As society progresses, our reliance on technology grows everyday. It allows us to be more efficient in many ways. However this efficiency can come with certain consequences. In 1962, when Rachel Carson released her book Silent Spring, she exposed pesticides’ harmful effects on the environment, stirring up major controversy on pesticide use and igniting the environmental movement. Known as the most efficient way to improve crop profit, pesticides were later placed on strict restrictions, and the pesticide DDT was banned. Although opposed by many chemical companies, Silent Spring is regarded as one of the greatest scientific books of all time, and is largely responsible for the foundation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).In an excerpt of Silent Spring, Rachel Carson creates the common antagonist of Farmers and pesticide companies to the American public, in
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Carson specifies the farmer’s sinful acts, their detrimental effects on animals, and the injustice of this situation, all in order to urge her audience to bring a halt to pesticide use.
At first glance, it can be assumed that normal farmers are using pesticides to rid of harmful bugs to save their crops. Carson however, view this as a treacherous massacre done by mindless killing machines. Using war-like diction, Carson exposes the ruthless nature of the farmers, with the purpose of creating a common enemy for the audience. In this instance, Carson describes the farmers spreading what she described as “poison”, as they “sent in the planes on their mission of death.”. An allusion to World War II bombings, specifically Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is implied. Through its controversial discussions of necessary or unnecessary uses of violence, the same can be said of the uses of pesticides. In this case, it paints the farmers as the same people who killed hundreds of thousands of
Carson specifies the farmer’s sinful acts, their detrimental effects on animals, and the injustice of this situation, all in order to urge her audience to bring a halt to pesticide use.
At first glance, it can be assumed that normal farmers are using pesticides to rid of harmful bugs to save their crops. Carson however, view this as a treacherous massacre done by mindless killing machines. Using war-like diction, Carson exposes the ruthless nature of the farmers, with the purpose of creating a common enemy for the audience. In this instance, Carson describes the farmers spreading what she described as “poison”, as they “sent in the planes on their mission of death.”. An allusion to World War II bombings, specifically Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is implied. Through its controversial discussions of necessary or unnecessary uses of violence, the same can be said of the uses of pesticides. In this case, it paints the farmers as the same people who killed hundreds of thousands of