Rachel Carson is a noted biologist who studies biology, a branch of science addressing living organisms, yet she has written a book called Silent Spring to speak about the harmful effects of pesticides on nature. Carson doesn’t write about birds’ genetic and physical makeup, the role of them in the animal food chain, or even how to identify their unbelievable bird songs, yet strongly attests the fight for a well developed environment containing birds, humans, and insects is just and necessary. To Carson, the war for a natural environment is instantly essential for holding on to her true love for the study of biology. Thus Carson claims that whether it be a direct hit towards birds or an indirect hit towards humans and wildlife, farmers need to understand the effects and abandon the usage of pesticides in order to save the environment by appealing to officials, farmers, and Americans in her 1962 book, Silent Spring. She positions her defense by using rhetorical devices such as rhetorical questioning to establish logos, juxtaposing ideas, and using connotative and denotative diction.
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
In this nostalgic and cynical novel we read about the painful transformation from youth to adulthood in a young boy called Holden. This troubled state of mind young boy, in his adolescent years, gives us an in-depth insight into the climax moment of his life which stretches over a period of three days. A very troubled and confused, depressed and insecure young man shows us that he is desperate for acceptance, regardless from where. He is constantly looking for some form of connection and for someone to acknowledge him. The approaching adulthood seems so phoney to him and he displays the mourning loss of the nurturing feeling of childhood, which seems light years away. Sadly his status of being of an affluent and wealthy teenager from a good
Albert Einstein once said, "Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty." Similar to Einstein, the author Rachel Carson believed that human kind should embrace nature's and help preserve its beauty and life . In the passage from the book Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, the author informs and persuades her audience against the dangers and misuse of pesticides. Rachel Carson is a renowned writer, ecologist, and scientist who dedicated her life to the conservation of the environment. Throughout her career as an editor in chief, marine biologist, and environmental activist, Carson continued to educate the public about the
The following involves the second chapter of Carson’s book, Silent Spring that was written in 1962. In this chapter Carson argues persuasively the adverse impacts of pesticides upon the environment and the risks on human health and the environment associated with these “genetic invaders” (Carson, 1962). Many of the extremely diverse people from Carson’s audience targeted were under the impression that chemicals like DDT, at that time in history, were safe for their health. Carson reconciles and attempts to persuade the public to consider the idea that DDT, which in the 1950s and 60s was one of the many chemical pesticides being manufactured and sold to
In the mid-20th century, farmers used a toxic insecticide named parathion in an attempt to control pests detrimental to their crops. Rachel Carson was a biologist who wrote pamphlets (Lear) on conservation and natural resources designed to inform people on the beauty of the living world. In an excerpt from her 1962 work Silent Spring, Carson calls upon the public to take action against the use of parathion by highlighting its catastrophic nature and vilifying the agricultural community for their negligence.
Silent Spring was written and published sixty five years ago. Over time, good works of literature begin to lose their relevance, but great works transcend time. Although Alice Walker takes a more extreme view than I do, her expose still managed to maintain relevance because she used universal themes that appealed to the audience’s morality despite the obvious cultural changes that take place over the span of fifty years. Through the use of several rhetorical devices and argumentative methods Silent Spring successfully inspires the audience to not just have a greater awareness, but actually take action and bring about change.
J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye presents a look into the mind of Holden Caulfield, a popular literary icon numerous teenagers have rightfully found themselves relating to at some point. While the familiar emotions of Holden were welcoming for me, his anecdotes and witty remarks proved entertaining as well. The story chronicles Holden’s exploration through New York post-expulsion, with his point of view influenced by his growing alienation with the world. He represents that growing sense of unease at growing up and facing a reality that is not always pretty, and, in his case, a need to save children from having to face that reality. I personally admired the fact that he was not just an angry teenager in the world as stereotypes suggest.
Poisons such as parathion are known as universal killers, which kills thousands of wildlife each year. In the book, Silent Spring, written by a noted biologist Rachel Carson, she argues that deadly poisons, that are meant to kill annoying creatures, are a hazard to the humans, domestic animals, as well as wildlife. She also argues that farmers are ignorant to the radiating damage of the poisons like parathion, which can cause long-term effects on both humans and the environment. She argues that through the use of dark and war-like diction, characterization, as well as rhetorical questions.
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.
In 17 chapters, many of which can stand alone as essays, Carson develops a deceptively simple premise: the use and overuse of synthetic chemicals to control insect pests introduces these chemicals into the air, water, and soil and into the food chain where they poison animals and humans, and disrupt the many intricate
In the book 'Silent spring ' written by Rachael Carson we find a picture of Carson 's deep concept about the connection between nature’s equilibrium and the web of life that has been ruined by the uncontrolled use of insecticides which in turn affected the healthy livelihood of this earth’s creatures. Furthermore, she tells the readers of substitute techniques of achieving the same ends. The title of the book is enough to make us understand that it was a hint of a spring season with no bird songs painting our atmosphere meaning that all birds had vanished due to misuse of pesticides.
Carson’s primary argument is that the ecosystem is unable to adjust and rebalance itself due to the rapidity of the introduction of chemicals into the environment. She points to the common knowledge that it took hundreds of millions of years for life to evolve to its current state. She goes on to explain how, given time (eons), the environment adjusted to natural dangers such as radiation emitted from certain rocks and short-wave radiation from the sun, but that it is impossible for the earth to adjust and rebalance in the face of man-made threats in the relative miniscule timeframe of decades. Her appeal is both logical and emotional. Logically, chemicals sprayed on croplands, forests or gardens will kill not just “pests” but other living organisms, and that some amount of these chemicals will end up in ground water, causing problems for anyone or anything that depends on this water. Emotionally if the possibility of permanent gene damage, which cause deformities, cancers, and early death, is not enough to encourage a second look at this issue then there is no hope for the planet’s future.
As human beings we’re all affluent to live on this fascinating place called earth. We live everyday normally just as every other human, animal or insect. But we eradicate insects and animals as if they aren’t as important as we are. Nature is being inherently demolished by humans who are oblivious to know that all living things on the earth have a purpose . However, Annie Dillard, well-known for her ambiguous nonfiction books help support the importance of nature and why we shouldn't intrude upon it. For example, Dillard’s excerpt from “The Fixed” about a Polyphemus Moth uses countless rhetorical strategies to construct a compelling message about the peace and beauty of nature, but it also illustrates how easily mankind can destroy it. Therefore, a part of nature is to be naturally
In her essay Rachel Carson targets anyone who will listen as her audience. She wants to inform human beings of the effects chemicals have on the environment. Rachel Carson’s audience had little knowledge of the effects radiation and pesticides might have on nature or to themselves. She successfully enlightened her audience to the harm man was causing to the environment not only presently, she also wrote of future ramifications. She predicts “Future historians may well be amazed by our distorted sense of proportion. How could intelligent beings seek to control a few unwanted species by methods that contaminated the entire environment…?” (Carson 615). This statement might make her audience scrutinize their actions through the eyes of future generations.
As we go along day-to-day, the use of pesticides has dramatically increased. As the author, Rachel Carson conveys readers an educational message, how “a town suddenly turns dark and secluded.” Demolished by the vitality of their inhabitants. The effect of this was how the human race did not take note of the effortless actions done, that drastically demolished the environment. Carson utilized figurative language to engage readers, to describe the “nostalgic life, along with the wistful.” She employs rhetorical devices, which persuades readers regarding the positive and negative effects from a different perspective. As well as, Caron presents imagery that has caused readers to be immersed into a whole other world, to display the urgency of the uses of pesticides. Within Rachel Carson’s short excerpt, “A Fable for Tomorrow,” Carson has the capability of captivating readers and taking use of phrases, in which she executes in distinctive tactics.