1. “The Perils of Indifference” By Elie Wiesel Sri Donthineni, Joshua Kim, Maathesh Manoharan, Ashish Satyavarapu, Vishnu Vijay

2. Close Read

3. The Quotes of Impact  “What is indifference? Etymologically, the word means ‘no difference.’ A strange and unnatural state in which the liners blur between light and darkness, dusk and dawn, crime and punishment, cruelty and compassion, good and evil.”  As the centerpiece of this speech, this short paragraph becomes the underlying observation made that is used to connect all of the ideas Wiesel presents. Although a fairly simple and easily grasped concept, its simplicity gives way to the darker undertones that describes the blurring of our core ideals and our identity.

4. The Quotes of Impact  “In a way, to be indifferent to that suffering is what makes the human being inhuman. Indifference, after all, is more dangerous than anger and hatred. Anger can at times be creative...Even hatred at times may elicit a response. You fight it. You denounce it. You disarm it. Indifference elicits no response. Indifference is not a response.”  This passage represents the raw power of Wiesel’s words, showing the darkest points of indifference. Humans, by honest nature, find it necessary to respond to the environment of their lives; indifference is not a natural state of mind, nor is it connected in any way to human emotion. Elie Wiesel presents the incredibly powerful truth: to ignore, to abandon, to be indifferent to the sufferings of others is the most inhumane action of the world.

5. The Key Words of Impact 1) Indifference: This word is the single key to this speech, the focus point that shows, through poignant examples and powerful wording, the dangers and darkness that accompanies indifference. It is the embodiment of hate, ignorance, and evil, through its lack of humanity, and lack of a response. 2) Humanity: Tied to indifference through what the world has experienced through the course of this human history, humanity exemplifies the differences and goals of each individual on this planet, and how each is truly connected. The spirit of humanity is, quite literally, what makes us human.

6. The Key Words of Impact 3) Millennium: More related to the context of this speech, delivered on the brink of a new millennium, each division of time, from each day to each generation, is how we give meaning to the concept of time itself, and how we attempt to change the course of history. 4) Experience: Experiences define life, in all of its glory. Plainly and simply, our experiences define who we are, and one of the messages this speech tries to convey is the idea that these experiences should be acted upon and defined, to be kept a sacred part of humanity. 5) Response: Our response to certain events, certain experiences, are how we illustrate our character. A surrounding detail of this speech is the concept of character, and its impact on each and every aspect of our world.

7. Impressions  In the experience of each of our lives, this speech leaves an impact quite unlike the others through the idea that the message of Wiesel’s words can continue to apply to each of us until the world is free from the inhuman values of hate, evil, and indifference. While the impact of these words may differ slightly between each person, the weight of his message must collectively be carried on all of our hearts.

8. Contextual Analysis

9. Elie Wiesel’s Early Years  Elie Wiesel was born was on September 30, 1928 in modern-day Romania  Wiesel, in 1944, was forced by Germany to go to Auschwitz, a Nazi death camp, along with his family  Wiesel lived in concentration camps until his liberation from Buchenwald, another Nazi concentration camp, in 1945. Only two of his sisters survived with him  Wiesel then traveled to Paris, where he studied in Sorbonne Université, and chose to become a journalist

10. Elie Wiesel  His coworker and friend, François Mauriac, convinced Wiesel to not be silent about what he experienced in the Nazi concentration camps  He went on to write a trilogy of books—Night (1960), Dawn (1961), Day (1962)—that examined humankind’s tendency to want to destroy each other  Wiesel spoke out about injustices in a variety of countries, which resulted in him being awarded the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom, the French Legion of Honor's Grand Croix, and the Nobel Peace Prize (1986)

11. “The Perils of Indifference”  Elie Wiesel’s speech was originally composed for the 7 th Millennium Evening at the White House on April 12 nd, 1999  The main topic of the Millennium Evening was the Kosovo War  President Bill Clinton, after Wiesel’s speech, said that the United States is “steadily increasing involvement in the rest of the world, not for territorial gain, but for peace and freedom and security, is a fact of recent history.”  President Clinton used Elie Wiesel’s speech, among other things, as justification for getting involved in the Kosovo War

12. Kosovo War  Government of Yugoslavia and ethnic Serbians were opposed by ethnic Albanians in Kosovo  Milosevic, President of the Serbian Republic, never liked that Muslim Albanians lived in an area sacred to Serbians  Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton both warned Milosevic that Serbian aggression in Kosovo will result in a U.S. military response  The Albanians created a group called the Kosovo Liberation Army in 1996, which attacked Serbian police and politicians  In 1998, after Milosevic had become President of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav’s military worked in conjunction with Serbian’s police to try and take control of the region  Because of the fighting between the two groups, refugees began fleeing the area  The United States, Great Britain, Germany, France, Russia, and Italy demanded the fighting to stop, but because Milosevic did not implement the demands required by the much larger countries, the KLA decided to take matter into its own hands

13. Kosovo War  The Yugoslavs and Serbians started an ethnic cleansing of the Albanians  Ethnic Cleansing: pushing a certain ethnic group out of a region  NATO forces, including the United States, started air strikes against Serbia’s military forces in 1999, after a failed weapons embargo had no effect on the violence  After 11 weeks of bombing Serbian forces, Yugoslavia signed a peace treaty with NATO

