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