Silent Spring Essay

From the start, the reader becomes interested and questions the concept of deadly poisons, its authorization, and its detrimental effects. As the reader continues to read through the excerpt, they answer these questions themselves when Carson uses rhetorical questioning. By having the audience use their own logical reasoning and contemplate their own answers, he/she may almost always put some blame on the people who allowed the usage of poisons. For example, when she exclaims, “... who guarded the poisoned area... Who kept vigilant watch to tell the innocent stroller… coated with a lethal film?” (Carson), one deems who’s fault it would be if someone were to get hurt from parathion. Would it be the farmer for using parathion, the stroller for being curious, or the guard who wasn’t there to warn people about the deadly poison? Carson effectively shows the audience that it doesn’t matter who would be at fault, rather the substance that caused this situation in the first place--parathion. allows the reader to choose a side pointing mostly towards her side because the set of questions one after the other makes you choose and

This is an efficient strategy. It makes her audience want to get involved and preserve the natural resources the environment has to offer. In her essay she describes the devastating effects chemicals have on the environment with such conviction; it might make the reader feel obligated to make changes in his or her own life to help the natural world. Rachel Carson uses an assertive tone to get her point across. She has a one-sided argument and is very aggressive to those who oppose her point of view. She is very effective at stating her opinion to her audience.

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

Carson emphasizes the hazards of parathion by exposing its fatal consequences, thereby invoking a need for its prevention. For example, Carson claims that the issue of blackbirds eating nearby cornfields could have been easily resolved, but farmers resorted to sending airplanes on a “mission of death”. Carson uses warlike imagery through the farmers’ intention for the planes to be used against the birds through parathion instead of for transportation. Her dramatic phrasing for the operation depicts danger more seriously if she had used less stirring language such as ‘to spread the poison’. Carson goes on to state that parathion is “not a specific for blackbirds,” but a ‘universal killer,’ implying that the poison is a threat to almost everything including humans. By providing a detail in the issue that relates to humans directly, she gives even those who do not care as much about nature a cause for concern - a risk to their own lives. Furthermore, Carson reports the

First and foremost , to understand Rachel Carson’s perspective, context is crucial. Rachel is a white female that grew up in a river town located in Springdale, Pennsylvania. Growing up, her mother instilled an appreciation of the natural world which proved to be instrumental towards her perception of the world around her. Her culture, ethnicity, and gender all played a role in placing her in a position that allowed her to become a hardcore environmentalist. Similarly, I consider myself to be environmentally aware, but growing up as an African American in the inner city I wasn’t exposed to the natural world in the same way she was. I lived in an area with few greenery, but a ton of grey. As a result, I never developed that personal relationship Rachel has because I wasn’t awarded the same privilege. These factors are essential when understanding how I

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.

Silent Spring catalyzed activity from all sections of society including housewives, garden club individual's, President Kennedy, and the US government. Carson achieved her goal of educating the general population and furthering the standards for ecological development. Throughout the book, she developed her argument into three main ideas. One of Carson’s main ideas challenged the ethics of giving people authority to permit the utilization of dangerous pesticides, especially when the impacts are not completely known or usage caution is not imparted upon the general

In addition to Carson’s dual-tone, she also describes many details using negative connotation and diction. While describing many of the details in the passage, Carson uses words like “eradicating,” and “kill” to describe the farmers and how they have negative effects on the environment. By using words like this, Carson controls the way the reader views the text. These words force the reader to see these events through Carson’s eyes and understand the horrors of the farmers’

Pollution is a term that recently in the last sixty years became widely known in the United States. The idea was first introduced in the United States by Rachel Carson’s book, titled Silent Spring. Rachel Carson developed a clear thesis inside Silent Spring where every claim made in the book is supported with enormous substantial factual evidence. The overall theme of the book is calling for awareness and addressing issues with excessive usage of man-made and natural chemicals implemented into daily human life. Although Rachel Carson focuses predominately on concerns surrounding the topic of DDT, the author also gives her perspectives on other chemicals that are harmful to the environment. The research Rachel Carson has done to make the world well-informed on pollution was a great start to placing the topic on people’s mind. Nonetheless, in today’s world, humans must continue to enrich themselves on current pollution issues by understanding which chemicals contribute to pollution and how large in concentration. Human error must also be taken into account because chemicals humans thought could not be harmful can at times. An example of chemicals people thought could not be harmful was asbestos.

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.

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.

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

Rachel Carson played a pivotal role in shaping the Environmental Movement and American culture because of her honest, direct disclosure of the matters at hand. Although Carson was not the first person to make these scientific discoveries, she was able to radically change the way millions of Americans perceived the environment and the dangers of toxic chemicals to themselves through vivid, articulate, yet easily understandable language. For instance, in her chapter titled “Elixirs of Death,” she says “For these chemicals are now stored in the bodies of the vast majority of human beings, regardless of age. They

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