Silent Spring Book Report
Silent Spring
1. A. I was captivated with the way Carson began the book with the imaginary town that had suffered plagues due to pesticides. She then went on to say that these were based off real events that happened all over the country. Also it was fascinating how much Rachel Carson new about carcinogens and the ill effects of pesticides such as cancer and birth defects. This was at a time when this was not a wide spread fact.
B. The protagonists in this novel are nature and the public. They are both innocent and are slowly but surely being hurt by the antagonists which would be the government and the chemical industry which produced DDT and other pesticides.
C. This novel revealed the effects of pesticides on not only nature but on us humans. In nature pesticides were being killed because of the blanket of chemicals that were being released because the people releasing them wanted to get paid more. It was then revealed that super insects were being created because of natural selection, so the strong bugs would survive and go on to produce more resilient bugs. Humans are …show more content…
suffering from chemical pesticides and this is why many cancers, birth defects, and deaths come about.
D. The novel opens with Rachel Carson speaking of an imaginary town that has gone through many catastrophes because of pesticides and says that these are based on real happenings in various towns. She says that pesticides are like atomic radiation because they are silent and slowly kill you. Pesticides have gotten worse because they have become more potent, they decompose slower, and they have a tendency to concentrate in fatty tissues. Carson goes on to reveal that pesticides exist in all parts of the biological system- the water, the air, and our plants. Taxpayers are being robbed because our ecosystems are being destroyed with insecticides and the government overlooks this. She talks of how the Japanese beetle was hunted through pesticides but that no one knew for sure if they were real threats. She says that robins and eagles have been killed due to DDT which is where the book’s title comes from. Every child and man is affected by pesticides so the FDA and the Department of Agriculture is putting the people in danger. She goes on to note the increase in pesticides in World War II and how they take effect in our bodies. Natural selection makes pesticides less and less affective anyways and there are other ways to reduce insect populations such as introducing sterilized males and the use of chemicals that exist in the insect themselves.
2.
A. As a reader in 2012 I was able to see how much Rachel Carson made a difference. This is now well known stuff. Almost everyone knows what a carcinogen is, so I had to put myself in 1962- a time when people did not think as much of their health and the affects of DDT. This would have been revolutionary and so enlightening because it offered an explanation of so many cancers and birth defects. B. It concerns me that so many pesticides are still used in not only crops that end up as produce or that goes into our food and this is why we get our food from Mexico. So even if we are not inhaling these chemicals we are consuming them. C. One of the most important ideas was that DDT was a direct carcinogen and the robin and eagle suffered due to this, both became endangered. They received it down the food chain from worms and fish. This proved that our universe is undeniably
connected. D. This book made me think of when my parents and I have sprayed bug spray and weed killer. This was so close to us and though it may not be as toxic as the insecticides spoken of here but they cannot be good for us and can lead to cancer because we are definitely breathing them in.
3. A. Rachel Carson was born in 1907 in Pennsylvania. Her family was poor but her mother was an intelligent woman and was a naturalist and this lead to Rachel writing at a very young age. In 1925 Carson received a scholarship from Pennsylvania Women’s College. She majored in biology. She wrote great nonfiction books such as The Sea Around Us, The Edge of the Sea, and Under the Sea Wind which explores the whole ocean life. In 1962 the Silent Spring was published and lead to a nationwide ban of DDT. Carson had been battling cancer at this time. She died in 1964. B. The book is set in the late 1950’s in America and the settings include everywhere insecticides and pesticides are used. The FDA and the Department of Agriculture were not regulating pesticides very much at this time. C. In the late 1950’s generally people did not know what a carcinogen was because they thought all cancers and birth defects were simple gene mutations, they did not know there were direct causes for these mutations. Also people did not think very much about the way chemicals were affecting them. For example in WWII when Agent Orange was used people did not know this could lead to cancer until after the fact. The standard of living had just improved so most people were not concerned about their health.
4. A. Most of the action in the book took place everywhere pesticides are sprayed. This includes forests, crop fields, and lawns, also where runoff occurs in streams, estuaries, and coastal waters. B. Aerial pesticides were sprayed in the countryside and this contaminated orchards and gardens. One of the most important settings is inside a human body. Once the chemicals enter a human body they insinuate almost every part of the body including crucial organs and cell structures.
5. A. Pesticides affect everyone everywhere because like I said everything in this universe is connected. They affect humans when they are spread in the air and when they are sprayed on crops we eat. Pesticides can also runoff in our water, contaminating us and all the organisms living in it. B. Herbicides and pesticides are not only sprayed at my school but they are sprayed around my house and there is nothing I can personally do about this but I know how harmful it is because I am essentially breathing in carcinogens day in and day out. C. Recently Roundup an herbicide was revealed as a carcinogen. This definitely relates to this novel because Rachel Carson opened peoples’ eyes initially to the harm that any and all pesticides cause. D. I found that A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr is a book that describes a community that developed a law to protect itself against dangerous chemicals. The Sea Around Us which was also written by Rachel Carson is a novel that talks all about the ocean and how it affects us.
