Rhetorical Analysis Of Night By Elie Wiesel

The experience of war is different for all involved. Victims feel pain. They are isolated and forgotten, thinking no one remembers their plight. Especially those who are physically removed from their communities and homes, locked in prisons and concentration camps, unsure of what each moment will hold. And then there are those who watch situations develop and unfold. They read the headlines, feel a momentary sadness as they think about the prisoners, but then move on to the next event in their life, barely stopping to grasp the implication of something because it is not happening right there under their nose. Elie Wiesel, writer and world activist, was victim of war and a Holocaust survivor that shared his story April 12, 1999. Terrorized …show more content…
He offers three solutions, listed to command attention, “dialogue, reconciliation and peace” which are very like the three solutions offered by Wiesel. Presented in this way it is easy to make the connections between the two speeches and how fighting indifference is similar to reconciliation, denouncing indifference requires dialogue, and peace comes with …show more content…
As for approach, Wiesels also asks a lot of rhetorical questions which demonstrates his confusion as a young child, with what was happening at that time. Pope Francis, on the other hand, has more of a narrative perspective, has examined and assessed the situation, and so has a better understanding of the tragedies more so than a child would have had. Their perspectives also illustrate where they are now in life. Pope Francis is on a higher spiritual plane and uses his wisdom to offer insight and narrative where Wiesels presentation is a personal account of his life story. Using repetition, Pope Francis drives home his points about peace and reconciliation. The repetition of “peace’ adds broader meaning to his talk as he is talking about all of time. Wiesel is more focused on the past and that one particular time.
Both Pope Francis and Elie Wiesel gave effective speeches based on their established credibility, their strong emotional content, and their use of rhetorical devices. No one would ever dispute the feelings and emotions shared by a victim of the concentration camps. Likewise, the authority of the Pope is evident no matter what religion is practiced. These speakers employed techniques that made their presentations follow similar paths with unique strategies to evoke empathy and emotion from their listeners.