Rachel Carson Sexism

John Eliot once said, “History shows us that the people who end up changing the world – the great, political, social, scientific, technological, artistic, even the sport revolutionaries – are always nuts, until they are right, and then they are geniuses”. Eliot meant that the people who end up doing the best are the ones who are once seen as crazy until they prove themselves. These people are underestimated and are attacked for creating a new idea. Rachel Carson is one of these people referred to. Rachel Carson was made fun of and had personal attacks launched on her for sharing something that she believed was hurting the environment. She was labeled a “hysteric women” and not taken seriously. Rachel’s theories proved to be right and Rachel

Most people associated being a woman with taking care of the kids, not having a college education and most specifically not working. Rachel defied all of these “rules” and was attacked for it. Being a risk taker also helped Rachel when she was being verbally harassed. To be a risk taker is to approach situations that you know will most likely not have a great outcome but to do them anyway. Rachel showed an example of this when she was writing her book Silent Spring about common pesticides like DDT. Multiple companies we infuriated by this book for losing business because of her book. Rachel, a struggling writer, continued to pursue writing the book instead of worrying about the consequences, such as making no money for all her hard work. Rachel found it more important to share the truth instead of worrying about the numbers. “Because of the controversy, I doubt it will be a best seller (Wadsworth 91).” This was a big risk for Rachel as she was taking care of her mother and had to feed two people instead of just one. She had to provide medical attention to her mother. “Attacks on Rachel began even before the book appeared but she was prepared (Wadsworth 101).” Rachel knew the book would be very controversial but she took a risk that especially payed off. She received many awards for the book. Taking risks also helped Rachel when it came to sexism. Rachel was constantly told

To be caring is to do favors for other people without them having to ask. You help people even though it is not your responsibility. Rachel demonstrated this multiple times throughout her life. Rachel first showed this characteristic when her sister, Marian, had died leaving her two daughters, Marjorie and Virginia with no parental guidance. Rachel stepped in even though she was already caring for her elderly mother and decided to raise them. “Rachel’s sister Marian died at the age of 40, orphaning her two-elementary school aged daughters. Rachel and her mother decided to raise Marjorie and Virginia (Wadsworth 33).” This was a caring thing of Rachel to do but it did not stop there. Once the girls were older one of Rachel’s great friend died leaving her young son by himself. Rachel took him in, adop-0ted him and raised him as her own. Yet again Rachel was helping kids who weren’t hers and giving them a new life. “Marjorie left her son, Roger. Carson now cared for him in addition to her mother (Carson, Rachel).” Years passed and as Rachel was still raising Roger she found out some troubling news. “Exhausted much of the time, Rachel struggled through each day. Recurring bouts of flu sent her back to the doctor. Later that year she received bad news. She had cancer (Wadsworth 94).” Having cancer may not seem like a direct link to being caring but in fact it is. Rachel found out