Preview

Obligation to Endure

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
436 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Obligation to Endure
New chemicals are being produced and tested every day. Are these chemicals being tested for the effects they could have on our environment though? In, “Silent Spring” an excerpt from Rachel Carson’s, “The Obligation to Endure,” Carson suggests that the pesticides and insecticides we have are harmful to more than just the environment.
Rachel Carson is an author who is passionate about the environment and concerned about the well being of its inhabitants. This is apparent because of the way in which she writes. For example she states, “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?” Carson is well educated about the uses of chemicals and possible outcomes that occur from the use of pesticides. The audience of her article is targeted toward those who take part in the use of chemicals an example would be a farmer. This article could also be targeted toward those people who are concerned about our relationship with the environment and the things we do to protect it. This could be a potential area for those interested in the improvement of the environment to find and argue about actions that would benefit their cause.
Carson makes the point that people are not aware some of the chemicals that are being used have a negative affect not only on the pests they are trying to get rid of, but also harmless insects and other animals. Carson explains that eventually people are negatively affected also. Therefore not only is the safety of wildlife at risk, people are in danger. The comment, “they should not be called “insecticides,” but “biocides,” give the reader a good idea about Carson’s opinion on the use of these chemicals.
Carson’s primary appeal used is from a logical perspective. She presents the problem or idea she has about the topic and then backs it up with supporting evidence and fact. She explains the negative affect chemicals of today have and provides a possible

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Chapter 2: The trend of humans harming their environment has grown upward for a time now. Carson claims in Chapter 2 that individuals have debased nature with hazardous and lethal chemicals. She goes into detail in this chapter that the amount of pesticides and chemicals being created and put into the atmosphere is dangerous and happening at a very rapid rate. At a point in the chapter, Carson calls pesticides “biocides” which goes to show that they do much more than just kill the intended insects they are meant for. Rather than that, pesticides kill all creatures including ourselves.…

    • 782 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Rachel Carsons central argument of this passage deals with focusing on the negative factors "Parathion" can produce. She uses rhetorical devices such as ethos, rhetorical questions, and visual imagery all to persuade the reader that Parathion is harmful. The first part of the passage uses ethos to appeal to authority. Carson states, "The Fish and Wildlife service haas found it necessary to express serious concern over this trend, pointing out that parathion treated areas constitute a potential hazard to humans, domestic animals, and wildlife".…

    • 306 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    She achieves this by providing evidence that supports her claim and also by creating a space in which the reader becomes aware of their surroundings and overall health. This also gets the audience to start caring about the world around them and the methods they can implement in their day-to-day lives to better care for it. She further appeals to the audience by mentioning her experience in the industry, writing,” As an environmental justice scholar who works directly with low-income and communities of color, I see incineration as a poor waste management option.” (Section 1). Mentioning this allows her to establish trust with a wider audience by building credibility with the reader.…

    • 906 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    This entry focuses mainly on the chemical DDT, which is over consumed on various vegetation, however, the overall idea is regarding our environment and how human actions are abolishing it, although it may be unintentional. To be more specific, the central idea consists of the environmental actions that are backfiring on our population in a negative way. Furthermore, in my opinion, Rachel Carson desires to spread awareness about the harmful deeds that are destroying our environment and our society’s health.…

    • 221 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 903 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The main idea of the book was that the perceived split between man and nature isn’t real and that your body is associated to the world around you. In Rachel Carson’s time, nature was considered to be an “it” and also man had a dominion over animals which some people took as permission to kill them without any guilt. Rachel Carlson highlighted that “we” humans are not distinct from “it” and we were dependent on the world around us. Rachel’s Carson’s book was a success as it raised awareness of the social hazards of DDT As of now pesticides have been increasingly regulated, and also safety standards for pesticides have been improved with much credit to Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. This paper is based on the thesis is that Rachel Carson’s Silent spring was not only prescient in 1962 when it was first published but it remains…

    • 1228 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rachel Carson was an American marine biologist, author, and conservationist whose book Silent Spring and other writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement. Rachel Carson was born on May 27, 1907 in Springdale, PA. Carson grew up in Springdale and attended high school close to there. It was a small school called Parnassus High School in Kensington, PA.…

