Christodoss 1

Esther Christodoss

Leigh Ann Moore

ENGL 1302.08

19 Febuary 2017

Elie Wiesel: The World Gives the Cold Shoulder

Elie Wiesel was a holocaust survivor who is known for writing his well-known novel

Night recounting his experiences. Through his writing, he became one of the most notable

survivors to this day. He reached out to the public and touched their hearts with insight on his

experiences and used ethos, pathos, and logos to strengthen his argument. On April 12th, 1999,

he delivered a speech called The Perils of Indifference, which was about how he and many

others felt when countries around the world were indifferent to the suffering of those in his

position. This speech was a call to action for the entirety of society to help those they had

ignored for far too long. He made this speech addressing a wide audience, including the U.S

President and the first lady at the time, President and Hillary Clinton. Wiesel used personal

experience, repetition, and evidence in his speech to argue that indifference to suffering is just as

bad as causing it and a change needs to be made.

As a holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel had personal experience with the unfortunate effects

of being ignored by the world when suffering is taking place right under their noses. He

acknowledges in his speech that rather than looking into the suffering of others, it is so much

easier to look away from our victims (par. 6). He recounted the personal experiences he had

during the holocaust, telling his audience how he personally felt like the world was indifferent to

his and many others suffering, which also established his ethos. Besides giving himself more

authority on the subject, Wiesel was calling out emotion from the audience, or using pathos. The
 Christodoss 2

detail he uses in recounting his experiences would not only lure out sympathy for himself, but

also for those who suffered with him and those who were suffering as he spoke on that stage.

From his personal experience, he aimed to touch the hearts of his audience and provide backing

for his speech.

Throughout his entire speech, Wiesel repeats the word indifference to link back to his

main point regarding indifference to suffering. When he uses this word, he is talking about the

worlds attitude toward those suffering under oppressive rulers. He uses this word more than

once to plant a seed of understanding in the audiences mind; if he had not mentioned the word

several times, the audience would not realize how significant and binding the word

indifference was for his main point about indifference to suffering in his speech. The word is

used a number of times and is used the most in the group of sentences, Indifference elicits no

response. Indifference is not a response. Indifference is not a beginning; it is an end. And,

therefore, indifference is always the friend of the enemy (par. 9). People may see the word as

one they would not usually associate with humanitys attitude toward the holocaust, but Wiesel

explains that the world knew what was going on and ignored them, which was worse than

punishing them. In his argument, indifference was just as bad as causing suffering, and

indifference was not a word to be cast aside and undermined. The fact that the people they

thought could save them knew of their suffering and decided to ignore them diminished their

hopes and faith. He compares the indifference to God, as just as holocaust victims felt God was

indifferent to them, they felt that the world was indifferent to them as well. Repeating the word

indifference made his point clear; deciding to do nothing was not seen as a neutral action, but a

cruel one.
 Christodoss 3

Besides using his own personal examples, Wiesel uses factual evidence to support his

point about how grievous indifference to suffering can be. He describes the tale of St. Louis in

which one-thousand Jews were returned back to Nazi Germany. In this incident, the Jews were in

a ship that was already on U.S shores, but were sent back to the horrid life that they had tried to

escape. Wiesel describes this event as something he did not understand the logic behind; he

wondered why people who so clearly needed help were given back to their oppressors.

Acknowledging this event led to his logos being established, as he had evidence to prove his

point and to help his audience understand how illogical and immoral it was to turn a blind eye to

the suffering of others. Toward the end of his speech, he used strong pathos; he talks about

children. Most people that possess basic societal morals will have a greater emotional reaction to

children being spoken about versus an address to an entire people. Wiesel talks about how when

the general public sees children in horrid conditions, it breaks their heart. He goes on to say how

tragic it is for children, as they are suffering not for their own mistakes and decisions, but by

those made by the adults they look up to for help and protection. He makes a call to action by

saying that some of them -- so many of them -- could be saved (par. 19). Through the evidence

he uses, Wiesel effectively informs his audience of the context of this situation and how it can be

fixed.

Wiesel did not just get up on that podium to tell any old speech. He stood in front of the

President of the United States and many other important figures to speak about something he was

passionate about indifference. He decided that people had been silent about this issue for too

long, and too many were being ignored and cast aside due to the indifference of those who could

easily help them. He used elements of ethos, pathos, and logos to help support his points and

form an effective and touching speech to give to the masses. From his personal experience,
 Christodoss 4

repetition, and evidence, Elie Wiesel educates his audience on the perils of indifference and how

they could move on as a society to fix not what they had caused, but ignored.
 Christodoss 5

Works Cited

Wiesel, Elie. The Perils of Indifference. 12 Apr. 1999, Washington, D.C, White House,

American Rhetoric,

www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ewieselperilsofindifference.html. Accessed 19 Feb.

2017