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MyLan Metzger
Ms. Kaplan
AP Lang. period 3
October 25, 2013
Caring Carson
The 1960s in America was a decade filled with reform movements, protests, war,
assassination, and political unrest. It was during this decade of excitement and controversy that
Rachel Carson published her book Silent Spring, adding the environmental movement to the
whirlwind of historical events. In this book, Carson shines light on the detrimental effects of
pesticides on the environment, to which the American public had previously been oblivious.
Carson succeeded in creating public outcry against the use of pesticides, prompting President
John F. Kennedy to order a committee to investigate her claims and set up more restrictions on
the use of pesticides. In the excerpt, Carson instills fear, sympathy, and anger in the minds of her
readers in order to prompt them to question not only the use of pesticides but the destructive
nature of humanity as she describes the farmers decision to spray the pesticides, the wildlife
harmed in the process, and what the destruction could mean to her audiences future if they do
not act.
Carson attempts to turn public opinion against the use of pesticides by mocking the
farmers who use pesticides and comparing their actions to war and corruption. Carson condemns
the farmers resort to eradicating any creature that may hurt portions of their crop. By
highlighting the euphemism farmers and pesticide companies often use for killing, Carson
mocks their attempt to portray their destructive actions as a necessary procedure to eliminate a
danger. Her emphasis on the word is also a warning to her audience not to be easily fooled by
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the rhetoric of the farmers and pesticide companies, but to see their grave actions for what they
truly are: harmful and heartless measures inflicted upon innocent animals. The malicious
measures used by farmers that Carson specifically targets are the aerial applications of pesticides,
which she condemns as planes on their mission of death. By dramatizing the actions of the
farmers, Carson compares the use of pesticides to frightening war scenes of bloodshed and
destruction, portraying the farmers as bloodthirsty tyrants and frightening her audience. Carson
continues to instill fear and anger by blaming the loss of wildlife on a judge and jury who
neither knew of their existence nor cared. Americans hold their legal system in high regard,
often believing it to be faultless; however, Carson contrasts the highly admired court system with
indifference and arrogance. In court, the victim is meant to feel closure and safety with the
conviction of the criminal, but in the case of pesticides, the farmers instead convict the innocent
victim, the wildlife. Rather than diminishing danger, the farmers are putting an end to justice
and equality, which Americans are supposed to protect and defend. As Carson depicts the
farmers and pesticide companies as conniving, bloodthirsty, and corrupt, her audience begins to
distrust the farmers and companies and despise the question measures they take against wildlife.
Carson furthers her illustration of the farmers and companies as heartless by describing
the wildlife they kill as innocent and neglected in order to prompt her audience to sympathize
with the destroyed wildlife and stand up on its behalf. As Carson mourns the loss of birds
distasteful to farmers, she reinforces the notion that the birds are the innocent victims of a harsh
dictator. She implies that simply the birds existence was so inconvenient and unfavorable to the
farmers that the birds were sentenced to the most extreme punishment possible: death. Some of
these annihilated animals came from a roosting site for thousands of birds, where young birds
are brought into life. Infants are often viewed by society as far too innocent and helpless to be
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abused and destroyed. By emphasizing how some of the birds destroyed were only babies,
Carson appeals to her audiences maternal instinct to care for their young. Carson compiles the
numbers of birds killed into a casualty list, furthering her description of a needless war waged
by tyrants upon innocent wildlife. Carson compares the birds killed by pesticides to massive
amounts of humans killed in bloody battles or by horrific natural disasters. The casualty list also
includes the innocent baby birds that were killed before they could be aware of what was
occurring, similar to the civilians massacred in war. By portraying the birds as innocent and
helpless creatures, Carson elicits sympathy towards the birds and anger towards the farmers and
pesticide companies who had so little heart that they would take such actions, prompting her
audience to stand up for the innocent wildlife.
Carson describes the future as unnatural, dangerous, and empty if the war between
pesticides and nature continues in order to prompt her readers to appreciate and hold onto the
beauty of nature and to take action to end the trend of pesticide use before her descriptions
become reality. Carson describes pesticides not as a rare necessity, but as a universal killer
that will not just stop at destroying minimal wildlife. If America is to continue down the trend of
using pesticides, this ever-widening wave of death [will spread] out. Pesticides can have
horrific outcomes that not even the farmers or companies intend. Carson frightens her audience
with the idea that the destructive nature of pesticides is beginning to harm humans. She notes the
specific example of workers in California who escaped death only through skilled medical
attention. Carson implies that one day there will be no nature for her audiences children to
enjoy. In a final attempt to plead with her audience to stand up for the birds and all of nature,
Carson reminds them that the beauty and the ordered world of nature still have a meaning.
Carson begs her audience to see the wonders of nature and to hold onto its beauty instead of
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allowing the pesticide companies to discard it to fulfill their bloodlust. This reminder does not
only apply to the use of pesticides, but to the destructive nature of humanity as well. She calls
her audience away from the trend of destruction and towards greater appreciation and harmony
with their environment. By invoking harsh images of a world without the beauty of nature,
Carson attempts to convince her audience to take a stand against pesticide companies before the
outcomes become inevitable.
Throughout the excerpt, Carson attempts to both educate and horrify Americans about the
use of pesticides in order to prompt them to take actions against their use by describing the
farmers who use pesticides, the wildlife harmed in the process, and the inescapable future if the
trend continues. While Carson specifically condemns the actions of pesticide companies and
farmers, her criticism of destruction applies to more than just pesticides. It applies to what many
have called humanitys culture of death and what she calls the habit of killing. While this
habit continues to affect the world, voices like Carsons have weakened its power and
reawakened a global commitment to defend nature.