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Shelby Lanier
ENGL 9
K. Shimabukuro
3 March 2016
Tone, Purpose and Perspective
All works of non-fiction contain some sort of literary element. Whether it
be tone, purpose, or perspective. In one piece of non-fiction, “The Ignored
Lesson of Anne Frank”, written by Bruno Bettelheim. Bettelheim uses tone
purpose and perspective to get his point across to the audience.
In Bettelheim’s descriptive essay, “The Ignored Lessons of Anne Frank”,
he uses tone to set the feeling of the essay, and his attitude toward the subject.
Throughout the whole essay he is very argumentative, informative, and
somewhat bias. Even though Bettelheim himself is Jewish he discusses how the
Franks could have fought back against the Nazis during the Holocaust, to
prevent them from being caught and killed. This quote from the essay is an
example of tone; “Millions of the Jews of Europe who did not or could not escape
in time or go underground as many thousands did, could at least have died
fighting as some did in the Warsaw ghetto at the end, instead of passively waiting
to be rounded up for their own extermination” (49)
The purpose of “The Ignored Lessons of Anne Frank” is to inform, and
persuade you to rethink how smart the Frank’s, and other Jew’s actions they took
during the Holocaust. Bettelheim strongly believes that some Jews gave up,
and didn’t stand up for themselves, and try to escape. He also believes that the
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Franks basically set themselves up to be captured, and took no initiative to fight
back. Bettelheim directly states his opinion about the Jews in this quote; “I
believe they did it because they had given up their will to live and permitted their
death tendencies to engulf them.” (46, 47)
Bettelheim’s perspective about this particular subject is that people should
look through all of the pity that the Jews received during the Holocaust, and think
about some of the reasons why the Nazis were so cruel. For one thing,
Bettelheim says that the Jews didn’t fight back…so the Nazis intentions
worsened. Also he says that, there were thousands of Jews killed, but some
people (Franks) went into hiding and were never armed with any kind of weapon.
So if they were caught how were they to defend themselves? Another one of
Bettelheim’s arguments was that people who lived next to a concentration camp,
who saw people being killed and tortured daily denied their existence and what
they knew went on inside them. This quote is an example of Bettelheim’s
perspective of the Jews; “Jews accepted without fighting back.” (45)
Literary elements such as, tone, purpose, and perspective have a huge
influence in the content and really effect someone’s work. Especially
Bettelheim’s “The Ignored Lessons of Anne Frank”. Because these elements,
when added to the essay help the readers to further understand the author’s
reason for writing, his opinion about the subject, and the point he is trying to get
across. The elements add so much more to the story, and make it easier, and
more enjoyable to read.