Silent Spring: Summary and Analysis

Silent Spring (1962) is a path-breaking
narrative by Rachel Carson taken from her book of the same name. She had studied Creative Writing at Pennsylvania
College for women but changed her field of study to marine biology because of
her enduring love of science and nature. Silent Spring was an eye opener for
the human community which went on fighting with nature recklessly.
Silent Spring deals with the
challenges all living beings in general and birds in special have to face due
to the long term indiscriminate use of pesticides. In the first two paragraphs
of this lesson, Carson gives a picture of a town in the heart of America which
was surrounded by prosperous farms and countrysides full of animal and plant
life. The roadsides were
places of beauty and countrysides were famous for its abundance of bird life. The
greenery and birds attracted hundreds of migrants and bird watchers from great
distances.
From the third paragraph onwards, the reader is led to the changes that happened due to the spraying of pesticides in the place. Everything in the area turned topsy-turvy. New
diseases haunted people, plants and animals. Doctors in the area were utterly confused. Birds stopped singing. There
was an uneasy disturbing silence everywhere. The spring was a horrible silent
time.
The animals too were affected. The hens brooded, but no chicks hatched and
the young ones of pigs died soon after birth. Absence of bees hindered
pollination of apple trees. The area now
seemed as if it were swept by fire and the vegetation looked diseased. No
fishes were left in the streams.
Carson concludes the account explaining
the source of all these chaos. People
had done it themselves. The white
granular powder Carson refers to was the source of all havoc. It was pesticide dust accumulated due to
aerial sprayings. The people in the town
and suburbs did not know the connection between the white dust and the death of
the region. Carson, then in the final paragraph, admits that the town talked about
was an imaginary town, but many real towns faced the same situation. The recent developments in Kasaragod, Kerala due to the spraying of the killer pesticide Endosulfan is undoubtedly a similar case. Therefore, this article is an eye-opener.
Carson’s style of writing needs to be
examined. She narrates the history of
the death of the town in the framework of a story.
The first two paragraphs are lyrical and romantic in language but
realistic in spirit. The moribund
condition is described with a punch: Even the streams turn lifeless. The
mention of the pesticide dust is a passing one without any elaboration and only
a careful reader will be able to connect the powder to the devastation. The aerial spray is not directly mentioned. It is only suggested with the words ‘eaves’ and ‘shingles’.
Although the book Silent Spring was met with fierce opposition by chemical companies, it spurred a reversal in national pesticide policy which led to a nation wide ban on DDT and other pesticides. It also inspired a grass roots environmental movement that led to the creation of the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Although the book Silent Spring was met with fierce opposition by chemical companies, it spurred a reversal in national pesticide policy which led to a nation wide ban on DDT and other pesticides. It also inspired a grass roots environmental movement that led to the creation of the US Environmental Protection Agency.
شركة نقل الاثاث والعفش وخدمات التسليك تحت اشراف عمالة فنية مدربة بابها وخميس مشيط
ReplyDeleteشركة نقل اثاث بابها
شركة نقل اثاث بخميس مشيط
شركة كشف تسربات المياه بابها
شركة كشف تسربات المياه بخميس مشيط
شركة تسليك مجاري بابها
شركة تسليك مجاري بخميس مشيط
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