Prompt: Read Elie Wiesel’s “Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech.

” Then you will write

an essay that analyzes how Wiesel develops the central idea through rhetorical appeals
and techniques

When awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, Elie Wiesel delivers a speech which
many found powerful. Behind the speech however, were statements containing ethos, pathos,
and logos. It was the combination of these literary devices which made the speech as moving
as it was on such an emotional topic as the Holocaust. ELie uses these devices to convey his
thoughts the way he wants them to be conveyed, which is the major purpose of ethos, pathos,
and logos. In his speech, Elie uses ethos, pathos, and logos to properly convey the idea that we
as humans must never remain silent in the face of tragedy, especially with the power to end it.
Wiese; begins the speech with a statement containing ethos to properly express that he
himself does not deserve this honor, as he simply represents the millions of Jews who perished.
Wiesel first admits to his audience that it is with “a profound sense of humility that (he accepts)
the honor- the highest there is- that (they) have chosen to bestow upon (him)”(1). After hearing
this, the audience begins to understand that wiesel realizes that he simply represents those in
spirit. THis adds to Wiesel's credibility, therefore, and draws the audience deeper into his
speech. Wiesel continues with a rhetorical question, and expands on the obvious answer,
questioning if he has “the right to represent the multitude who have perished? (Does he) have
the right to accept this great honor on their behalf? (He does) not. No one may speak for the
dead, no one may interpret their mutilated dreams and visions”(2). It is with this powerful
statement that Wiesel properly converts his understanding of himself being a conduit for a
message form the perished ot the audience at this point. The audience, now drawn farther into
the speech, can now develop a better understanding of why we should never remain silent
during tragedy, completing the role ethics plays in Wiesel’s speech.
Continuing after this section, WIesel soon begins to use pathos to give the speech more
emotional appeal and to make the speech mean more to the audience. When mentioning the
“presence of (his) parents, that of (his) little sister. The presence of (his) teachers, (his) friends,
(his) companions”(2). Wiesel now begins to convey his linkage to the dead using pathos,
expanding on why he was chosen to the audience. Wiesel’s statement conveys his closeness to
his family, despite their deaths, which is emotional to some given the tragedy the family
endured. Wiesel then continues with a statement which strengthens itself with the combination
of imagery and pathos, as Wiesel claims Auschwitz to be “The fiery altar upon which the history
of our people and the future of mankind were meant to be sacrificed”(4). As the audience
images this thought, the sad history of the event combines with it to cause others to feel sorrow
for those imprisoned, and to cause hatred towards the naziss and their destructive ways. It is by
this mentality that the audience realizes how quiet the world was for so long, and that these
events should never indent itself into the history of mankind again, the point of the speech.
Wiesel conveys his final thoughts as strongly as possible using logos, the final literary device. It
is at this point that Wiesel strongly states the main idea of the speech, telling the audience that if
“we forget, we are guilty, we are accomplices”(6). By adding a parallel statement, Wiesel
properly conveys the major cause and effect which has occured. THis cause and effect
relationship was the same relationship that cause the war to last longer than it should have,
caused the unnecessary deaths of millions of jews, and even caused World War 2 through past
events. Wiesel further pushes this relationship when he announces that the world “did know and
remained silent. And that is why (he) swore never to be silent whenever wherever human
beings endured suffering and humiliation”(7). Wiesel adds upon the last idea for strength by
describing what was endured, and what the world did about it: nothing. It is by now that the
audience completely understands the main idea of the speech, due to the literary devices used.
To add closure, during Wiesel’s acceptance of the Nobel Peace prize, a moving,
emotional speech about cause and effect was given by the survivor himself. The idea is
strengthened through ethos, pathos, and logos, which keeps the speech in the reader’s mind.
Wiesel combines these devices in such a way that it causes the reader to think about everything
that has happened which they did not try to help with, and how they will be able to help 0 in the
future. And it is with that though which the idea has been conveyed, as the audience now knows
that they as an individual must never stand by and watch as a tragedy devastated many.