6. A/B. “If the Bill of Rights contains no guarantee that a citizen shall be secure against lethal poisons distributed either by private individuals or by public officials, it is surely only because our forefathers, despite their considerable wisdom and foresight, could conceive of no such problem” (Ch. 2). This shows the lack of responsibility our government was taking at this time. This was a serious problem and it needed to be exposed because American citizens were literally being poisoned. “These sprays, dusts, and aerosols are now applied almost universally to farms, gardens, forests, and homes — nonselective chemicals that have the power to kill every insect, the “good” and the “bad,” to still the song of birds and the leaping of fish in the streams, to coat the leaves with a deadly film, and to linger on in soil — all this though the intended target may be only a few weeds or insects” (Ch. 2). I find it ironic that pesticides were everywhere back then and even after being exposed, they are everywhere now. “It is an extraordinary fact that the deliberate introduction of poisons into a reservoir is becoming a fairly common practice”(Ch. 4). I like the way Rachel Carson is telling it like it is, the ones who release these poisons should realize that this is going to come back to us in our drinking water.
7. A/B/C. 1. Deliberate- studied; intentional (dictionary.com) This book is used to describe the poisons and pesticides that are released. This is used throughout the whole book because it is obvious if these chemicals kill they are doing us harm as well. 2. Biocide- any chemical that destroys life by poisoning, especially by a pesticide, herbicide, or fungicide (dictionary.com)
Rachel Carson says that insecticides should be called biocides, she thought of this and it is now a wide used term. She says this because these chemicals kill more than insects. 3. Insecticides- a substance used for killing insects (dictionary.com)
This term is used constantly but what is ironic about it is that they slowly kill everything which is what Carson’s purpose is to expose. 4. Urgent-imperative; pressing (dictionary.com)
This is used to describe the current situation with pesticides. It is not something to take lightly, so many cancers stem from pesticide so it is not something that will go away. 5. Obligation- something which a person is obliged to do (dictionary.com)
Fixing the pesticide problem is a moral obligation which is why Rachel Carson repeatedly uses this word to describe it.
8. This is a picture of a robin. It was affected by DDT from the worms it ate. This is where the title comes from- a spring where there is no singing birds or much life at all.
1. A. I was captivated with the way Carson began the book with the imaginary town that had suffered plagues due to pesticides. She then went on to say that these were based off real events that happened all over the country. Also it was fascinating how much Rachel Carson new about carcinogens and the ill effects of pesticides such as cancer and birth defects. This was at a time when this was not a wide spread fact.
B. The protagonists in this novel are nature and the public. They are both innocent and are slowly but surely being hurt by the antagonists which would be the government and the chemical industry which produced DDT and other pesticides.
C. This novel revealed the effects of pesticides on not only nature but on us humans. In nature pesticides were being killed because of the blanket of chemicals that were being released because the people releasing them wanted to get paid more. It was then revealed that super insects were being created because of natural selection, so the strong bugs would survive and go on to produce more resilient bugs. Humans are …show more content…
suffering from chemical pesticides and this is why many cancers, birth defects, and deaths come about.
D. The novel opens with Rachel Carson speaking of an imaginary town that has gone through many catastrophes because of pesticides and says that these are based on real happenings in various towns. She says that pesticides are like atomic radiation because they are silent and slowly kill you. Pesticides have gotten worse because they have become more potent, they decompose slower, and they have a tendency to concentrate in fatty tissues. Carson goes on to reveal that pesticides exist in all parts of the biological system- the water, the air, and our plants. Taxpayers are being robbed because our ecosystems are being destroyed with insecticides and the government overlooks this. She talks of how the Japanese beetle was hunted through pesticides but that no one knew for sure if they were real threats. She says that robins and eagles have been killed due to DDT which is where the book’s title comes from. Every child and man is affected by pesticides so the FDA and the Department of Agriculture is putting the people in danger. She goes on to note the increase in pesticides in World War II and how they take effect in our bodies. Natural selection makes pesticides less and less affective anyways and there are other ways to reduce insect populations such as introducing sterilized males and the use of chemicals that exist in the insect themselves.
2.
A. As a reader in 2012 I was able to see how much Rachel Carson made a difference. This is now well known stuff. Almost everyone knows what a carcinogen is, so I had to put myself in 1962- a time when people did not think as much of their health and the affects of DDT. This would have been revolutionary and so enlightening because it offered an explanation of so many cancers and birth defects. B. It concerns me that so many pesticides are still used in not only crops that end up as produce or that goes into our food and this is why we get our food from Mexico. So even if we are not inhaling these chemicals we are consuming them. C. One of the most important ideas was that DDT was a direct carcinogen and the robin and eagle suffered due to this, both became endangered. They received it down the food chain from worms and fish. This proved that our universe is undeniably
connected. D. This book made me think of when my parents and I have sprayed bug spray and weed killer. This was so close to us and though it may not be as toxic as the insecticides spoken of here but they cannot be good for us and can lead to cancer because we are definitely breathing them in.
