The Perils Of Indifference Essay

Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel in his speech, “The Perils of Indifference,” stresses that becoming indifferent is the most indifferent thing that can happen to a person and their surroundings. He supports his claim by first defining and describing indifference talking about how it can be described as many things, but ultimately indifference is the end. Wiesel’s purpose is to warn his audience against the dangers of indifference and its effects on the world. He establishes and apprehensive tone for his audience due to the traumatizing events of his past. Wiesel uses different forms of structure throughout his speech such as defining words and concepts, asking questions, and shedding light on his personal experiences having lived through the …show more content…
Wiesel begins his speech with a story about his childhood when he was freed from the war “but there was no joy in his heart” (page 1) Wiesel uses this to get the audience’s attention, but also so that they can feel for him. He later mentions the children who suffer when war breaks out he uses this to show that due to the indifference of the adults the children must suffer. He shares these thoughts and stories to create an emotional appeal in order for the audience to humanize the shadow of dehumanization that was casted over the Holocaust. Wiesel also uses logic to try and figure out why America turned back a ship with “nearly 1,000 Jews” to Nazi Germany (page 5). He uses this to make the American people think about whether they were indifferent to the lives and issues of the Jews coming from Nazi Germany. He tried to piece together reasons why this could've happened, but he just couldn't understand why. The only logical reason was that America had become indifferent to their cause. They no longer cared about those people, all they cared about was money which was evident as “America’s largest corporations [continued] to do business with Hitlers Germany until 1942” (page