The Perils of Indifference & Friendswood

Daniela Alavanja

English 1101

Professor Young

8 April 2017

The Perils of Indifference & Friendswood

     Not caring about something can be a very bad thing, it could be so bad to the point that it becomes dangerous, this is what we call peril of indifference. The danger of not caring is portrayed in Elie Wiesel’s article The Perils of Indifference and Rene Steinke novel Friendswood. When you have indifference there seems to be confusion between good and bad, light and dark, cruelty and compassion, and so on. “Yet, for the person who is indifferent, his or her neighbor are of no consequence” (Wiesel 2). When you are indifferent you do not care about the person next to you, their life seems to be meaningless. An indifferent person only cares about his or herself and their interest. As one can see, indifference can be extremely dangerous, and if it is not stopped the issue greatly escalates. 

     Elie Wiesel in his article talks about all the indifference that went on during the time of the Holocaust. Wiesel talks about a specific group of prisoners in Auschwitz called the “Muselmanners”. This group suffered the most; they were dead and did not know it. They did not fear anything, they did not feel hunger, thirst, or pain. In this society there were three groups of people: the killers, victims, and bystanders. The victims in Auschwitz and Treblinka had hope that the free worlds did not know what was going on, and once they find out they would come to their rescue. However, today the survivors learn that the free world countries knew and only acted as bystanders. They were indifferent towards what was happening. 

     Moreover, Lee Knowles in Friendswood also faces indifference. In Lee’s society there were also three groups of people. The killers, who are the antagonist; in this case Avery Taft, the EPA, and the mayor. The victim is our protagonist Lee. The rest of the neighborhood which is indifferent about the dangers of building on Banes Field are the bystanders. The contamination on Banes Field is something Lee feels very passionately about because it is what caused her daughters death and is hurting the rest of the neighborhood. However, no one else seems to care. Avery Taft and the major are only concerned with making money, human health seems irrelevant to them. “Indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor - never the victim” (Wiesel 2). Indifference was a good thing for Avery Taft it was allowing him to make money, and the major would have been able to drive properly value up. On the contrary, the indifference did not benefit Lee whatsoever. “Lee used to be able to act nice, to command a crowd, but she’d been worn down by so much flatness, so much indifference” (Steinke 90). It is completely understandable that Lee is worn out, and tired of the unfairness and carelessness. How would you feel if someone was constantly knocking down beliefs that are important to you?

     “Indifference to that suffering is what make the human inhuman. Indifference, after all, is  more dangerous than anger and hatred” (Wiesel 2). As the article and novel prove, indifference is more dangerous than anger. At least anger has the chance of being creative; however, indifference in neither creative nor a response. All in all, when one sees indifference it is important to step up and put a stop to it. If a stop is not put to indifference it just grows like a monster, and hurts people as it did in the Holocaust and Lee Knowles. 

Works Cited

Steinke, Rene. Friendswood. New York, NY: Riverhead, 2014. Print.

Wiesel, Elie. "Great Speeches Collection: Elie Wiesel Speech The Perils of Indifference. N.p., April 1999. Print.