3. A. Rachel Carson was born in 1907 in Pennsylvania. Her family was poor but her mother was an intelligent woman and was a naturalist and this lead to Rachel writing at a very young age. In 1925 Carson received a scholarship from Pennsylvania Women’s College. She majored in biology. She wrote great nonfiction books such as The Sea Around Us, The Edge of the Sea, and Under the Sea Wind which explores the whole ocean life. In 1962 the Silent Spring was published and lead to a nationwide ban of DDT. Carson had been battling cancer at this time. She died in 1964. B. The book is set in the late 1950’s in America and the settings include everywhere insecticides and pesticides are used. The FDA and the Department of Agriculture were not regulating pesticides very much at this time. C. In the late 1950’s generally people did not know what a carcinogen was because they thought all cancers and birth defects were simple gene mutations, they did not know there were direct causes for these mutations. Also people did not think very much about the way chemicals were affecting them. For example in WWII when Agent Orange was used people did not know this could lead to cancer until after the fact. The standard of living had just improved so most people were not concerned about their health.
4. A. Most of the action in the book took place everywhere pesticides are sprayed. This includes forests, crop fields, and lawns, also where runoff occurs in streams, estuaries, and coastal waters. B. Aerial pesticides were sprayed in the countryside and this contaminated orchards and gardens. One of the most important settings is inside a human body. Once the chemicals enter a human body they insinuate almost every part of the body including crucial organs and cell structures.
5. A. Pesticides affect everyone everywhere because like I said everything in this universe is connected. They affect humans when they are spread in the air and when they are sprayed on crops we eat. Pesticides can also runoff in our water, contaminating us and all the organisms living in it. B. Herbicides and pesticides are not only sprayed at my school but they are sprayed around my house and there is nothing I can personally do about this but I know how harmful it is because I am essentially breathing in carcinogens day in and day out. C. Recently Roundup an herbicide was revealed as a carcinogen. This definitely relates to this novel because Rachel Carson opened peoples’ eyes initially to the harm that any and all pesticides cause. D. I found that A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr is a book that describes a community that developed a law to protect itself against dangerous chemicals. The Sea Around Us which was also written by Rachel Carson is a novel that talks all about the ocean and how it affects us.
6. A/B. “If the Bill of Rights contains no guarantee that a citizen shall be secure against lethal poisons distributed either by private individuals or by public officials, it is surely only because our forefathers, despite their considerable wisdom and foresight, could conceive of no such problem” (Ch. 2). This shows the lack of responsibility our government was taking at this time. This was a serious problem and it needed to be exposed because American citizens were literally being poisoned. “These sprays, dusts, and aerosols are now applied almost universally to farms, gardens, forests, and homes — nonselective chemicals that have the power to kill every insect, the “good” and the “bad,” to still the song of birds and the leaping of fish in the streams, to coat the leaves with a deadly film, and to linger on in soil — all this though the intended target may be only a few weeds or insects” (Ch. 2). I find it ironic that pesticides were everywhere back then and even after being exposed, they are everywhere now. “It is an extraordinary fact that the deliberate introduction of poisons into a reservoir is becoming a fairly common practice”(Ch. 4). I like the way Rachel Carson is telling it like it is, the ones who release these poisons should realize that this is going to come back to us in our drinking water.
7. A/B/C. 1. Deliberate- studied; intentional (dictionary.com) This book is used to describe the poisons and pesticides that are released. This is used throughout the whole book because it is obvious if these chemicals kill they are doing us harm as well. 2. Biocide- any chemical that destroys life by poisoning, especially by a pesticide, herbicide, or fungicide (dictionary.com)
Rachel Carson says that insecticides should be called biocides, she thought of this and it is now a wide used term. She says this because these chemicals kill more than insects. 3. Insecticides- a substance used for killing insects (dictionary.com)
This term is used constantly but what is ironic about it is that they slowly kill everything which is what Carson’s purpose is to expose. 4. Urgent-imperative; pressing (dictionary.com)
This is used to describe the current situation with pesticides. It is not something to take lightly, so many cancers stem from pesticide so it is not something that will go away. 5. Obligation- something which a person is obliged to do (dictionary.com)
Fixing the pesticide problem is a moral obligation which is why Rachel Carson repeatedly uses this word to describe it.
8. This is a picture of a robin. It was affected by DDT from the worms it ate. This is where the title comes from- a spring where there is no singing birds or much life at all.