The Use of Language in A Fable for Tomorrow by Rachel Carson

The Use of Language in A Fable for Tomorrow by Rachel Carson

The extracts give the impression of stark contrast, even

contradictions, from the very beginning. The author chooses to use the

word fable in the title, which, traditionally, is something fictional

and also usually refers to the past and yet this is coupled with

‘tomorrow’. This indicates that the author is looking to show the

reader that, although the situation she refers to in the second

extract may not be factual in its entirety, it may not be long before

it is.

Carson uses graphical descriptions to convey the idea of harmony and

peacefulness in the first paragraph ‘white clouds of bloom drifted

above the green fields’. The author uses all of the senses to invite

the reader to picture the scene more vividly. Carson uses language

that suggests she has seen the subject matter on several occasions and

knows it well, she describes how the scene changes from spring to

autumn ‘oak and maple and birch set up a blaze of colour’ and then to

winter ‘dried weeds rising above the snow’. Carson’s detailed

descrip...