Jewish American writer, Elie Wiesel in his reflectional speech, The Perils of Indifference, argues the danger of Indifference. He evolves his message through emphasizing the importance and danger of what indifference can do to a society. Specifically, Wiesel mentions, “So much violence, so much indifference.” Wiesel explains that freedom and equality were difficult to be found with so much hate in our world. Finally, he mentions, “Indifference, then, is not only a sin, it is a punishment.” He further describes that during the holocaust is different meant sinning. Wiesel’s purpose is to inform why indifference is inhuman to create awareness that being different than others is wrong and a sin. He establishes a thoughtful tone for readers by using stylistic devices such as syntax, imagery, and word choice to develop his message. Wiesel’s message about the inhumanity of indifference and the importance of resistance is still happening today.
To begin, The year Nineteen ninety nine marks the year where Wiesel read his nostalgic speech “The Perils of indifference;” however, roughly four years later the Darfur genocide occurred.
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Meth, never gave in she stayed true to her purpose like Wiesel once stated “It's so much easier to look away from victims,” this profound statement highlights the idea that Meth didn't look away from the victim she helped the one who was in need. However, to the higher officials of the Darfur Genocide they could care less they were indifferent about the whole situation, keeping Intel so it would spread drastically. Overall, Wiesel's message is still relevant today and he wants individual to acknowledge the “victim” so humanity can no longer be a “ dark
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.
Injustice still occurs in today’s society. In “Hope, Despair, and Memory” Ellie Wiesel repeats, “it would be enough” to express his frustration in how humanity has not changed. Wiesel’s point of view differs from Solzhenitsyn oration in “One Word of Truth Outweighs the World” because Solzhenitsyn believes lying and violence are inseparable. However, Wiesel and Solzhenitsyn are similar in that they are both frustrated with our society not learning from past mistakes.
to the dehumanization of the Jews. He uses descriptive adjectives to shed light on what is truly happening. He also uses irony to help the reader understand the cluelessness of himself and the Jews. Wiesel’s way of writing in the book demonstrates the theme of dehumanization through false
1. What is the difference between a. and a. In the novel, Night, by Elie Wiesel, there were numerous examples of dehumanization. Dehumanization is the process by which the Nazis gradually reduced the Jews to little more than things, which were trouble to them. The first example is found in the third chapter, “I was a body”.
The speech The Perils of Indifference was given by Elie Wiesel on April 12, 1999, which was the fifty-fourth anniversary of the liberation
callous to the death of their peers, and going so far as to murder fellow
Inked on the pages of Elie Wiesel’s Night is the recounting of him, a young Jewish boy, living through the mass genocide that was the Holocaust. The words written so eloquently are full of raw emotions depict his journey from a simple Jewish boy to a man who was forced to see the horrors of the world. Within this time period, between beatings and deaths, Wiesel finds himself questioning his all loving and powerful God. If his God loved His people, then why would He allow such a terrible thing to happen? Perhaps Wiesel felt abandoned by his God, helpless against the will of the Nazis as they took everything from him.
When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant.” (Moore) While living in brutal conditions, Wiesel did everything he could for himself and others. He prayed almost four times a day for the ending of the holocaust. Fighting through starvation, Wiesel was never selfish and continuously worked to help other Jews escape. While helping others, Wiesel was still a young man with hope to escape himself and tell his stories to the world.
“The Perils of Indifference” In April, 1945, Elie Wiesel was liberated from the Buchenwald concentration camp after struggling with hunger, beatings, losing his entire family, and narrowly escaping death himself. He at first remained silent about his experiences, because it was too hard to relive them. However, eventually he spoke up, knowing it was his duty not to let the world forget the tragedies resulting from their silence. He wrote Night, a memoir of his and his family’s experience, and began using his freedom to spread the word about what had happened and hopefully prevent it from happening again.
Oppression is the systematic method of prolonged cruelty and unjust treatment, often intended for those who are deemed “different” by a hierarchical society. It’s a basis that can be found in the plot of a fictional movie or novel, but most importantly, it’s an aspect of both past and modern life that has affected multiple nations. Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor, is a humanitarian who embodies the personal experiences of what being oppressed feels like – how it itches at one’s skin like the hatred and stares directed at them. The reason he is so important is because of his stories; what he has seen. The insight and intelligence he has brought forth further educates those who had previously accepted the world with their eyes closed.
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.
On April 12th, 1999, Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust survivor, delivered his “The Perils of Indifference” speech that contributed to the “Millennium Lecture series” hosted by leaders of the White House in Washington D.C. Going into detail about how “indifference” had left severe impact on the world, especially during critical times such as the two world wars and several civil wars, the dedicate activist attempted to inform his officials audience about the heavy cost of turning away as well as to persuade the political crews out of such “inhuman” actions.
If a person had to choose between their life and someone else’s, they’d choose to be the ones to live. Selfishness is a terrible thing that can cause families to fight, it can cause wars, or the death of someone to spare one’s own life. Night by Elie Wiesel, shows many examples of selfishness. Sons leave their fathers to save their own lives, reluctantly feed their dying father and even kill just for a piece of bread. Humans are inherently selfish, it’s a personality trait that doesn’t care about relatives or lovers or anyone else.
According to the definition, inhumane is described as an individual without compassion for misery or sufferings. The novel Night by the author Elie Wiesel, illustrates some aspects of inhumanity throughout the book. It is evident in the novel that when full power is given to operate without restraint, the person in power becomes inhumane. There are many examples of inhumanity in this novel. For instance, "Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky." Through this quote Elie is explaining his first night at camp and what he saw will be in his head forever - unforgettable. In my opinion, the section in the novel when the Germans throw the babies into the chimney is very inhuman. An individual must feel no sympathy or feelings in order to take such a disturbing action. In addition to that "For more than half an hour stayed there, struggling between life and death, dying in slow agony under our eyes. And we had to look him full in the face. He was still alive when I passed in front of him. His tongue was still red, his eyes were not yet glazed." This is also very inhumane example since the child's weight wasn’t enough to snap his neck when he was hung and so he is slowly dying painful death as all Jewish people walk by him, being forced to watch the cruelty.
The Perils of Indifference details the feelings of Holocaust victims. Elie Wiesel describes abandonment and indifference. In the quote, “Rooted in our tradition, some of us felt that to be abandoned by humanity then was not the ultimate. We felt that to be abandoned by God was worse than to be punished by Him. Better an unjust God than an indifferent one” (Wiesel 1999), you can feel their immense pain. It is common knowledge that the Holocaust victims were treated inhumanely and unjustly. In the speech, “On Women’s Right to Vote”, Susan B. Anthony describes women being treated unjustly. She believed it was a woman’s right as a citizen to vote. In her speech, she stated, “It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union” (Anthony, 1872). In her role as President of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, she fought hard for women to be treated as equals to men.