Rhetorical Analysis: The Perils Of Indifference

Words: 663
Pages: 3

Genocide, one of the worst things a person can do. One big example is the Holocaust, and Elie Wiesel, one of the very few people to survive this massacre was inspired by, more or less of what didn’t happen. After the war, he had a story to tell. And it was one that not for the faint of heart, but to evoke people. And to tell them that it was okay to take a stand. The Perils of Indifference convinces the public to take start taking action through rhetorical devices, rhetorical appeals, and an empathetic tone. Wiesel uses rhetorical devices to convince the audience to start taking action. In his speech, he begins to ask one question after another. “Does it mean that we have learned from the past? Does it mean that society has changed? Has the human being become less indifferent and more …show more content…
And his tone changes throughout the speech, but it mostly concentrates on the empathetic side. An example would be on page 3, “The depressing tale of the St. Louis is a case in point. Sixty years ago, its human cargo -- maybe 1,000 Jews -- was turned back to Nazi Germany… I don't understand. Roosevelt was a good man, with a heart. He understood those who needed help. Why didn't he allow these refugees to disembark? A thousand people -- in America, a great country, the greatest democracy, the most generous of all new nations in modern history. What happened? I don't understand. Why the indifference, on the highest level, to the suffering of the victims?(3)?” Wiesel’s tone is there for people to understand his struggle. And the tone does this because of how it conveys Wiesel’s message. Elie Wiesel, the Holocaust survivor, has a wish, and that wish is to have people take a stand towards injustice. Through the rhetorical devices he uses, the rhetorical appeals, and his empathetic tone, he effectively and efficiently makes his point. How well did you think Wiesel