members of congress.
‘Oh God, Master of the Universe, give me the strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahu’s son has done’” (Wiesel 91). The topic of a father and son relationship is extremely personal to Wiesel, which makes him hark back to how he was raised: religiously. Though clouded with a sense of reality from his experience in the camps, Wiesel still has hints of hope in his view of the world from his upbringing in Sighet. Thus, our upbringing affects much of the way we see the
In “The Perils of Indifference” Elie Wiesel uses several techniques to get his point across. Three of them in the speech are Ethos, Repetition, and Pathos. He uses a combination of the three elements throughout the paragraphs of his speech to attract the readers. The combination of these elements help draw the reader’s emotions and interest towards his subject. He focuses on word choice that would pertain to his audience’s level of vocabulary.
Throughout the speech, Wiesel utilizes a wide range of tones and uses strategic pauses so the audience experiences no difficulties in understanding the struggle he went through. In one of his more intense moments of the speech, he begins talking about how much worse being ignored was, versus being unjustly judged. Religion may be unjust, but it is not indifferent. People cannot live “Outside God” (Wiesel), they need Him even if He is far away.
Irish Playwright, George Bernard Shaw, once said, “The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that's the essence of inhumanity.” Inhumanity is mankind’s worse attribute. Every so often, ordinary humans are driven to the point were they have no choice but to think of themselves. One of the most famous example used today is the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night demonstrates how fear is a debilitating force that causes people to lose sight of who they once were. After being forced into concentration camps, Elie was rudely awakened into reality. Traumatizing incidents such as Nazi persecution or even the mistreatment among fellow prisoners pushed Elie to realize the cruelty around him; Or even the wickedness Elie himself is capable of doing. This resulted in the loss of faith, innocence, and the close bonds with others.