Preview

The Perils Of Indifference Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
544 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Perils Of Indifference Analysis
The Dangers of Indifference
Indifference is the lack of interest, concern, or sympathy that indirectly influences Elie Wiesel and Ishmael Beah. Elie Wiesel is a World War II veteran who spreads awareness to the suffering of others in the world through his powerful speeches. Ishmael Beah is a former child soldier and a Civil War survivor who, like Wiesel, spreads awareness to those whom are silenced in the world. Both men had fallen to be victims of indifference, for both were abandoned by society. Indifference is an abstract concept that is portrayed as a threat to humanity by both Elie Wiesel in “The Perils of Indifference” and Ishmael Beah, in A Long Way Gone, for it diminishes humanity and silences the cries of the suffering.
Elie Wiesel experiences indifference taking away his humanity by being a prisoner of war. Wiesel was kept at a secluded concentration camp for years. He felt like the world viewed him as imaginary, and had forgotten about his suffering as well as the suffering of other’s in the concentration
…show more content…
Ishmael is orphaned during the civil war in Sierra Leone and is forced to fend for himself at an early age because others feel indifferent to his survival. He is silenced, for his suffering is ignored. After arriving in New York and having done a speech, he feels blessed to know, “that a memory of [his] existence was alive somewhere in the world” (Beah 200). Ishmael feels fortunate to share his story and raise awareness to the people in Sierra Leone because for the first time, he feels that his voice is being heard and that he is making a change in the world. In his speech, he raises awareness of the consequences of indifference, concluding that it does not bear good fruit, and therefore is used as a weapon to silence the victim and cause further destruction. Indifference is a threat to Ishmael because it was the leading factor that shunned him during his time of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Elie Wiesel records his life as a young teenager in the Nazi concentration camps. The inhuman horror he witnessed from seeing people literally work themselves to death or beaten to death. He was verbally assaulted as well as phyysically by the many guards. This ansolutely destroyed this young boys childhood and made him grow up before he was ready to. Being around this brutality, wiesel became faithless and more dark, hopeless, to describe it more accurately. He often wished for his elder suffering father…

    • 226 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the Holocaust Elie Wiesel changed physically and mentally, growing weaker. At first arrival at the Auschwitz concentration camp, Shlomo asked to go to the bathroom and was struck across the face and Elie’s thoughts stated “Only yesterday I would have dug my nails into this criminals flesh. Had I changed that much? So fast? Remorse began to gnaw at me” (39). Elie had just arrived at Auschwitz and he himself was already noticing the changes it had on him. The German soldiers put fear into the prisoners and took away the will to protect even the ones you love the most.…

    • 102 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Eliezer Wiesel, a boy from Sighet, has survived a horrible experience in the hands of the Germans. It all started in 1942 when Moishe the Beadle, his friend and instructor in the Kabbalah, was deported from Sighet. Moishe escaped to warn others of the horrors that awaited them. Sadly, no one wanted to listen, even though Eliezer “[had] asked [his] father to sell everything, to liquidate everything, and to leave” (Wiesel 08). A few months after that, the Germans invaded Sighet, promptly ordered the Jews to give up anything valuable, and then ended up making them stay with other Jews in a ghetto. After, Jews were eventually deported in cattle cars, not knowing where they were to end up. Eliezer’s first view of the concentration camp where they first arrived was “flames rising from a small chimney into a black sky” (Wiesel 27) and “In the air, the smell of burning flesh” (Wiesel 28). Life in the concentration camps was awfully…

    • 392 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    When we’re young and we have a toy or a play thing, we get angry if that thing is taken away from us; we throw a tantrum. This is because the toy retains our focus and interest, and then it’s just ripped away. Elie Wiesel was prematurely ripped from his world of family and faith, forced to the infamous concentration camp of Auschwitz to wither away along with the burned remains of his past and hopes. The drastic change from Wiesel’s rendition of his experiences during the Holocaust, Night, portrays many themes throughout the entirety of its pages, with one of the most prominent themes being Elie’s own faith and its vicissitude over time, of which is seen in the early years of his life where he was devout to his religion, to the train ride and arrival at Auschwitz where he begs God to help, ending in the death of his God as the children are hung, and the total rejection of a God altogether.…

    • 1187 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    In the memoir Night written by Elie Wiesel, Wiesel found a new part of his identity from his experiences in the multiple concentration camps. While in the camps Wiesel is faced with multiple trials that transforms all the people around him into animals, he learns from what happens and uses that to make him stronger, not destroy them. Just before the weak are pulled into the selection Akiba Drummer gave up on his faith, “If only he kept his faith in God, if only he could have considered this suffering a divine test” (Wiesel 77). The loss of faith for the Jews in the concentration camps is very common. Most of them completely give up on everything and shut out everything that is happening unless it has anything to do with food. Instead of shutting out everything and losing all of his humanity, Wiesel uses these experiences to gain a further insight in himself and others. Unlike the religious leader that just lost the faith he put so much faith into , Wiesel’s religious belief doesn’t falter, he believes that the fate of all of these people isn’t just, “You have betrayed, allowing them to be tortured, slaughtered, gassed, and burned, what they do? They pray before You! They praise Your name!” (Wiesel 68) Wiesel’s perception of what is happening to everyone he knew is much different than compared to those around him. This perception creates an entirely separate identity for Wiesel compared to the lost identities of those around him. What makes Wiesel different from…

