Carson appeals to the arousal of the basic emotions, such as the arousal of fear in the public. Carson also appeals to pathos, or the emotions, by questioning the “highly intelligent” creators of these pesticides. Carson believes irrational bad decisions based on faulty evidence threaten the future existence of mankind. “Along with the possibility of the extinction of mankind by nuclear war, the central problem of our age has therefore become the contamination of man’s total environment with such substances of incredible potential for harm-substances that accumulate in the tissues of plants and animals and even penetrate the germ cells to shatter or alter the very material of heredity upon which the shape of the future depends.” However, the statement supports Carson’s intention to present a persuasive, and logical point of view without confusing the reader; suggesting she ment to go against a patient audience rather than an impatient one.
Her diction is undoubtedly her main “weapon” that she utilizes to address the issue of pesticides. With words such as “direct target,” “poisons,” “killing,” “death,” and “lethal” in her arsenal of care and peace, she roots an alarming sense into her audience by showing pesticide as a relentless beast that causes nothing but harm. In a way, Carson amplifies the word pesticide into much more sinister concept: death. She personifies it with her dire word choice, considering it a “universal killer” (28) and a “wave of death” (50) that was perpetuated by farmers and the authoritarian. She compares the farmers who use pesticide to “judge and jury” who have “doomed” innocent creatures that they are either ignorant of or for whom they care little for (31-32).
The purpose of published “Silent Spring” was to alert and inform everyone about the danger the environment is in due to the spraying of pesticides. Carson wanted to let the public know the truth about pesticides that governments and health organizations were hiding from everyone. In the beginning of Chapter 2 Rachel states “The most alarming of all man’s assaults upon the environment is the contamination of the air, earth, rivers, and sea with dangerous and even lethal material. ”(5). This quote explains Carson’s whole purpose of the book in one sentence; to bring change in the world by preventing the widespread use of DDT and dangerous pesticides.
Occasionally problems in society are suppressed, made worse, or even outright ignored. Some problems could never be addressed until one day a person or group of people decide to challenge the status quo, and to present to masses a problem that they themselves may have never really thought about before. One particular issue addressed by Rachel Carson is the use of pesticides. Rachel Carson wrote the book Silent Spring to combat and question the use of these pesticides. In the excerpt of her book Silent Spring, Carson employs the use of rhetorical questions, a cynical tone and militaristic diction to emphasize that due to the thoughtless actions of farmers and authoritarian figures who have used pesticides carelessly, we are seeing collateral effects on the
Chapter 7: Denial Rides Again: The Revisionist Attack on Rachel Carson Rachel Carson was considered an American hero in the 1960s because she called our attention to the harms of indiscriminate pesticide use. She explained how they were accumulating in the food chain, damaging the natural environment and threatening the bald eagle. Historians consider this a success story in science, however if you fast-forward to 2007 the internet is flooded with accusations that she was a mass murderer.
Mya Berry MATTHEW FORESTER Ap Lang Apr 9, 2024 Rachel Carson In 1962 Rachel Carson was successful in her argument against pesticides in her 1962 book Silent Spring, as explained in her book about the incident in California an orchard worker handling foliage was treated from pesticide poisoning which caused them to go into shock and barely escape death but with skilled medical attention they survived. This incident describes how powerful the example she uses is, why pesticides are bad and not used correctly and can affect human health. Carson brings attention to the severe consequences faced by workers affected by pesticides and the workers life was only saved by medical attention, which shows the grave situation and the urgent need for responsible and sustainable practices
The documents Rachel Carson Warns of a Silent Spring, 1962 and Huge Bennett Presses for Soil Conservation, 1947 show how American’s are destroying the environment and gives advice on how to properly save it before it’s too late. Rachel Carson gives a grime description of what will happen to our environment if we keep treating it the way that we do. Huge Bennett explains how there is only so much soil that is viable for farming, and gives a solution to help protect the land. The document written by Carson starts by describing a beautiful town in America that is very productive and has many desirable aspects to it, but “then a strange blight crept over the area and everything began to change”.
Please read the article "The Rachel Carson Letters and the Making of Silent Spring". It is an academic paper and should be read as such. It is not a difficult read, however, you should read, analyze, and evaluate the information in the article. Once you have read the article, prepare a brief paper (no more than 550 words) that answers the following questions: Why did Silent Spring gain so much traction?
In Rachel Carsons book, Silent Spring, she explains how the world has evolved. She starts out talking about how the life around the lands are dying out. There is really only one reason why this is all happening and it's because of the human species. Humans have gotten out of control with different pesticides. She agrees that pesticides are essential, but the over production and usage of it have tested the limits.
Silent Spring: Rachel Carson Silent Spring was the result of different events that caused Rachel Carson to pay attention to the results of using chemical poisons to control unwanted insects in America. In Silent Spring, Rachel Carson attacks chemical poisons and explains their effects on the world and other species that the poisons aren’t suppose to effect. She discusses in detail the possible side effects that too much exposure to these chemicals could cause. Rachel also discusses the idea that the pests could form immunity to the chemicals and the damage of the chemicals on the environment could eventually make those pests the dominant species taking over. She supports the use of natural pest control to ensure the land free of poisons and
Environmentalism is the belief in which one advocates for environmental preservation. In Rachel Carson’s narrative Silent Spring, she gives her activist insight on toxic chemicals for the benefit of humanity by exposing the detrimental effects these toxins bring. In comparison to Carson, I perceive myself to have developed my perception of nature through books however, as a hispanic woman my expected role in my culture did not allow me to have a one on one interaction with nature. Carson fails to comprehend how traditional values potentially promote an anthropocentric ideology that attributes to the unfavorable way humans treat the natural world. The author’s modes of argumentation mirror my own perception of nature only to a certain extent
Carson Silent Spring explained how human affects nature by their improper use of pesticides especially DDT (Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichlro-ethene). Rachael Carson described how insecticides seriously affect the cellular process of plants, animals and human. The book vividly explained how pesticides contaminate the soil, water, birds and vegetation. Carson believes that there is a detrimental long term effect of these chemicals to the existence of human being. Rachael Carson an environmentalist critically examines the dangerous balance of nature and the negative effect on the environment.
The Perversion of Nature In modern day, families across the globe consume potentially harmful genetically modified products, with little to no knowledge of the effects they may have on a person's health (Bailey 4). The uninformed society will then go on to pass down the negative affects of these GMOs to children and pets (Bailey 1). Society relies on cheap, yet damaging, “frankenfood” leading corporations have created (Cummins 1). Poor regulation and greed of mankind has brought upon a devastating future for posterity (Cummins 2).
Imagine having so much pesticides in use that people and animals were actually dying from it. In the 1950’s the overuse of pesticides was a serious problem. Rachel Carson was an activist who was against the use and overuse for these pesticides. She wanted to address this problem to the government and the public and warn about the harmful effects pesticides have on the environment and the people. In “A Fable For Tomorrow”, Rachel Carson utilizes ethos, logos and pathos in order to bring awareness to the overuse of pesticides.
Apart from the obvious convincing scientific arguments describing the evident problem (the issue with pesticides) ,the use of a standard language, of anecdotes and the development of solutions, made the public view negatively the constant attacks of the chemical industry to a sincere woman who only wanted to safe the environment. The effectiveness of silent spring in generating a public opposition to pesticides was mainly because of the incorporation of real life situations of how pesticides negatively impacted the environment, avoiding theoretical speculations. This is what makes the book open to popular public and not only to
