REHUGO #2

Nisha Rangel

Mr. Soeth

AP English 3

February 2, 2011

REHUGO Analysis #2 - Historical Speech

A. Elie Wiesel delivers his speech, The Perils of Indifference, to

President Clinton, Mrs. Clinton, members of Congress, Ambassador Holbrooke and other

audience members on April 19, 1999 in Washington D.C.

B. At the time the first lady, Hillary Clinton, was trying complete a philanthropic

act of getting health care for other countries. She was the first person to ever

have Congress pass White House Conference on Philanthropy. Wiesel delivers this

speech to express his feelings of gratitude toward America and his feelings

gratitude towards Hillary Clinton for helping people because when he was in need for

help during the Holocaust he had no one.

C. Wiesel's speech is related to today's world because he is trying to get people to

realize that new years mean new hope for society and that instead of having

indifference, we need to contribute to change. He's trying to prove to his audience

that mistakes made in the past should not be repeated in the present because future

generations shouldn't need to experience the pain of what he and many others had to

go through. This makes his speech highly effective because he is a surviving member

of the Holocaust, so his audience is drawn to the emotional aspect of his argument,

and he also explains how indifference is more dangerous than anything because it is

an ending that does nothing but benefiting the enemy.

D. In almost every paragraph Wiesel uses a rhetorical question. For example he

uses "What is indifference?" and "Why didn't he allow these refugees to disembark?",

which add to the emotional appeal of his speech. These questions make the audience

think about their morals, life, and what they could possibly do to contribute for

societal change. He also uses comparison and contrast to show how things have

improved and can keep improving for others who are experiencing what he already

has "And then, of course, the joint decision of the United States and NATO to

intervene in Kosovo and save those victims, those refugees...In the place that I

come from, society was composed of three simple categories: the killers, the

victims, and the bystanders. During the darkest of times, inside the ghettoes and

death camps but then, we felt abandoned, forgotten. All of us did...But this time,

the world was not silent. This time, we do respond. This time, we intervene."

Wiesel also uses definition in his speech when he gives his own example of what

indifference is, "Etymologically, the word means "no difference." A strange and

unnatural state in which the lines blur between light and darkness, dusk and dawn,

crime and punishment, cruelty and compassion, good and evil." and also uses the word

indifference for repetition throughout his speech as well.