14. The Millennium Evenings  The Millennium Evenings (1998-2000) were a set of lectures by certain guest speakers, such as Stephen Hawking (2 nd ), Wynton Marsalis (4 th ), and Elie Wiesel (7 th )  The events were accessible via internet, cable, radio, or satellite, so many regular people were able to either hear or watch them at any time

15. Wiesel’s Impact  Throughout the speech, Wiesel talks about indifference, which was a major factor in why Hitler was able to do what he did  Wiesel lived through a period of time where injustice and indifference and inaction were common  Wiesel knew that if NATO, along with the United States, had not intervened in Kosovo, something like the Holocaust would have appeared  Ethnic Cleansing is only one step away from Genocide  Many people thought negatively about Bill Clinton’s decision to get involved in Kosovo, but people like Elie Wiesel thought differently

16. Purpose and Claim

17. Purpose  Wiesel was forced to go to Auschwitz in 1994 and lost hope and joy after staying in the concentration camp and he remained this way until he was liberated. Wiesel wrote “The Perils of Indifference” to show that indifference was what caused the Holocaust. He said “Indifference reduces the other to an abstraction.”, which conveys the message that the persecution of Jews was looked away from. The people’s response to the genocide was indifference and this made a huge impact on the world. People ignored the issue and let it grow and hurt an increasing number of people until they finally took action.

18. Claim  Wiesel’s claim in “The Perils of Indifference” is that indifference is very dangerous and can lead to many tragedies. It is harmful to humanity and “… is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor – never his victim…”(Wiesel.) When people did not care about the oppression of the Jews, it did not benefit or harm them, it just helped the enemy (Hitler). Over 100 million people were involved in the war all because people did not take action when they should have.

19. Structure and Strategy

20. Structure  Elie Wiesel's ideas are faint and subtle due to the separation of ideas in his speech.  The author incorporates rhetorical questions throughout the text to support his point/claim throughout the text.  These obvious questions are used to create a literary effect, by making the readers ask themselves to implement an understanding of the question.

21. Cause and Effect  Elie Wiesel talks about the cause and effect of the Holocaust and many tragic events in general.  "These failures have cast a dark shadow over humanity: two World Wars, countless civil wars, the senseless chain of assassinations...bloodbaths in Cambodia and Nigeria, India and Pakistan, Ireland and Rwanda, Eritrea and Ethiopia, Sarajevo and Kosovo; the inhumanity in the gulag and the tragedy of Hiroshima."  This passage shows many of the tragic events caused by indifference and ignorance. Many people have ignored Hitler and his inhumane actions of concentration camps and Jew extermination acts. All of this ignorance and indifference has caused many tragic events to occur. It could have been stopped if the people would could just voice out their opinions.

22. Strategy  Repetition, the author repeats key words such as "indifference" and "humanity." This lets the reader intake this important idea/word, and using repetition it will help us understand the author's point.  Parallelism, the repetition of phrases are used to emphasize the author's ideas and create an auditory affect.  Ex: "...for what you said, and for what you are doing for children in the world, for the homeless, for the victims of injustice, the victims of destiny and society."  Oxymoron, the use of contradicting terms in conjunction.  Ex: "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."

23. Strategy  Rhetorical Devices are implemented throughout the text to persuade the reader/audience.  Pathos, used to emotionally persuade the reader.  Ex: "Liberated a day earlier by American soldiers, he remembers their rage at what they saw."  Ethos, used to persuade the reader with ethics and credibility.  Ex: "In a way to be indifferent to that suffering is what makes the human being inhuman."

24. Evaluation

25. What is the Purpose?  Elie Wiesel wanted to tell the audience that indifference was worse than hate or anger  Anyone could be angry at injustice or hate evil, violent acts  Being indifferent is to see someone suffer and not even taking it into consideration  He wanted to convey the terrible outcome of ignoring atrocities

26. Effective Strategies used in the Speech  Parallelism – “You fight it. You denounce it. You disarm it.”  He used this to show hatred can create a response and indifference cannot make a response. This shows that What the Nazi’s did was indifference and not hatred.  Rhetorical Questions – “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 human? Have we really learned from our experiences? Are we less insensitive to the plight of victims of ethnic cleansing and other forms of injustices in places near and far? Is today’s justified intervention in Kosovo, led by you, Mr. President, a lasting warning that never again will the deportation, the terrorization of children and their parents be allowed anywhere in the world? Will it discourage other dictators in other lands to do the same?”  The rhetorical questions tells the audience that they have learned from the past, and human injustice and ethnic cleansing is not tolerable anymore to the human race.

27. Arguments Presented in Wiesel’s Speech  Highly Logical  Forces Democratic societies to stand for their freedoms and their own beliefs  He said the inner purpose of America fighting in World War II was to represent freedom  Indifference is the ignored people suffering  We must be aware of human empowerment (Hitler and Nazis)

28. Bibliography  Biography.com Editors. "Elie Wiesel." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2015..  The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Kosovo Conflict | Balkan History [1998-1999]." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Web. 26 Sept. 2015..  Elie Wiesel Quotes. Digital image. My Interesting Facts. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2015..  "Elie Wiesel: Seventh White House Millennium Evening Lecture (1999)." YouTube. YouTube, 1999. Web. 27 Sept. 2015..  "Elie Wiesel." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, 18 Aug. 2015. Web. 26 Sept. 2015..  "A Kosovo Chronology." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2015..  "Millennium Evening with Elie Wiesel." PBS. Ed. Office of Press Secretary. PBS, n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2015..  "Millennium Evenings." Millennium Evenings. National Endowment for the Humanities, n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2015..