In “The Obligation to Endure,” Rachel Carson outlines an argument on the adverse effects of pesticides to the environment and the risks exposed to human health. Notably, Carson utilizes a wide array of appeals and stylistic devices to convince the audience of her stance on the use of pesticides. Most importantly, Carson emphasizes on the ban of the use of DTT, a pesticide that was manufactured and widely used around homes and offices. In view of this, this paper conducts a rhetorical analysis of “The Obligation to Endure.” An emphasis is placed on the elements of arguments and the Aristotelian appeals Carson uses on her audience. Elements and Pillars of Argument The primary claim and thesis that Carson makes are on the dangers of pesticides …show more content…
First, logos involves the use of logic to present an argument and to appeal to the reasoning of others. In this fashion, Caron uses scientific facts and evidence to back up her claims by describing the long-term effects of the chemicals released from the pesticides on the ecosystem. Secondly, ethos translates to the manner that an author builds credibility and trustworthiness with the audience. One element to note is that Caron quotes the works of several scientists in the bid to convince the audience on her professionalism and knowledge about the issue at hand. Notably, Caron quotes ecologists such as Paul Shepard and Charles Elton in the bid to emphasize her points and how the consensus was attained. Because of this, the audience understands that the arguments presented do not originate from personal opinion. Thirdly, pathos involves the words used by an author to petition to the emotional aspect of readers. Carson pleas to the emotions of the audience by mentioning that risks are presented to future generations unless a solution is found on the use of harmful pesticide and insecticides. In this aspect, Carson arouses the feelings of the audience towards the future generations by presenting the hardships future generations might …show more content…
In fact, Carson outlines her evidence and claims for the global environment and the whole of humanity. In addition to this, it is worthy to mention that, Carson was directing her message to policymakers because they had the power to ban the manufacture of the pesticides and insecticides. Furthermore, Carson’s messages were directed at certain companies and the manufacturers of pesticides such as DDT. The catalyst of this message stemmed from the widespread use of insecticides both at home and in offices. As it seemed, there was a widespread rate of ignorance and misinformation across the public on the harmful effects of these pesticides. Based on this, Carson’s primary purpose was to enlighten the public on the adverse effects of pesticides and to urge them against their manufacture and
Carson’s next argument is that the volume of new chemicals coming on the market each year, the universal use of these chemicals on farms, gardens, forests, and homes, and the lack of information on the short or long-term effect of these
Rachel Carson is a noted biologist who studies biology, a branch of science addressing living organisms, yet she has written a book called Silent Spring to speak about the harmful effects of pesticides on nature. Carson doesn’t write about birds’ genetic and physical makeup, the role of them in the animal food chain, or even how to identify their unbelievable bird songs, yet strongly attests the fight for a well developed environment containing birds, humans, and insects is just and necessary. To Carson, the war for a natural environment is instantly essential for holding on to her true love for the study of biology. Thus Carson claims that whether it be a direct hit towards birds or an indirect hit towards humans and wildlife, farmers need to understand the effects and abandon the usage of pesticides in order to save the environment by appealing to officials, farmers, and Americans in her 1962 book, Silent Spring. She positions her defense by using rhetorical devices such as rhetorical questioning to establish logos, juxtaposing ideas, and using connotative and denotative diction.
In her essay Rachel Carson targets anyone who will listen as her audience. She wants to inform human beings of the effects chemicals have on the environment. Rachel Carson’s audience had little knowledge of the effects radiation and pesticides might have on nature or to themselves. She successfully enlightened her audience to the harm man was causing to the environment not only presently, she also wrote of future ramifications. She predicts “Future historians may well be amazed by our distorted sense of proportion. How could intelligent beings seek to control a few unwanted species by methods that contaminated the entire environment…?” (Carson 615). This statement might make her audience scrutinize their actions through the eyes of future generations.
The United States faces constant change due to its massive innovations and its enormous population. Yet, although changes have paved the path for the United States to become a world leader in many subjects, some changes leave drastic consequences for its population. In “ The Obligation to Endure,” Rachel Carson discusses the use of pesticides in the food production across the United States. Throughout her text, she utilizes rhetorical methods such as parallelism, pathos, and repetition to add substance to her text. Her use of these rhetorical devices furthers her argument since they allow the reader to have a better understanding of the reading. Similarly, Michael S. Malone utilizes rhetorical devices in his text “ The Next American Frontier “ to amplify his argument, as he argues technology is the next innovation that will take the United States into a new era. Malone furthers his argument through the use of rhetorical devices like pathos, parallelism, and repetition. However, Carson contrast Malone’s argument about the benefits technology can have on the country by demonstrating how the developments of pesticides to keep bugs away from plants unraveled into a large-scale environmental concern.
In the mid-20th century, farmers used a toxic insecticide named parathion in an attempt to control pests detrimental to their crops. Rachel Carson was a biologist who wrote pamphlets (Lear) on conservation and natural resources designed to inform people on the beauty of the living world. In an excerpt from her 1962 work Silent Spring, Carson calls upon the public to take action against the use of parathion by highlighting its catastrophic nature and vilifying the agricultural community for their negligence.
