Kayla Bahr
ENGW 1101
Professor Young
10, April, 2017
In Elie Wiesel's speech,
The Perils of Indifference, he questions if it is ever necessary to be indifferent. Wiesel defines indifference as "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" (Wiesel 2). In Wiesel's case, there was a thin line between life and death, when he was in a concentration camp waiting for someone to save them. He explains how America new about what was going on in the many concentration camps but nothing was done for a while because America was indifferent towards what was going on because it was not directly effecting them. However, when America finally did step in, they freed Jews enslaved in the concentration camps and saved a countless number of lives. In this situation is was very necessary for people to be the exact opposite of indifferent in order to save millions of lives.
In Rene Steinke's novel,
Friendswood, it was important for Lee to also be the opposite of indifferent towards the Banes Field chemical dumping for many reasons. One reason being that this subject meant a lot to her because her daughter, Jess, had died from contracting a blood disease from living on the contaminated land. Lee was passionate about finding justice for Jess's death. Also, she wanted to put a stop to Avery Taft and Taft Industries from building on the toxic land for the sole reason of making more money. She also wants to stop the rising rate of cancer in her town. Lee was not indifferent or blind to the issues going on at hand like most of the people in her community because it directly impacted her life negatively. Meanwhile, the other's are indifferent because it had not impacted their life in such an unfortunate way.
Also in Steinke's
Friendswood, Willa is a teenager who was raped by her high school crush. She struggled with this internally before she had gotten support from her friends and Lee. She was the victim of the rape but was also seen as the cause. She was looked down upon by the members of the town. Her friend Dani stood up for her from the start without caring what others thought. However, Dex had a late start to standing up for her. Once he heard about the rape he was indifferent towards the situation and did not do much to help out the situation. He then makes a change and stands up for Willa when he hears people talking about her. He also goes to the authorities to take a stand for Willa and clear Willa's name from any responsibility for the rape. Lee also helps Willa through her healing process. Lee feels for Willa because her parents are not doing much to help her except for praying but that is not doing Willa much good. Willa finds it safe to talk to Lee unlike her relationship with her parents.
