Unjust Authority In Animal Destroying, By Rachel Carson

Humans have evolved to be the most dominant species of this planet relying on brain power to advance societies and cultures, using their mental capabilities to invent methods or machines that are designed to aid them in daily tasks and promote a more efficient way of living. Unfortunately, a popular method consistently used in the agricultural industry is poison control, used in cases where the growing crops are being affected by other species, and the resulting actions are, in many cases, elimination of the species from the ecosystem. Rachel Carson claims that the human race has unrightfully taken authority in the habitual killing of creatures who are seen as an inconvenience without considering any of the consequences.

Carson conveys her

She continues to ask the reader detailed questions such as “who has made the decision?” to provoke the readers’ minds into analyzing the horrendous outcomes such as the “pitiful heaps of many feathers” from pesticide use to present the idea of unjust authority in an ecosystem and suggest the dictatorial behavior of those who have granted themselves the decision making power. Carson starts by continuing to demonize the use of pesticides using imagery such as the “wave of death” to metaphorically link the expansion of the poisons on multiple species of animals to the ripples caused by dropping a pebble into a still pond. The correlation between this image and the use of pesticides shows the reader how disturbing the use of one pesticide can be on an environment and the universal effect it will have. Carson juxtaposes “the lifeless remains” of the birds with the leaves eaten by beetles after the method of poison control saved the crop, showing that society has come to value crops infused with pesticides over the lives of birds who fell to the “unselective bludgeon” of poison control. Carson then points out to the reader that the opinions of the masses are not consulted and in turn all of the authority lies in the hands of a select group of people who have little interest outside of profits and crop production. She claims that the people who have been “entrusted with power” and make decisions in “moments of inattention” seek after a “sterile world” that is “ungraced by the curving wing” of a bird without consulting those whose opinions have “deep and imperative” meaning in the “beauty and ordered world”. The question of authority in this section is primarily centered around questions directed to the audience because she wants them to question whether or not the people who have taken control are