There May Be A Time When We Fail To Protest By Elie Wiesel

A wise activist once said, “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest” (Wiesel). Elie Wiesel, in the time of great oppression through the Holocaust, understood that if society does not speak out against indifferences, no change will even spark. He was known and respected for being an activist and speaking vivid hard truth about rough places in our culture. Protest literature has the ability to take on the outlook of Wiesel by persevering through trial and crossing boundaries in culture where otherwise boundaries can not be crossed. Protest literature is meant to challenge, promote, argue, reflect, illuminate, and convey reality. Protest through literature has the ability
However, it is also easy to relate this World War II book to my life today. If one merely reads the book, it is easy to fall into the trap that it cannot apply to us today. It is when we look deep into our society and deep into the details we find from literature that one can make connections. Vidya does not relate to society or the common household in that she went through different kinds of oppression. However, even in a different time period, connections can be draw through the idea that society sets boundaries on people that hold each other back and keep us confined to what others tell us is right. Still today, right now, this book is ringing truth and protest into oppression of the ability to just be who one wants to be instead of who one is told to be. This book is still speaking defiance and raw, unhindered truth. Is the time period out of date? Yes. But is the meaning behind the book so far gone that society today cannot connect and be encouraged through oppression? No. No matter how removed from a time period protest literature is written, it still has the ability to hit modern hearts in a way that beckons and longs for more out of
One of the most effective ways that protest can be truly revealed is through literature. Protest literature can be blatant but most of the time, protest literature is able to express truth through characters or storylines that pull away from direct rebellion. Instead of creating uproar, protest literature often is able to portray error in a real way while being removed enough and hidden in the story enough to pull way. Protest literature is able to work within the details and the word choice to build a common ground where even society today can relate. Protest literature is not temporary, for it ripples through society and stirs in hearts of humanity for years to come. Weisel, a writer, understood that “there must never be a time when we fail to protest” (Wiesel). While protest on the streets is often looked down upon, protest literatures effectiveness is often hidden within the pages of the book. Protest literature, as evidenced by Climbing the Stairs, is an effective form of protest because of its ability to point out raw, unhindered truth buried under the deep cultural roots in an