The following involves the second chapter of Carson’s book, Silent Spring that was written in 1962. In this chapter Carson argues persuasively the adverse impacts of pesticides upon the environment and the risks on human health and the environment associated with these “genetic invaders” (Carson, 1962). Many of the extremely diverse people from Carson’s audience targeted were under the impression that chemicals like DDT, at that time in history, were safe for their health. Carson reconciles and attempts to persuade the public to consider the idea that DDT, which in the 1950s and 60s was one of the many chemical pesticides being manufactured and sold to
In the article “The Obligation to Endure” by Rachel Carson she explains the danger and harm that comes with using toxic chemicals such as pesticides on our crops. By doing so Carson brings to light that are numerous amounts of people that are un aware of the toxic chemicals that they are unknowingly inviting into their homes and bodies. This is also seen in “Preface” when author Carl G. Herndi says, “Writers need to make the invisible visible” (xxiv). Furthermore, this can be seen as a wake up call to all humanity. Both Carson and Herndl want to inform people onto what is going on in the world we live in, and to get people to start questioning rather harmful toxics are truly needed, and if so to what extreme.
Carson speaks about the diminishment of us as a human being. With the amount of harmful pesticides we use without fully understanding its consequences, we are slowly killing our human race. When pesticides are sprayed on crops and insects, they end up getting into our bodies. Adopting the easy way of getting rid of insects is harming us in the long run.
Rachel Carson purposely uses ethos, a means of convincing someone through an ethnic appeal, in her book Silent Spring. Using a variety of means of persuasion, she pleads to the readers in ways that affect them personally. She starts in chapter one, “A Fable for Tomorrow” by first describing the perfect world. Carson then proceeds to portray a fabricated story of the perfect storm scenario of chemical poisons in the atmosphere. She further clarifies this is not an attack, but rather self-infliction. From there, she describes in details the underlying problems brought upon humans by the chemical poisons used to control insects in chapter two, The Obligation to Endure. It additionally specifies the layout of the history of intervention by
Although people are well intentioned in their use of pesticides, people are ignorant of the harmful effects of them. Carson uses appeal of to pathos and logos to convey his point. Carson describes in the passage that while people are trying to kill weeds and insects, as a consequence of that we are in return hurting our ecosystem. She states, “ to still the song of the bird and the leaping of fish in the stream, to coat the leaves with a deadly film, and to linger on in soil all this intended target may be only a few weeds or insects”. This quote in the passage is used to appeal to the reader’s sense of emotion by making the reader feel a sense of responsibility. Although people easily kill bugs and weeds, they would never think that it would
In 17 chapters, many of which can stand alone as essays, Carson develops a deceptively simple premise: the use and overuse of synthetic chemicals to control insect pests introduces these chemicals into the air, water, and soil and into the food chain where they poison animals and humans, and disrupt the many intricate
The chemical pesticides used in farming affect the quality of water because of run off which then go into lakes or rivers. In chapter four, Carson concentrates on the water pollution caused by pesticides. The pollution can be unsafe for use and causes fish to die. An example used is a study done by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in 1960 that showed that “our waters have become almost universally contaminated with insecticides.” (pg.41) The pesticides are especially threatening to groundwater which is an important source of drinking water for humans. Consequently, the chemicals in pesticides can cause cancer and other harm effects on our health. Another issue is that the pesticides in water and can mix with other chemicals and become a new chemical. Therefore, it can lead to the creation of an unknown chemical with harmful
This book was focused on the concern of pesticides that industries, along with us as individuals, have been dumping (both knowingly and unknowingly) into water. Carson was concerned that the chemicals which the farmers spread on their fields, and even the chemicals we use in our homes (among others), in the end, might come back around and harm us. The beginning of the book tells a story of a place, that was once so beautiful, turned dead and ugly due to a “strange blight that crept over the area” and destroyed everything. Later in the book, she goes on to explain that chemicals, particularly one known as DDT, are the major cause of environmental damage and the near extinction of
Rachel Carson played a pivotal role in shaping the Environmental Movement and American culture because of her honest, direct disclosure of the matters at hand. Although Carson was not the first person to make these scientific discoveries, she was able to radically change the way millions of Americans perceived the environment and the dangers of toxic chemicals to themselves through vivid, articulate, yet easily understandable language. For instance, in her chapter titled “Elixirs of Death,” she says “For these chemicals are now stored in the bodies of the vast majority of human beings, regardless of age. They
As we go along day-to-day, the use of pesticides has dramatically increased. As the author, Rachel Carson conveys readers an educational message, how “a town suddenly turns dark and secluded.” Demolished by the vitality of their inhabitants. The effect of this was how the human race did not take note of the effortless actions done, that drastically demolished the environment. Carson utilized figurative language to engage readers, to describe the “nostalgic life, along with the wistful.” She employs rhetorical devices, which persuades readers regarding the positive and negative effects from a different perspective. As well as, Caron presents imagery that has caused readers to be immersed into a whole other world, to display the urgency of the uses of pesticides. Within Rachel Carson’s short excerpt, “A Fable for Tomorrow,” Carson has the capability of captivating readers and taking use of phrases, in which she executes in distinctive tactics.