A Rhetorical Analysis Of Elie Wiesel's Speech

Wiesel does a wonderful job with his use of pathos throughout the speech by making the audience reflect on his words and creates a strong emotional reaction for what is being said. From being a survivor of the Holocaust, one of the darkest parts of history as well as the most shallow times for humanity. Immediate sympathy is drawn from the audience. When he states that himself endured the horrible conditions these people had to live in. He then explains to us that the people there, “No longer felt hunger, pain, thirst. They feared nothing. They felt nothing. They were dead and did not know it.” With saying this it brings forth feelings of guilt, one of the most negative emotions to accumulate a reaction towards these events. Also numerous people throughout the world long for world peace and to hear the inhumane acts that was once acted upon an innocent man, makes their stomach's sink. Wiesel defines its derivation, as “no difference” and uses numerous comparisons on what may cause indifference, as a “strange and unnatural state in which the lines blur.” Like good and evil, dark and light. Wiesel continues to attract the audience emotionally by stating this he is aware of how tempting it may be to be indifferent and that at times it can be easier to avoid

Both speeches written by Elie Wiesel “The Perils of Indifference” and Martin Luther king Jr. “Letter from Birmingham Jail” give rhetorical responses that contain the three elements ethos, pathos, and logos. Elie Wiesel focuses more pathos and logos to gain sympathy towards his audience in a logical way. He was a survivor of the Holocaust separated from his family through several concentration camps. His parents and his sister died while being separated but Wiesel is able to confidently talk about his experiences. Wiesel begins by thanking America for saving him but moves on in an angry fashion. He asks a rhetorical question about indifference; he explains it to be the lack of sympathy people have towards others and that people try and avoid others in need. This statement is using both pathos and logos by explaining his question, but you also sense the emotion of helplessness. Overall, he seemed abandoned by many people believing more could have helped instead of being bystanders. Wiesel wants to change how the world functions so that more people care about others. The next article by Martin Luther King Jr. “makes a case for civil disobedience and eloquently opposes the murderous status quo”. He explains his speech in a pathos and logos way as well by feeling taken advantage of and gives logical evidence to prove his argument. Martin was put into Birmingham Jail for being labeled as an extremist, however, he gives several points as to why the authorities were wrong. Instead

Elie Wiesel, a Noble Peace Prize winner and Boston University Professor, presented a speech as part of the Millennium Lecture Series at the White House on April 12, 1999. President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary Clinton hosted the formal lecture series. Numerous dignitaries from a wide array of public, private and foreign office attended the event. Although Elie Wiesel designed his speech to persuade, it actually fell somewhat outside the deliberative genre category, as being more non-typical within this genre category.

The Holocaust changed the lives of many. Those that survived have many terrifying stories to tell. Many survivors are too horrified to tell their story because their experiences are too shocking to express in words. Eli Wiesel overcomes this fear by publicly relaying his survival of the Holocaust. "Night", his powerful and moving story, touches the hearts of many and teaches his readers a great lesson. He teaches that in a short span of time, the ways of the world can change for the worst. He wants to make sure that if the world didn't learn anything from hearing about the atrocities of the Holocaust, maybe they'll be able to learn something from Elie's own personal experience. Usually, a person can internalize a situation better

The world is cruel and harsh; what does it take to prove that you and your experiences are capable of persuasion. In this world, you’d want as many allies as possible, and building emotional bridges with others is a definite way of proving that you matter to others. It’s a matter of philosophy; human nature emphasizes on individual existence; therefore rhetoric is effective to measure one’s importance. Elie Wiesel, a man of age, is a jewish holocaust survivor who has a story to tell and a story to be heard. Does the man have what it takes to prove himself worthy of a rhetoric leader? Elie Wiesel’s speech, The Perils of Indifference, Mr. Wiesel takes advantage of rhetorical questions and the appeals of pathos and logos to persuade and inform the audience about their inner indifference towards the havoc happening around the world.

Rhetorical devices are devices that are used to convey a meaning to the reader and create emotions through different types of language. Elie Wiesel uses rhetorical devices such as personification, metaphors, and rhetorical questions to emphasize and establish the theme of losing faith.

In Elie Wiesel’s Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech, Weisel asserts the grief and despair to whom families died in the Holocaust. Wiesel first empathizes on the past events through a strong Paths, he then describes the pain of the Holocaust by use of Ethos and to conclude he makes it crystal clear of the fear from the camps by the use of Anaphora. Wiesel’s purpose was to show his honor and sympathy towards getting this award. He seems to have a mixed race and age audience in mind because this terrible event put a cloak of darkness around the Jews and Wiesel is taking it off with the use of his diction and tone.

