Fell Birds Falling

875 Words2 Pages

In “Silent Spring”, author and biologist Rachel Carson addresses the threat of deadly poisons, specifically parathion, to not only farm pests, but also to the entire milieu of wildlife in and around farmlands. Carson does well to influence and even configure her reader’s thoughts on the liberal use of pest control through rhetoric so to gain the reader’s support. Although diverse and abundant with rhetoric in her composition, three of the most significant and influential applications of rhetoric are through appeals, multiple rhetorical questions, and hyperbolic generalizations.
As found in all styles of persuasive compositions, the appeals are vivid and thoroughly present here in the forms of ethos, logos, and pathos. Ethos, the use of credibility, authority, and/or character to persuade the audience, is used by Carson where she quotes the Fish and Wildlife Service on the dangers of the use of parathion. This not only displays to the reader that another also feels this way about parathion, but it also introduces a highly credible and authoritative establishment that shares this idea. Logos, the reasoning that the audience finds in the media, appeals to the reader’s common sense where Carson logically explains, “The problem could have been solved easily by a slight change in agricultural practice—a shift to a variety of corn with deep set ears not accessible to the birds…” The reader understands that there are better alternatives and may begin to question the morals of the farmers. Immediately after this application of logos, the tone becomes dark and accusative as Carson implements pathos, influence achieved from the manipulation of feelings, desires, or fears, by presenting the farmers as persecutors. She does this by us...

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...al poisons for emphasis, the pun of the falling fell birds, the idiomatic juxtaposition of the lives of birds and the prosperity of crops in this cumulative (or loose) rhetorical question, all rhetorically causing the reader to support Carson and ponder deeply on the question: Who is responsible for this trend of using these poisons? Carson vaguely answers that it is the “authoritarian temporarily entrusted with power.” The farmer seems to fit, however not all farmers, as that would be a hasty generalization. But more importantly, why weren’t more environmentally-friendly alternatives being used? Carson has logically addressed the alternative of corn with deep set ears not accessible to the birds, and surely there is one for every situation. “Silent Spring” was published in 1962, so this provokes another question: How has this problem been addressed since then?

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