Elie Wiesel Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech Analysis (Essay Sample)

If someone is being made fun of and you do nothing or say nothing about it and took no actions to stop it then that would be an example of “silent tolerance is unspoken approval” this would be unspoken tolerance because because if you do not try to stop it or do something then you are tolerating it. This has happened in my life. I have seen people be made fun of and have done nothing to stop it. Sometimes I may have even joined in on it looking back on that and realizing because i wasn't saying something or joining in on it then i was actually tolerating it. The theme of silence is unspoken tolerance is shown in Elie Wiesel's acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace prize, first they came and terrible things.

To begin with eli wiessel’s acceptance speech for the nobel peace prize is about a holocaust surviver who won the nobel peace prize and is talking about how slince is actually unspoken tolerance. In the acceptance speech it quotes, “ silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented”. This shows how if you are being silent then it makes the tormentor think that they are doing the right thing and if you are being silent then you are never helping the tormented. 

Another source is the poem first they come. This poem is talking about a german priest who was a nazi but relized what they were doing was wrong and decided to leave the nazi’s and how he did not speak for anyone and then when they came for him there was no one to speak for him. The poem states, “ then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me”.  This shows that if you dont speak out then you are the only group of people left then there will be no one left to speak out for you. 

In addition the story terrible thing is about how silent tolerance is unspoken approval, this story shows that theme because the terrible things come for the animals and no one speaks out for them and then there is one group left and the terrible things come back for them and they all scream and ask for help but there is nobody there to help them. The text states, “ help they screamed, somebody help but there  was no one left to help”. This shows how they did not help the others and when they were the only ones left then they wanted help but there was no one left to help them.

Next some may argue that silent tolerance doesn’t necessarily demonstrate unspoken approval. An example of this is if there is a group of kids bullying someone and you try to speak against them bullying them then their friends might start bullying you too so it would be better to stay quiet. However, silent tolerance is unspoken approval. This is shown in so many different books and stories but the example I like the most is in eli wiesel's acceptance speech for the nobel prize. It states,”we must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.” 

Lastly the theme of silent tolerance is unspoken approval is seen in eli wiesel’s acceptance speech for the nobel peace prize, first they came, and terrible things.  If everyone stays quiet then our world will be horrible and the same mistakes will continue to happen. That is why if you see something that is wrong then you should speak up.