Document Analysis:
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
In our modern society many American citizens have a very fearful view of chemical use in food production which was born from a very real threat that was introduced into our culture during the 1960’s from the revelations and diligent work of one woman’s well founded scientific concerns. Rachel L. Cason was born in 1907, a time before women had the right to vote in America, so the prospect of higher education was surely a minute prospect for a girl from a rural farming community in Pennsylvania. Her early years instilled a love of the natural world in young Rachel, she also had a great love of writing and became fairly prolific in young readers’ publications. In the mid 1920’s she enrolled
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One such compound was dichloro-diphenyl-trichlorothatane, C12H9Cl5, the synthesized chlorinated hydrocarbon which would become known simply as DDT. Other prolifically used pesticides were malathion, C10H19PS2 and parathion, C10H14NO5PS both of the organophosphate insecticide group. Parathion was synthesized by a well known Nazi sanctioned company in Germany that was prosecuted for crimes against humanity during the Nuremburg trials fallowing WWII, the patent for parathion was distributed to the chemists of the world. (Pubchem.gov, 2014) DDT was a crystalline compound was created for use as a chemical weapon in world war II, yet it was found to be an affective pesticide especially against mosquitoes which spread deadly Malaria to the armed forces in tropical climates. This was a noted advantage that the United States government used to protect its military. After the end of WWII, the United States government switched from using DDT for the protection of the armed forces, to use as a pest control for domestic food production. In the 1950’s America was in the midst of nationalistic pride and prosperity which lead many citizens to completely trust the government. This trust was to the extent that once wide spread use of DDT, malathion, and parathion was in its full affect, a liquid form of the insecticides were sprayed upon …show more content…
Rachel Carson clearly understood the implications that the prolific use of the pesticides had upon the human race, she saw the damage being done and knew she must speak out against the further poisoning of the natural environment and the citizens whom were also being poisoned along with it through contact and consumption. Rachel Carson began compiling data she had gathered from scientific journals and the testimonials of chemists who worked for various government entities. With this data she saw a growing trend which coupled with people’s familiarity with these pesticides was very alarming. With the new found purpose of notifying the population of its own created, and sanctioned demise she began work on witting her third book Silent Spring. This would become her most well known literary work and greatest achievement as a scientist, with Silent Spring, published in 1962, she broached the subject of prolific poison use in society, also by the government, and its true affects which all too many citizens did not know of. Rachel Carson would go on in the years fallowing the publication of Silent Spring, to crusade against the continued use of pesticides by appearing on a news program to further inform the populous. Carson also had to defend her
Rachel Carson, before publishing Silent Spring, would major in marine zoology at Pennsylvania Women's College, where she would develop her interest in the naturalism and conservation going on at the time (Lear, 23). After graduating, she would take a job at the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, where she would write about different issues concerning the environment at the time. After writing several books to some success, she would begin work on Silent Spring, as she would find her naturalist causes to be her impetus. She even later on in her life wrote to her friends, What I discovered was that everything which meant most to me as a naturalist was being threatened, and that nothing I could do would be more important. " (Carson, 17)
To conclude, Rachel Carson is a skilled writer who employs many different rhetorical strategies and formats her information in a deliberate way to maximize the effectiveness of her argument. She appeals to emotion, but supplements her points with facts, examples, and expert opinions. Her book, Silent Spring, surely convinced many of the dangers of poisons like parathion, and inspired some to seek alternatives to aerial
Rachel Carson establishes ethos to begin constructing her argument against poisonings. In lines 8-12, she cites the Fish and Wildlife Service to demonstrate that her concerns extend to credible organizations and are not unfounded. She documents an example where farmers in southern Indiana “went together in the summer of 1959 to engage a spray plane to treat an area of river bottomland with parathion” (lines 12-16). To further establish her ethos and authority to speak on this topic, she also supplements this example by explaining a healthy, eco-friendly alternative to how the farmers could have responded. In lines 17-22, she states that agricultural practice revisions would have sufficed for a solution, making the poisonings unnecessary. By offering a solution, Carson not only
The Baby Boomer generation and the time period has a lasting effect on the economy and the environment. The baby boom for the United States was similar to other countries after World War II. Several economies also blossomed, but overall with very little care for the environment. After World War II the use of industrial made chemicals increased in popularity throughout the United States and the world (The “New Environmentalism” OF THE 1960S). The chemical DDT was originally being used widespread to eradicate disease vectors, such as mosquito carrying Malaria ("The DDT Story."). DDT influenced more than just mosquitoes as it had lasting effects in the environment where it noticeably bioaccumulate in the food chain and caused high mortality in young bald eagles ("The DDT Story."). Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring released to the public in 1962 which is the time period in which environmental health and human health were connected (The “New
The pesticide DDT banned in 1987 was a detrimental to the environment leading to it to be banned in 1987. DDT remains in the soils for a long period of time. The chemicals affect the ecology of the soil and water run off causing contamination of livestock and native animals and aquatic species. Studies indicated a range of human health impacts from DDT including cancers, infertility, miscarriage and nervous system impairment. The social and economic impact of DDT use in viticulture was significant.