Wiesel repeats “indifference” many times throughout the speech for the fact that it means “no difference” but has changed vastly over time. When the author uses Indifference, he is explicitly saying it is seen as a philosophy through harrowing times to keep sane. Such as in the Holocaust, “It is so much easier to avoid such rude interruptions to our work, our dreams, our hopes.” To put forth an inferred connotation that indifference shows no consequence or no meaning to a different subject at hand. “Indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor — never his victim.” Humanity is also an important theme for this text. Wiesel explains the hardships of Jewish life during the Holocaust and how he remembers asking himself that if others in the world knew what the Nazi’s were doing, surely “they would have spoken out with great outrage and conviction.” Explicitly saying that human society has changed in the course of learning from experiences. While the reader can infer that throughout the holocaust time, change was subtle but NATO, after bringing HItler down, intervened with Kosovo to save the victims and refugees uprooted by

In the book “Night” by Elie Wiesel, the rhetorical device that makes the most impact on the reader is Pathos because he shows us what he was feeling and that eventually takes a toll on you. First of all when Elie’s father figured out that he was dying, he wanted his son to feel for him and so he said, ““You, atleast, have pity on me….” Have pity on him! I his only son….”(Wiesel 110). This quote is revealing how Elie truly feels about his father because he has caused him so much pain throughout the years and so, Elie isn’t to upset about his father condition since he knows he is going to die soon and it will help him stay alive longer.

Wiesel uses pathos in the beginning of his speech, by using He instead of I; he is able to appeal to the emotion of the audience. Through his speech, the first thing he wants to be able to do is to get the crowd to comprehend his position in the situation. He lets the audience put themselves into his shoes, so that they can view his story from the same perspective. By using He, the audience is able to sympathize and mentally place themselves into the situation of the boy, but if he used first person, the audience would be keener to pity him and would feel some restriction when addressing opinion on the speech in fear of offending the speaker, which is not the affect Wiesel was going for. He wanted his story to impact the audience and allow them to feel what happened so they would allow for a change. By addressing it in third person, allows the audience to have no restrictions when it comes to their opinion an what they take away from it. They would put their selves in the character’s shoes, because the speaker addressing the issue would be doing the same.

Romanian-born American Jewish writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel in his critical speech, ”Perils of Indifference,” maintains the idea that indifference is inhumane. He supports his claim by using his personal experience in the Holocaust. Additionally, it states in paragraph 9 that “They were dead and did not know it.” emphasizes how indifference has made the “Muselmann” completely unaware of their fate. Further, it states in paragraph 8 that “Indifference can be tempting… troublesome… and can make our lives meaningless.” Wiesel’s purpose is to warn the people that change is needed in order to encourage the people to make a change in the world for the better so something as tragic and devastating like the Holocaust never happens again. He establishes a critical tone for readers by using stylistic devices and rhetorical devices such as imagery, contemplative questions,and word choice in order to achieve his message that indifference is inhumane. Wiesel’s message about the inhumanity of indifference and the importance of resistance is still relevant today.

. One persuasive technique he uses is pathos. He uses this technique to gain empathy from the audience, to allow them to really feel like they are in the shoes of the victims. This is seen when Wiesel says “ To be abandoned by god was worse than to be punished by him” (444). The audience is able to feel how the victims felt, which helps convey his message of indifference more effectively as now they will actually get impacted by his message.

Wiesel is effective with his speech by connecting exaggeration within his revelation. He questions the guilt and responsibility for past massacres, pointing specifically at the Nazi’s while using historical facts, such as bloodbaths in Cambodia, Algeria, India, and Pakistan to include incidents on a larger level such as Auschwitz to provide people with a better idea (Engelhardt, 2002). He is effective in putting together the law and society’s need for future actions against indifference by stating, “In the place I come from, society was composed of three simple categories: the killer, the victims, and the bystanders” 7.(Wiesel 223).

The novel, Night, authored by Elie Wiesel, tells a story about how a child named Eliezer survives the Holocaust along side his fighting father. In the end, death confronts Eliezer's father and steals him away. Judy (Weissenberg) Cohen, a survivor of the Holocaust, also goes through these treacherous trials and shares them in her speech. She describes the dreadful events she witnessed and how it scares her of the evil mankind holds. Both, Elie and Judy, use different rhetorical strategies to express their thoughts and views of what they experienced and witnessed in the Holocaust.

Elie Wiesel is a Holocaust survivor, born on September 30th, 1928, in the city of Sighet, Transylvania. When he was fifteen years old, he and his family were transported to Auschwitz. Two years later, in 1945, the concentration camps were liberated. He subsequently decided to devote his life to remembrance of the terrible tragedy. Wiesel was invited by the First Lady, Hillary Clinton, and gave his speech in the East Room of the White House on April 12, 1999, for one of the Millennium Evenings.