Speaker: Elie Wiesel has authority on the topic of humanity and peace because of who he is. He is a survivor of the Holocaust, a writer, a poet, a political activist, and a Nobel peace prize laureate. By the time he delivered this speech (1999) he was already a well known authority in the field of peace and political action. In the speech, Wiesel defines himself as a trustworthy messenger through the use of his life experiences as examples for what he is trying to show. For example, he talks about indifference in reference to how people let him and his community be put in concentration camps despite already knowing about them.
Occasion: The speech is given on April 12, 1999 because of a series of lectures organized by the White House in commemoration of the millennium. Wiesel decided upon the specific topic, though, probably because exactly 54 years before he had been rescued from Auschwitz by American soldiers, and wanted to talk about what had caused such a horrible even as the Holocaust and what needed to be done to make sure it never happened again.
Audience: I believe that the author if the speech is directing it towards humanity in general. Of course, his real audience is a limited crowd of elite people, but the idea of his message applies to every single person. The reason I believe this is because he talks about wars and genocides all over the world, and about how people of every nation look upon them with broken hearts. This means that he is looking at a wider picture than just the people in the room with him or the people that had something to do with a specific event and rather at the entire world population.
Purpose: Wiesel’s purpose is to stop the indifference in the world which, according to his point of view, is the reason why so many mistakes have been made by mankind. He wants the audience to stop ignoring reality and start taking action to solve the problems that exist. His way of letting people know that being indifferent and not caring is dangerous is through speech: retelling his own experiences and trying to get them to have an effect on others.
Subject: The topic is human indifference. Wiesel talks about how humanity has lost its humanity because people have stopped caring about how others suffer and only wish live a good, comfortable life. The ideas are presented in a straight forward message, probably because the author wants to present a clear message and make sure as many people as possible understand what he is saying.
Tone: Wiesel uses a couple of tones as the speech progresses. When it starts out, the tone is sentimental and nostalgic. He is recounting painful experiences of his past and while he does that his tone serves to get the reader emotionally attached to the subject. Then, as he moves on to talking about how we can’t let anything like the Holocaust happen again, his tone shifts towards persuasive (in order to persuade listeners that what he is saying is true) and urgent.
http://www.famous-speeches-and-speech-topics.info/famous-speeches/elie-wiesel-speech-the-perils-of-indifference.htm
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