Identifying Key Rhetorical Elements in Carson’s Silent Spring

Identifying Key Rhetorical Elements in Carson’s Silent Spring

Rachel Carson chose the title, Silent Spring in order to provide a much-needed warning as to the consequence of unchecked pesticide use. Spring is always symbolic of renewal, rebirth, and the continuity of the cycle of life within the natural world. Drawing inspiration from the Keats poem “La Belle Dame sans Merci," which contains the line, “And no birds sing,” Carson is suggesting through the use of a metaphor that man’s use of destructive pesticides could lead to a devastated natural condition (Keats).

            The author prefaces the main argument contained within her work with a fable in order to build rapport with her audience. She wants them to relate to their own world; complete with man-made roads, tended orchards, cultivated fields, homes, wells and barns. Notice that this is not a mythological construction void of mankind’s stewardship. Rather, it is a “harmonious” relationship with the land. This is a careful appeal by Carson who does not want to alienate those which she is trying to persuade. She is suggesting that man does not have to necessarily be removed from the equation but does need to be careful not to realize the problem contained in the fables ending through their own actions. “The people had done it to themselves” (Carson, 3). By building on common ground, and showing a deliberate consideration of her audience, Carson is effective at easing them softly into her main appeal without giving them grounds for offense.

            One of the most telling phrases within the author’s first chapter demonstrates her knowledge of the inter-connectivity of species within ecosystems. She writes, “This pollution is for the most part irrecoverable; the chain of evil it initiates not only in the world that must support life but in living tissues is for the most part irreversible” (Carson, 6). By choosing the word “chain,” Carson alludes to the food chain (or web) that is centered upon all living things operating in a closed system of inter-dependence where the “evil” injected into it by mankind will inevitably result in harm to other species within an ecosystem.

            In her second chapter, Carson uses haunting language to enlist an emotion reaction as to the seriousness of chemical consequence within her audience. For example, the author quotes Albert Schweitzer who said, “Man can hardly even recognize the devils of his own creation” (Carson, 6). Words like “devils” and “evil” borrow from Judeo-Christian tenants that are a result of man’s chosen inequity. Further, Carson uses the unique phrase, “train of disaster” when warning that we should not destroy ourselves in an attempt to control pests. By using powerful word-images, the author is effective at equating the impacts of chemical modernity with Biblical disaster symbolism and “trains” which cannot be easily stopped. The reader can readily imagine phrases like “chemical death rain” that terrifies them into paying attention to the masterfully constructed argument to come (Carson, 12).

            The problem, as Carson suggests, is the “enormous and expanding use of pesticides” (Carson, 9). She does not discount the insect problem, however, she rightfully attributes the problem as one made worse by man who spread organisms around the globe; far from their original habitats (Carson, 10). The problem is also one of awareness. Carson contends that industry “specialists” have been granted exclusivity in determining the effects of chemicals on the natural world constituting a “lack of prudent concern for the integrity of the natural world that supports all life” (Carson, 13). By admonishing the current generation, suggesting that our children would not appreciate our indifference and comfortable ignorance of the instruction of chemicals into the environment, Carson is effective at raising much-needed awareness to her cause.

Works Cited

Carson, Rachel et al. Silent Spring. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1962.

Keats, John. "55. La Belle Dame Sans Merci. Keats, John. 1884. The Poetical Works of John    Keats." 55. La Belle Dame Sans Merci. Keats, John. 1884. The Poetical Works of John    Keats. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2016.