    • 1158 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    During world war II, the people known as, Jews, were targeted for deportation to concentration camps and execution. The term, “Inhumanity” was expressed in many different ways during this period of time. Inhumanity can scar people emotionally and mentally. Inhumane people tend to act very cruel towards other people, animals, and the environment. In the story, “Night” by Elie Wiesel, there were many merciless examples of how inhumanity was shown during World War II.…

    • 327 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Elie Wiesel could be described as your normal, average boy who loved his family, friends, and God. All this changed when WW2 began. Wiesel’s whole life got turned upside down and changed. Wiesel, along with his father, got sent to a concentration camp. In that camp they had lost everything, their personal possessions, their family, and even their will to live. In Night, Elie Wiesel uses diction, imagery, and tone to illustrate the loss of humanity during the holocaust. Loss of humanity was a huge theme during the holocaust because of all the things they had lost and the way the Naziz did this.…

    • 505 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the memoir Night the narrator Elie Wiesel recounts a moment when Moishe the Beadle told him what happen when he was gone , “ Infants were tossed into the air and use as targets for the machine guns”(Wiesel 6). The Nazi’s didn’t treat the Jew’s as humans. As the author describes his experiences, many other example of inhumanity as revealed. Two significant themes related to inhumanity discussed in the book Night by Elie Wiesel are lots of faith and getting closer to love ones.…

    • 518 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Night Figurative Language

    • 1522 Words
    • 7 Pages

    When you read, do you ever felt like there is a recording playing in your head, telling the story to you? Have you ever noticed that each writer has a “voice” that is completely their own? Why do all of the great authors have a “sound” exclusive to themselves? Using precise wording and distinctive phrases, writers can manipulate your thoughts and emotions to help the reader understand the content of the literature. This is especially helpful when the subject matter is uncomfortable and harsh, such as the lives of inmates in the Nazi concentration and death camps during World War II. Relating to this book, Wiesel was imprisoned in Buchenwald and Auschwitz for being a Jew, and in particular uses his style to tell the tale of those two camps’…

    • 1522 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    “I have learned two lessons in my life… Second, just as despair can come to one and other only from other human beings, hope too, can be given only by other human beings” Elie Wiesel. Many lessons can be drawn from the events Eliezer Wiesel witnesses in the months of his confinement. A life shattering event shows Eliezer that life is fragile. Regretted decisions convince him that it is worth it to take risks. Numerous accounts of hatred and abuse cause Eliezer to discover and ugly truth: people can be cruel. Between the spring of 1944 and the summer of 1945 Eliezer Wiesel learns three life changing lessons: life is fragile, some risks are worth taking, and people can be cruel.…

    • 831 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Indifference is such a powerful weapon that most people rarely realize they are using daily. It is more commonly defined as disinterest or apathy. If one is not careful, it can lead to destruction. When people view others as indifferent, it dehumanizes them and puts them at lower standard than everyone else. Unity is broken when individuals are no longer thought of as equals and causes great distress in a country. Both Elie Wiesel and Niemoller take a stand against indifference to inspire others to do the same.…

    • 490 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Equally important, Wiesel’s form of parallel structure and comparisons to deliver a well-balance phrase that pleases the audience so they can comprehend the concept of indifference in a different perspective. Furthermore, Wiesel declares his questioning towards the audience about the definition of indifference as well as adding several contradicting comparisons of how indifference initially affects society, “What is indifference? 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” (2) In this case, this quote states how indifference can be viewed in society. Therefore, Wiesel arranges his…

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    This created more problems for the prisoners of the concentration camps. For example in the article "The Perils of Indifference" it says, "in a way, to be indifferent to that suffering is what makes the human being inhuman." This is Elie Wiesel telling the president that when people decide to not do anything or to be indifferent it makes them part of the problem. Another example of this is in the article "The Perils of Indifference" where the author says, "when adults wage war, children perish." This shows indifference because it proves that when people do not think about others it could ruin their lives. In conclusion, indifference causes difficulties for…

    • 528 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Wiesel develops his assertion by providing references to events in which action, rather than indifference,that could have saved countless lives; for example, Wiesel mentions both world wars, the assassinations of the Kennedys and Dr. Martin Luther King jr., and also of the numerous civil wars. Wiesel's purpose is to inspire people to act and help the children in this world that are dying every minute from violence, hunger, and disease. The intended audience for this speech is people in a position to create change and have an impact on the children, specifically those who hold an office in the United States government.…

    • 581 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    According to the speech, it talks that indifference is worse than hate or anger because people will not have solidarity or take care on each other anymore due to this horrible emotion. On the one hand, when people stand idly by and do nothing, they become accomplices to a crime against other human beings.Elie Wiesel gives an example about his own experience during Holocaust: “ Synagogues burned, thousands of people put in concentration camps. And that ship, which was already in the shores of the United States, was sent back”(Wiesel "The Perils of Indifference"). People on the high level at that time did have ability to save the victims but they did not which means they are also members who lead victims to death. On other hand, we are all…

    • 341 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays