Analyzing Rachel Carson’s “the Obligation to Endure”
Analyzing Rachel Carson’s “The Obligation to Endure”
In her essay “The Obligation to Endure”, Rachel Carson alerts the public to the dangers of modern industrial pollution. She writes about the harmful consequences of lethal materials being released into the environment. She uses horrifying evidence, a passionate tone, audience, and the overall structure of her essay to express to her readers that the pollution created by man wounds the earth. There are many different ways that pollution can harm the environment, from the nuclear explosions discharging toxic chemicals into the air, to the venomous pesticides sprayed on plants that kills vegetation and sickens cattle. The adjustments to these chemicals would take generations. Rachel Carson explains “…even this, were it by some miracle possible, would be futile, for new chemicals come from our laboratories in an endless stream; almost five hundred annually find their way into actual use in the United states alone” (614). Rachel Carson uses horrifying evidence to grab the reader’s attention. She writes of the destructive chemicals in pesticides used on all types of vegetation for the destruction of insects, but the chemical war on bugs shall never be won. In her essay Rachel Carson explains “ …insects, in a triumphant vindication of Darwin’s principle of the survival of the fittest, have evolved super races immune to the particular insecticides used, hence a deadlier one has always to be developed” (614). Pesticides intention may be only to destroy a few types of weeds and insects but Rachel Carson poses the question “Can anyone believe it is possible to lay down such a barrage of poisons on the surface of the earth without making it unfit for all life?” (614). Carson also touches on man-made radiation releasing harsh chemicals into the air, such as Strontium 90, which comes down as rain and soaks into the earth or even “…in time takes up its abode in the bones of a human being, there to remain until his
In her essay “The Obligation to Endure”, Rachel Carson alerts the public to the dangers of modern industrial pollution. She writes about the harmful consequences of lethal materials being released into the environment. She uses horrifying evidence, a passionate tone, audience, and the overall structure of her essay to express to her readers that the pollution created by man wounds the earth. There are many different ways that pollution can harm the environment, from the nuclear explosions discharging toxic chemicals into the air, to the venomous pesticides sprayed on plants that kills vegetation and sickens cattle. The adjustments to these chemicals would take generations. Rachel Carson explains “…even this, were it by some miracle possible, would be futile, for new chemicals come from our laboratories in an endless stream; almost five hundred annually find their way into actual use in the United states alone” (614). Rachel Carson uses horrifying evidence to grab the reader’s attention. She writes of the destructive chemicals in pesticides used on all types of vegetation for the destruction of insects, but the chemical war on bugs shall never be won. In her essay Rachel Carson explains “ …insects, in a triumphant vindication of Darwin’s principle of the survival of the fittest, have evolved super races immune to the particular insecticides used, hence a deadlier one has always to be developed” (614). Pesticides intention may be only to destroy a few types of weeds and insects but Rachel Carson poses the question “Can anyone believe it is possible to lay down such a barrage of poisons on the surface of the earth without making it unfit for all life?” (614). Carson also touches on man-made radiation releasing harsh chemicals into the air, such as Strontium 90, which comes down as rain and soaks into the earth or even “…in time takes up its abode in the bones of a human being, there to remain until his
Cited: Bloom, Lynn Z., and Louise Z. Smith, eds. The Arlington Reader. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008. Print.