Kyle Gheen

Soeth AP Eng 3

2/2/11

Period 2

A.Elie Weisel gives his speech, “The Perils of Indifference,” on April 12, 1999.

B.Speech is given to President Clinton, Mrs. Clinton, members of the congress, Ambassador Holbrooke, and Excellencies.

C.The main question that Weisel is trying to bring up is has humanity learned its. lesson by doing injust to those who are of different ethnicity or different religious background. He starts off to tell a story about a young Jewish boy growing up and living with hatred around him and being treated uncivilized. He talks about the assassinations of good people such as Ghandi, the Kennedys, and Martin Luther King Jr., and giving very detailed descriptions of concentration camps like Auschwitz and how the people inside the “Black gates,” reacted. Talking about how the prisoners would, “sit or lie on the ground, staring vacantly into space, unaware of who or where they were -- strangers to their surroundings.” How he thought the camps were kept secret from the world. He goes on to say that even though they felt they could count on a country, they were mistaken when the St. Lois passenger ship filled with Jewish men and women had to turn back to Nazi Germany. In order to show the injustice in the world, Weisel uses examples from history to show that the ones who fought back were the ones that lost the battle. The Jewish population was exiled and slaughtered because of there beliefs. Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. were assassinated for wanting equality in there nations. The Kennedys were assassinated because they wanted to lead the United States to become a better country. Weisel is asking the not only the President, the congress, or the ambassador what is going to be changed to form equality, but hes also asking the people of the United States.

D. One rhetorical strategy was stating the definition of the word indifference. He uses this rhetorical strategy to set himself to backup his claim and ideals. By giving the audience the definition of the word indifference it gives them an idea of what Weisels claim is going to be. By giving multiple examples of indifference the audience is able to click the example and the definition together to further understand what Weisels claim and tone is. Another rhetorical strategy is allusion by telling the audience a story on how Roosevelt was seemed to be a good man and helped out the Jews but shipped them back to Germany. This gives Weisel a more trustworthy argument because it shows the audience that even though the United States helped the Jewish population, they were discriminated by the United States president who is the most important figure in American government, which is leading the land of the free. If the Jews are criticized in the land of the free then what can give them the idea they wouldn’t have been anywhere else?

Wiesel, Elie. "The Perils of Indifference." Millennium Lecture Series. dleivered 12 April 1999. Washington D.C., Whitehouse.