Silent Spring Parathion Analysis

The 1950's to 1960's were characterized by and catalyzed the national environmental movement, which increased people's environmental awareness in the nation. Rachel Carson, a biologist, wrote a book discussing the destructive effects of pesticides to inform the public and urge them to act against the use of these damaging poisons. In the excerpt from Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, Carson states that the use of parathion is not worth the damage down to the natural world by describing its widespread damage to nature and placing guilt on farmers' for their ignorance to the harm done on society.
Carson characterizes wildlife as innocent to generate sympathy for the many deaths of the animals, some of which are unintended, to emphasizes the widespread
The simple yet concrete diction that Carson uses increases her confidence in the pesticide's universality and capability to harm much of wildlife, to evoke sympathy for wildlife caught in the pesticide's net. Carson asserts that animals, especially birds, are now "finding themselves a direct target" of pesticides. The assertion that they are not "direct[ly]" targeted emphasizes the statement that farmers are now purposely trying to kill and "eradicate" these animals. She portrays wildlife as the goal that many farmers try to get rid of, in order to generate a feeling of sympathy toward those numerous animals now strongly aimed at, illustrating the widespread effects of pesticide use. Carson presents the conditions of several animals, such as the "rabbits or raccoons or opossums," which used to occupy a home in the lands near the river, are now "doomed." By mentioning these specific animals, which are usually thought of as cute and harmless, Carson highlights the innocence of wildlife in the area. The sudden transition from describing the innocence of the animals to the ominous future reveals
She describes a certain situation in an orchard where workers who had contact with parathion “collapsed” and “escaped death only through skilled medical attention.” Carson dramatizes the event and emphasizes the severe condition of workers to portray that humans are also a direct target of parathion since the workers had only “escaped” death. In presenting humans as a direct target of pesticides, she implies a possibility of a future society where there is no nature and health of themselves are sacrificed for profit of crops. Carson presents the “ever-widening wave of death,” which will continue if farmers are to continuously spray parathion. By stating that the wave continually grows, Carson reveals that parathion’s consequences are widespread, and will soon include much of the human race, so that death may occur to most of society. Carson uses this metaphor of a “wave of death” to represent that the deaths caused by the application of parathion are similar to those caused by war, instilling a sense of fear in her audience about the dangerous future of society where many are killed after the use of pesticides. Carson then questions whether the workers who were working in fields knew that the “fields he were about to enter were deadly.” The universality of the damage by parathion is emphasized when