    • 829 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This passage is relevant in that it demonstrates to the reader how such dangerous chemicals may have become so widely used. Producers of pesticides poured millions of dollars into the successful advertisement of their products. No matter the true risks, any potential…

    • 370 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rachel Carson provides examples of understandable “plain folks” to express her argument to the reader. It was said that, “…In California orchards sprayed this same parathion, workers handling foliage that had been treated a month earlier collapsed and went into shock, and escaped death only through skilled medical attention.” She then goes on to ask, “Does Indiana still raise any boys who roam through woods or fields and might even explore the margins of a river?...” These specific examples illustrate how much Americans do not see that they are causing pain to each other, and in severe cases causing death. Rachel Carson, in illustrating her point that American attitudes toward the environment need to change, points the finger at American farmers who are using parathion and other poisons, which are the cause of death to humans and birds which bringing harm to the environment. What Rachel Carson is trying to get Americans, especially American farmers, to see is that in order to stop all the killing and harm to the environment, and to each other, they need to stop the use of parathion and other poisons.…

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Silent Springs

    • 979 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In Silent Spring, Carson addresses her belief that it’s not necessarily human’s incapability of understanding the negative consequences of their actions, but rather the fact that we as humans, are unaware about these consequences and due to this. In the processes ignorance we are not only greatly harming the environment and animals, but also ourselves as well. She suggest that we live under and illusion where we are far more superior to any other species and deserve whatever we view is best for us, regardless of the downfall, were in actuality we are destroying ourselves just as much. It is not only our personal stupidity, and inability to realize that what we are doing is wrong, “the farmers had been persuaded of the merits of killing by poison”, and they were sold under the idea that killing, by poison has advantages and benefits for them advantages. To any rational person, the thought of spreading poison throughout farms seems extremely destructive. Carson believes that “the…

    • 979 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Poisoned Waters

    • 1094 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The anatomy of the animals is changing because of these chemicals. We have frogs being born with six legs and male frogs with female organs and all of those sort of mishaps because these animals are being subjected to very dangerous deadly chemicals. This is cutting off the whole food chain because as the animals feed each other the chemicals are killing even the button nose whales which are at the top of the food chain.…

    • 1094 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Obligations to Endure

    • 826 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Carson gives a very strong argument explaining how humans are damaging our ecosystem. Carson believes the people that are using these pesticides are ignorant and are abusing these chemicals. I think Carson’s argument is a little hard to follow because she goes so in depth and uses scientific words that are hard to understand. I believe if she would’ve made this argument simpler to read it would have made it a lot more effective and easier to follow along with. I think she drags her argument out a lot, and she is trying too hard to sell her argument instead of just getting to the point.…

    • 826 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Passion for Environment

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Carson believes that sustainability is crucial in keeping the ecosystem in balance. Carson in Fable of Tomorrow writes “on the farms hens brooded, but no chicks hatched. The farmers complained that they were unable to raise any pigs.” All this was happening because people of that town did not pay attention to the changes happening around them or perhaps did not want to think that something was wrong. Because that would mean that they would have to step out of their comfort zone and change their ways of thinking. But we see now that what could happen if we don’t change our way of thinking. Carson admits “if an environment is not sustained then the ecosystem will overtime fall apart. Overusing one part of and ecosystem can cause the ecosystem to eventually fail.” Carson in Fable of Tomorrow also writes “No enemy action had silenced the rebirth of new life in this stricken world. The people had done it themselves.…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Humans have been battling against pesticides for over 8,000 years (Lee 11). Finally, after many years, Paul Muller invented “the wonder pesticide”, which saved thousands of people during World War II by killing typhus-carrying lice and malaria-carrying mosquitoes (DDT 1). However, don’t be fooled be the hero story of Paul Muller, pesticides can be beneficial; however they also have negative effects.…

    • 523 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Biological Control

    • 2537 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Many different chemicals are used to kill pests. These pesticides often work well, but since they're designed to kill living things they may cause serious problems in humans or pets. Pesticides contaminate the environment and the food that we eat, and they may enter our bodies when we're applying them to our plants or animals. They sometimes harm other organisms in addition to their target pest. Another problem with using chemicals to control pests is that a pest may become resistant to a pesticide.…

    • 2537 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays