Analysis of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
Silent Spring is a novel written by a woman named Rachel Carson, which
was published in 1962. With advance sales of 40 000 copies the book
went on to be recognised in 1992 as the most influential book of the
last 50 years, and was held in much the same respect and admiration as
great works such as Karl Marx's 'Das Capital and Charles Darwin's 'The
Origin of Species'.
About the book
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The book takes an in depth look at the hazardous and detrimental
consequences of the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides in not
only agriculture, but in other activities particularly leisure. It
looks in detail at the effects on soil, rivers, wildlife and humans.
As well as providing information on research into such effects, a
brief philosophy on the solution to cancer and suggestions for less
toxic means of pest control, Carson also questions the role of
science. The author queries humanity's faith in scientific and
technological progress, and for the first time looked at the
responsibility of industrial society in the initiation of large scale
environmental suffering. Setting the stage for the environmental
protection movement. In addition, Carson disproves her former belief
that nature was too great and powerful a thing to ever be effected by
humans and their actions.
About the author
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Rachel Carson was born on a farm in Pennsylvania in 1907. She
graduated from Pennsylvania College for Women in 1928 and went on to
study a Masters in Marine Biology at John Hopkin's University in
Baltimore. She continued her academic career teaching at the
University of Maryland before finding employment at the US Fish and
Wildlife Service. She spen...
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...ersial book. It challenged people, business
and governments that others had been too scared to question.
The book was an important eye-opener. It is difficult to say how long
the negative effects of chemical fertilisers and pesticides would have
gone unnoticed and ignored had it not been for the research and
writing of Rachel Carson. It was also an ecological eye-opener for the
general public, in that many realised that fertilisers and pesticides
could affect them even if they didn't use them themselves.
The impact of Silent Spring was powerful because the writing itself
was powerful. The reaction of the government and the start of the
Environmental Movement signify this power.
What is interesting is that Rachel Carson's Silent Spring is still an
incredibly relevant book today, 40years after the research was carried
out and the book was published.
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
Gay male, lesbian, and transsexual networks/communities, and cultural practices often had their own differences that coincided with meshing similarities. From the late 1940s to the 1960s, these identities were shaped through experiences of “the closet” and living a “double life,” among other factors. Alan Berubé explores the war’s impact on homosexual identity, speaking for both gay males and lesbians in “Marching to a Different Drummer: Lesbian and Gay GIs in World War II.” In “We Walk Alone,” Ann Aldrich helps identify the varying types of lesbians, addressing their intimate relationships with each other that are becoming more visible. Harry Benjamin touches more on the medical and scientific side of transsexualism and the obvious fact that
...er contributions to society to a 5 page paper. She did amazing things to improve society as a whole. During her lifetime she was an, author, philosopher, women and children’s rights activist, humanitarian, scholar, sociologist, social worker, social leader, and founder of many programs still in place today. Her ideas continue to influence social, political and economic reform all over the world. I think it would be fair to say it is a blessing she was born in a time that made her type of work more difficult. She worked tirelessly to produce much needed changes that we benefit from today. Often times as Americans we take for granted the freedoms and protections are given to us, not taking into consideration the backbone that was necessary to make them happen. I am thankful for the opportunity to study and become more familiar with such an amazing woman of history.
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.
On a day to day basis, most people take for granted the lives we get to live, and put too much value on the extra things such as materialistic items. Also, the majority of humans are too invested in their personal lives or with themselves that they do not look at the big picture of how what we are doing now will effect us later. As humans, the routines in our lives can bring us harm, and within time a we may become the sixth extinction. In “The Sixth Extinction” by Elizabeth Kolbert, she gives many examples of animals that are or may become extinct. Along with ways humans contribute to the effort of putting them in danger or having them become extinct. In the end having a summary of how this all comes together and impacts us humans in more
1. The purpose of the document was to combine all social politics and laws together as a unity. European kings, saints, and new comers.
Saukko , Linnea.“How to Poison the Earth.”The Brief Bedford Reader. Bedford/St.Martin’s Boston: 9th edition ,2006.246-247.
Remember when it was published that Pluto is no longer considered as a planet? I remember that our physics teacher was really angry about the fact that in space agency discarded the fact that was known and generally accepted by the general public. In my essay I will discuss how the “old” knowledge was affected when there were new aspects of particular knowledge discovered. I will focus on two areas of knowledge: The natural sciences and the arts and I will ask myself: To what extend can new knowledge contributes to abundance of old, generally recognised facts?
Dorothy Parker was not your average twentieth century writer. She was full of wit, sarcasm, and scathe (Rathbone). Her bold personality does not fail to show through in her writing. Her reviews for Vanity Fair, as a staff writer and drama critic, have been described as “a combination of acumen and nonsense,” (Bloom). Dorothy often got fired for offending clients, however, she was a large part in changing the "humorless and prudish" reputation that women had (Beilke). She developed a reputation for witty and out of the ordinary writing. She won the O. Henry Memorial Award for her short story, “Big Blonde” ("Parker, Dorothy"). Dorothy Parker participated in the elite group, the Algonquin Round Table, where talented writers, editors, and actors -mostly men- would lunch and trade witticisms and make each other laugh (Grant). Things weren’t always great for Ms. Parker; she often had a hard time reaching deadlines due to her heavy drinking and writing anxiety which caused her work to be sporadic and unreliable (Bloom). Devastated by her miscarriage, Dorothy found writing tough and wrote less frequently (Grant). She kept her standards high, but her sarcasm was shadowed by her unhappiness and the unhappiness around her (Grant).
Rachel Carson, a marine biologist who wrote Silent Spring, is considered to be very much influential in the cause for the environmental movement. It is however important to note that she was not the proprietor of this revolution. Prior to Carson and her best-selling Silent Spring in 1962, there were numerous other authors, activists and organizations that spoke out about the issues that plagued the environment. Examples of this include John Muir (founder of the Sierra Club in 1892), Gifford Pinchot (the first head of the U.S. Forest Service in 1905), Fairfield Osborn, author Our Plundered Planet and William Vogt, who penned Road to Survival (Sale 1993).
In Silent Spring, Rachel Carson seeks to persuade the readers to open their eyes to a serious problem: the careless spraying of poison. Her purpose in writing the book is to protect plants, animals, and humans from poisons that never had to be sprayed. Carson uses invective, the ad hominem argument, and punctuation to attack the people responsible for the sprayings and yield an emotional reaction from the reader. Through the use of those strategies, her argument becomes stronger and more effective at revealing the horrors of species control.
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.
Rachel begins her book by painting us an image of a small quiet town. Keep in mind though, this town isn’t a real place, but is a parallel of our society. In this town, she describes the people living modest lives, and all is well. This is used to represent the calm before the storm, so to speak. The people start to notice strange things, such as birds dying and strange sicknesses. The people themselves are blissfully unaware of what is happening, and that they are to blame. This example is used in parallel to our world. We are unaware of the effects of Pesticides in the long term and if we don’t become aware of these effects, permanent damage will be done.
You’re asleep and falling into a dream, a dream that seems to be blended with reality, details of it so vivid that it seems to be real. First, you’re running freely through a field full of wild flowers with a gentle breeze blowing through your hair and then all of a sudden the sun moves away, dark gray clouds start to cluster together. BOOM! Thunder comes along, suddenly it becomes your worst nightmare with you running away from something, crying, sweating, screaming then BLINK, you open your eyes to see that you are safe in your own bed hugging your pillow and what you just experienced was the works of your mere mind.
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.