Pesticide Parathion in the Novel Silent Spring

In the late 1950s the use of new farm machinery and agricultural technology drastically began to increase. Many farmers were were now swaying away from their standard agricultural techniques to more relatively fast, cheap, and new alternative techniques. One technology that began to rise dramatically in usage during this time were pesticides, 'chemical substances used for destroying insects or other organisms harmful to cultivated plants or animals." One specific pesticide on the rise was parathion, in the novel Silent Spring a biologist,scientist, and ecologist Rachel Carson, argues on behalf of her conducted studies and values of how the U.S. needs to stray away from using harmful pesticides in terms of dealing with agricultural problems. Carson advocates for the end of parathion use through her portrayal of the government as negligent, the farmers as being careless and inhumane, and the general public as ignorant and indifferent.

Through Carson's portrayal of the government as negligent, Carson instills a form of dismay and panic among her audience for the government's lack of laws restraining the use of parathion, leaving them to question if the government is attending to their duties of protecting the people. Carson states in the passage that the birds were 'doomed by a judge and jury who neither knew of their existence." Carson uses the position of a judge and jury as a metaphor for the aspects of the people who represent our government and then juxtaposes them to what they are supposed to be: fair and knowing, to what they are currently seen to be, not knowing and unjust. She conveys these aspects because she claims that the birds were doomed without what we would consider a fair trial which they should be given, and alerts the audience of the unfairness of some of the aspects of their government. Carson continues to portray the lack of government care and attention when she states, 'An authoritarian temporarily entrusted with power, in a moment of inattention." Carson compares the self centered and careless aspects of an authoritarian with the current government by claiming that they are both entrusted with power but use that power instead for things that benefit themselves. Carson does this in order to make the government seem self centered for not having any laws against the use of deadly poison but having laws for things that could damage them in the hopes of alluding to her audience that the government is working for their self instead of the people. She also uses the word 'inattention" which directly means, lack of attention with a negative connotation to further prove her point of the lack of government attention on the subject of agriculture. Carson claims that 'the farmers had been persuaded of the merits of killing by poison." Carson uses hyperbole to exaggerate the statement as if the government were literally telling the farmers to use pesticides such as parathion when she states the farmers had 'been persuaded", to imply that the government are basically encouraging people such as the farmers to adopt these dangerous way of acquiring their wants in agriculture since they resist to formulate laws against their dangerous acts. Using this Carson presents to her audience that the initial blame for the occurring over use of parathion ultimately began due to the lack of government input and regulation.

Carson emphasizes within the passage that the farmers have adopted new deadly methods of accomplishing their wants and have shifted away from the organic methods that now seem scarce to find in the hopes of striking fear into her audience for the farmers lack of care for the mass destruction that they have caused. Carson introduces the farmers by immediately stating that the farmers were using 'deadly poisons such as parathion to control concentrations of birds." Carson euphemisms the word 'control" as a substitute for killing to show that the farmers feel as if that is all they are only controlling something when in reality they are lethally killing it. Carson writes that it were 'concentrations of birds" not just a couple hundred but numbers that reach past the ten thousands to presents to the reader the tremendous amount of birds that are being killed by the farmers who lack of knowledge in the effects of their actions nor do they care. In that statement Carson point that the farmers have began to use poison, which is an artificial and inhumane way of attaining agricultural wants. Carson Continues to portray the carelessness and destructiveness of the farmers by writing that the 'farmers, with one to hinder them, waged their needless war on blackbirds." Carson in her statement becomes invective in order to criticize the farmers by claiming that the killing was 'needless," she uses the denotation of the word 'needless," in order to clearly convey to the reader that the killing of the birds was for absolutely nothing good. Carson then shifts into more specific actions presented by a group of farmers who, '[engaged] a spray plane to treat an area." Carson inserts the word 'treat" into the sentences with a heavy negative connotation by comparing the word 'treat" as if it were a disease. She uses this to convey to the reader just how the farmers look at the the birds, as diseases. This comparison brings forward any memories that the reader may have had with the treatment of diseases which use to be treated with natural herbs but are now usually treated with unnatural medicines such as antibiotics to once again convey to the reader the shift of the farmers from healthy agricultural practices to the new dangerous and chemical ones.

Carson criticizes and shames the audience for their lack of expression and participation in agricultural problem in order to create the feeling of guilt amongst the audience. She criticizes these countless people who she claims 'were not consulted that the supreme value is a world without insects." Carson appeals to the audiences emotions when she states that no one was consulted before making any decisions to convey to the people of just how ignorant they are and how little communication there is between them. She conveys the public's ignorance by questioning them if they had the right to decide how the whole world should be and fosters a shadow of blame over them. Carson then blames the audience and public for allowing the 'eradicating [of] any creature that may annoy or inconvenience us" to become seen as a normal thing. Carson uses an analogy to compare the feeling and actions taken by the farmers to feelings and actions taken by the public in day-to-day interactions, claiming that the public just kills of anything that annoys them with no regards to the effects it may have just as the farmers are doing. Carson does this to convey the public of their egocentric ways that they express in daily interactions with no care of feeling towards anyone els and pushing the blame onto them. Carson then identifies to her audience that the 'habit of killing [is growing]." While presenting this statement Carson adds a strong negative connotation to the word habit to imply that the habits are nowhere near good. She also hyperboles the word 'growing" to exaggerate how common killing has become within the U.S and the general public. Carson does this in order to blame the public for basically making killing off anything that may annoy or get in their way normal which it shouldn't be. She blames the public for making such disgusting things such as killing normal habits to so much of an extent that now certain killings of object besides human have become fine no matter if it may be the killing of a living animal or plant.

Carson's argument against the use of negative agricultural practices such as pesticides that may have profound effects in the future today still exist to this day. However they are less common because her beliefs have lead to a handful of government regulation and laws that help prevent harmful chemicals from ever even being used. Carson's novel change national policies for the use of pesticides. Carson also according to Wikipedia 'led to a nationwide ban on DDT for agricultural uses and inspired an environmental movement that led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency." Carson's novel and beliefs she conveys in her novel have had a mass effect on the public by showing that their opinions not only matter but also can make a tremendous difference.

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