Rachel Carson Silent Spring Analysis

In “The Obligation to Endure,” Rachel Carson outlines an argument on the adverse effects of pesticides to the environment and the risks exposed to human health. Notably, Carson utilizes a wide array of appeals and stylistic devices to convince the audience of her stance on the use of pesticides. Most importantly, Carson emphasizes on the ban of the use of DTT, a pesticide that was manufactured and widely used around homes and offices. In view of this, this paper conducts a rhetorical analysis of “The Obligation to Endure.” An emphasis is placed on the elements of arguments and the Aristotelian appeals Carson uses on her audience.

Rachel Carson is a noted biologist who studies biology, a branch of science addressing living organisms, yet she has written a book called Silent Spring to speak about the harmful effects of pesticides on nature. Carson doesn’t write about birds’ genetic and physical makeup, the role of them in the animal food chain, or even how to identify their unbelievable bird songs, yet strongly attests the fight for a well developed environment containing birds, humans, and insects is just and necessary. To Carson, the war for a natural environment is instantly essential for holding on to her true love for the study of biology. Thus Carson claims that whether it be a direct hit towards birds or an indirect hit towards humans and wildlife, farmers need to understand the effects and abandon the usage of pesticides in order to save the environment by appealing to officials, farmers, and Americans in her 1962 book, Silent Spring. She positions her defense by using rhetorical devices such as rhetorical questioning to establish logos, juxtaposing ideas, and using connotative and denotative diction.

Rachel Carson is considered one of America's finest science and nature writers. She is best known for her 1962 book, Silent Spring, which is often credited with beginning the environmental movement in the United States. The book focussed on the uncontrolled and often indiscriminate use of pesticides, especially dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (commonly known as DDT), and the irreparable environmental damage caused by these chemicals. The public outcry Carson generated by the book motivated the U.S. Senate to form a committee to

The following involves the second chapter of Carson’s book, Silent Spring that was written in 1962. In this chapter Carson argues persuasively the adverse impacts of pesticides upon the environment and the risks on human health and the environment associated with these “genetic invaders” (Carson, 1962). Many of the extremely diverse people from Carson’s audience targeted were under the impression that chemicals like DDT, at that time in history, were safe for their health. Carson reconciles and attempts to persuade the public to consider the idea that DDT, which in the 1950s and 60s was one of the many chemical pesticides being manufactured and sold to

In the mid-20th century, farmers used a toxic insecticide named parathion in an attempt to control pests detrimental to their crops. Rachel Carson was a biologist who wrote pamphlets (Lear) on conservation and natural resources designed to inform people on the beauty of the living world. In an excerpt from her 1962 work Silent Spring, Carson calls upon the public to take action against the use of parathion by highlighting its catastrophic nature and vilifying the agricultural community for their negligence.

Rachel Carson had received several attacks by chemical and agricultural industries due to her book “Silent Spring”, where she explained the consequences to the environment and human health of using pesticides. She was being accused of radical and unqualified scientist, who wanted to keep alive all the insects that spread diseases in humans and plants. She was described as being hysterical woman and her work as junk science. However, if we read who was Rachel Carson, the arguments are misguided. Rachel Carson was an outstanding scientist and science

Essay 1 – Rhetorical Analysis (Carson para 1) “In the words of Jean Rostand, “The obligation to endure gives us a right to know.” In the height of the cold war in 1962, there was anxiety for the future and science was willing to find a way to secure safety and prosperity. Rachel Carson opened other people’s eyes. She was accused of being a communist, because she had her opinions about pesticide use. She had put herself out there and gave people a secret.

In 1962, Rachel Carson published Silent Spring and was greeted with a roar of protest and approval. After years and years of controversy and skepticism surrounding its argument, Silent Spring was and still is recognized as a perceptive warning of things in progress and things to come. The book set the stage for the first real and effectual environmental movement.

Silent Spring- Written in 1962 by Rachel Carson. Tackled conservation issues that Rachel Carson believed were caused by synthetic pesticides. Led to a nationwide ban on DDT and reversed the national pesticide policy.

Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, is arguably a seminal text of the environmental movement and continues to impact on critical ecological discourse fifty years on. The late 1950’s were a period of relative economic prosperity in the United States with a parallel baby boom following World War 2. However, the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union manifested economic and political rivalries during the same time. It was in this era, that Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring which invoked the public into an ‘environmental consciousness’ (Griswold 2012). Inherent in Carson’s text, that fundamentally sought to inform the wider public about the biological dangers inherent in pesticides, was her ability to utilise a variety of literary

In the book Silent Spring, Rachel Carson’s main concern is the widespread use of synthetic pesticides and their impact on the environment. Carson concentrates on a commonly used pesticide in the 1950s called DDT. She opposes the indiscriminate spraying of DDT because it has profound consequences on the environment, humans and animals. Carson collected information about how the DDT can cause cancer in humans, harm animals such as birds and remained in the environment for long periods of time. Subsequently, the chemicals in the pesticides are extremely harmful so she tries to raise awareness and convince others that there are better alternatives.

Rachel Carson was a scientist and author who took a topic which had hitherto been only of interest to fellow scientists and opened it up to the masses. During her lifetime, she took up many causes in support of wildlife and the protection of species and protecting the natural landscape from potential molestation from developers and others who would destroy indigenous habitats. Among her many missions was to make people aware of the hazards of certain chemicals on the environment, such as pesticides on vegetation as examined in her most famous work Silent Spring.

Albert Einstein once said, "Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty." Similar to Einstein, the author Rachel Carson believed that human kind should embrace nature's and help preserve its beauty and life . In the passage from the book Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, the author informs and persuades her audience against the dangers and misuse of pesticides. Rachel Carson is a renowned writer, ecologist, and scientist who dedicated her life to the conservation of the environment. Throughout her career as an editor in chief, marine biologist, and environmental activist, Carson continued to educate the public about the

This book was focused on the concern of pesticides that industries, along with us as individuals, have been dumping (both knowingly and unknowingly) into water. Carson was concerned that the chemicals which the farmers spread on their fields, and even the chemicals we use in our homes (among others), in the end, might come back around and harm us. The beginning of the book tells a story of a place, that was once so beautiful, turned dead and ugly due to a “strange blight that crept over the area” and destroyed everything. Later in the book, she goes on to explain that chemicals, particularly one known as DDT, are the major cause of environmental damage and the near extinction of

We as members of the human race, need to recognize the disregarding we show towards the environment because it may not be long before until this devastation can occur. Though, the way Carson brought up her perspective, may not be an opinion of what the reader may see when taken into deep consideration. The different tactics Carson approaches this topic lets readers think out of the box. It is a matter of opinion of what the reader may see when taken into perspective. We all have different outlooks and aspects when reading, watching, or listening to a scenario. However, one thing we all have in common is our unique minds to how we perceive it, just like how Rachel Carson distinctively uses imagery and rhetorical devices to convey her aspect, unlike any other