The history of life on earth could be thought of as a record of living things interacting with their surroundings; for most of history, this has meant that life molds over time by the environment it inhabits; however, very recently, humans have become capable of altering the environment in significant ways (Carson 49). Marine Biologist, Rachel Carson, in her environmental sciences book, The Silent Spring, documents the detrimental effects on the environment by the indiscriminate use of pesticides. Carson argues vigilantly in an attempt to persuade her extremely diverse and expansive global audience, under the impression that chemicals, such as DDT, were safe for their health, that pesticides are in fact detrimental for their health. Through
Rachel Carson is well known for writing the book, Silent Spring. This book, which was written
Birds dying, leaves covered with deadly powder, chemicals floating through the air. These were all issues faced globally in the 1950’s and 60’s due to the use of dangerous pesticides such as DDT, chlordane, and heptachlor. Though several scientists conducted studies that proved the issues with pesticides, the first person to make a lasting impression on America was Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring. Her writing not only discussed the environmental issues that Americans faced in the 1960’s, but also served as the catalyst for the environmental movement as we know it today.
Silent Spring is one of the most important books of the environmental movement. It was one of the first scientific books to talk about destruction of habitat by humans. As a result, one can imagine that Ms. Rachel Carson needed to be quite persuasive. How does she achieve this? In this excerpt from Silent Spring, Carson utilizes the rhetorical devices of hyperbole, understatement, and rhetorical questions to state the necessity of abolishing the practice of using poisons such as parathion. Carson starts out by using the symbiotic nature of hyperbole and understatement to paint the whole practice as dangerous and unnecessary. She further strengthens her argument by using rhetorical questions to make her readers see the ethical flaws and potential casualties caused by deadly pesticides.
Berry does not hesitate in using harsh words and metaphors like “the hamburger she is eating came from a steer who spent much of his life standing deep in his own excrement in a feedlot”(Berry 10). This provokes the readers to feeling horrible about industrial eating. He uses our pride while pointing to the lies of the make-up of industrial foods. He plays on human self-preservation when writing about chemicals in plants and animals which is out of the consumer’s control. He tries to spark a curiosity and enthusiasm, describing his own passion of farming, animal husbandry, horticulture, and gardening. The aspect of feelings and emotions is, perhaps, the strongest instrument Berry uses in making his
In 1962, the publication of Silent Spring Rachel Carson captivated the American public. Carson wrote about the harmful effects of chemical pesticides in the environment, and her writing was very reflective of the events occurring at the time. There is a strong connection between Carson’s writing and the Cold War. In fact, if it were not for the war, the American public may not have responded in the same way to Carson’s writing. Carson used tone and content as methods of getting her point across to the public. Silent Spring shined a light on the damage done to the environment as a result of the Cold War, and this issue was finally being recognized by American public.
In August 1945, the United States dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When she began writing Silent Spring in the 1950s, Carson was acutely aware of the short and long term impacts of these events (Carson, 1962). As a naturalist and scientists, she worried about the long term effects of nuclear fallout and the misuse of pesticides. Her work for the U.S. Department of Fisheries gave her unique insight into the rapid ecological system changes due to pesticide use and our own culpability in creating the insect and pest problem to begin with (Biography, 2011).
The world is categorized into many ecospheres, among all, water and land. Upon further analysis, it is evident that both nature and humanity are interdependent. However, our anthropocentric views on the world have led to a golden age of mass production, accelerating beyond natures ability to regenerate itself. In the late 1950s nature was not seen as an item of importance, during the time civilization was captured by the topic of civil rights for the human being, rather than the detrimental natural surroundings. Often times, society does not utilize all the resources provided by the environment and can fall into the mindset of hurting the environment without knowing the full consequences. In Silent Spring, Rachel Carson exposes the hidden
Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring revolutionized the American point of view concerning the environment. It rejected the notion that pesticides and chemicals are the right choice for “controlling” various animals that are seen as an inconvenience. Carson writes about the dangers of pesticides, not only to nature but man himself.
I remember when I first thought about the power one person could have to create change. I was a teenager growing up in the South when I read Rachel Carson’s book “Silent Spring”. This beautifully written book is a powerful indictment of the widespread use of pesticides. Rachel Carson criticized the chemical companies for claiming that pesticides were safe despite mounting evidence to the contrary. And she criticized public officials who accepted the chemical industry’s claims.