Analysis of Man and the Stream of Time

Rachel Carson’s Man and the Stream of time possesses enlightening perspectives of nature that have been marinating in her mind for ten years. Her writing reflects upon the effects that man has on nature and the role he plays in the ever changing environment. Her sole observation is that it is man’s nature to want to conquer the world, but nature is not one to be conquered. The writer affirms that nature is an entity that must be dignified, Like English poet Francis Thompson said, “Thou canst not stir a flower without troubling of a star.” Most environmentalist would agree that nature is not stationary, we cut the trees now today, its not just the trees that disappear ten years from now. As humanity advances, we create a multitude of technologies and industries, and with these discoveries comes massive amounts of waste and destruction. Rachel Carson’s man point is, man is ignorantly trying tame the beast, but years from now it is not the first man who will reap the travesty of self destruction. Carson used a good number of supporting ways to boost her thesis and ideas, once of which is first simply pointing out what is wrong. She expresses her emotions and how it took ten years before her speech to realize her perspective. Then, she lays out that she wishes to speak of not just of man’s relation to nature, but more of his attitude towards nature. She ingeniously defines nature as, “The part of the world that man did not make.” Proclaiming that, “The whole era of man seems but a moment--but how portentous a moment! It was only within the past million years or so that the race of man arose.” Nature long preexisted before man, but Carson and many others are puzzled why a man who walks upright on two legs, with a forever developing brain in his skull, could have the lack of control and wisdom to understand his own actions will bring his own destruction. Another way the writer supports her ideas is by finding previous affluent writers who support her thesis and