It’s a cold and snowy Sunday, the perfect day for reading a book by the roaring fireplace. A nonfiction novel about all things space captures your attention from the full bookshelf in your room. Why not read about the great unknown from the comfort of your living room? You grab a mug of hot chocolate, sit in your comfy cotton recliner, and begin your expedition to space. There’s only one problem. The absolute peace and serenity you were just feeling immediately leaves your body faster than a shuttle sent to Mars. Why? As you begin to read the book, scientific terms you had never heard before and concepts that seem more scholarly than thought provoking and exciting fill the pages. Instead of learning more about space, you’re getting lost in an endless stream of unknowingness and confusion. You no longer feel relaxed, as the book seems more like a textbook and you a student. And just like that, your interest in a space expedition dwindles away.
. The line between informing readers and overwhelming them is blurred. Passionate writers sometimes forget who their audience is and speak as if they are talking to a colleague, not someone who may have no prior knowledge on whatever the topic being written is. When a casual reader begins a book that is filled with scientific information and words they have never heard, they often lose interest, as they have no connection to the topic. It is important for informative and persuasive writing to appeal to emotion, not just facts. When a reader is met with big words they have never heard before with no clear definition, they focus on what the author is trying to say, readers concentrate on how they say it, trying to understand the big words being thrown their way. Because of this, the average reader may be hesitant to crack the spine of a scientific non-fiction novel. However, there are some writers who seamlessly blend narrative and informative writing, creating a beautiful story that leaves readers thinking. Perhaps the greatest example of this magic is Silent Spring by Rachel Carson.
The 1962 book explores climate issues, specifically relating to pesticides, in a way that no other media had before. Hailed as the book that sparked a generation of activists, Silent Spring holds as much relevance today as it did upon its release. Author of the book and marine biologist Rachel Carson presents the scary to read truth about the environment in a simple and understanding way, which allows readers of all backgrounds to grasp the words she’s saying. Opening the book with a fable about an American town where “… all life seemed to live in harmony with its surroundings” (Carson 1). This opening tone is beautiful and peaceful, but does not last long, as Carson goes on to break it and describe the environmental destruction of the town and how “The people had done it themselves” (Carson 3). From this drastic point on, Silent Spring becomes a highly informative and eye-opening non-fiction that keeps readers turning the page.
Carson captures readers’ attention as early as the first page. To anyone who might have read the back of the book, the opening fable may be surprising. Despite being advertised as an informative book on climate change, the first chapter feels like the perfect opening to a fairy tale that takes place in a “…laurel, viburnum, and alder…” land (Carson 1). Right off the bat, this leaves readers with a warm and fuzzy feeling. They picture this beautiful place and long to experience its beauty. However, this beauty is soon destroyed and this once perfect land becomes a “… shadow of death…” due to the climate crisis and more specifically, the use of pesticides. (Carson 2). In doing this, Carson is perfectly utilizing pathos, the emotion of a piece. As the introduction continues, readers begin to realize that their town, and even worse, their world, can too succumb to the lethal effects of climate change. By opening the book with this fable, Carson sparks interest and personal connection in readers, urging them to read more and truly understand the danger of climate change and how to stop it. Even though the book goes on to comment on and criticize the usage of pesticides by giving a robust and informative history lesson as well as breaking down chemical makeups and how they affect nature, Carson does not forget to simplify and put the climate crisis in more digestible terms.
Everybody, even those who are uninformed or do not care about the climate crisis, recognize the power and beauty of nature. When life gets crazy, escaping into the natural world re-energizes and calms you. Carson is aware of this universal feeling and brilliantly writes about it in hopes of sparking the average reader’s passion. Taking a break from the scientific history and formulas, Carson reminds readers of “… the early mornings [that] are strangely silent where once they were filled with the beauty of bird song.” (Carson 103). Hearing this makes anyone stop and think, even those who might have felt lost in the facts that filled the previous chapters. The thought of innocent morning birds that grace us all with their songs, slowly disappearing is tragic and makes one want to fight to keep the beauty of nature intact. Carson is again tapping into emotion and magically combining the tragic truth backed by science with easier to read and comprehend words.
In perhaps the greatest example of Carson seamlessly combining ethos and pathos in one sentence is when she brings the dangers of pesticides directly to the dinner table. Catching the attention of those who may be hesitant about the validity behind environmental issues, Carson reminds readers that “…every meal we eat carries its load of chlorinated hydrocarbons is the inevitable consequence of the almost universal spraying or dusting of agricultural crops with these poisons” (Carson 183). In this one passage alone, Carson delivers a one, two punch. Readers are hit with the harsh reality that there are dangerous chemicals in the foods we eat and are provided with a real world example of the chemicals she had just described in great detail. This leaves a knot in your stomach and a thought in your head, the goal of any writer trying to inform you about a topic they are passionate about.
An important aspect of the book to note is that Carson does not dumb down nor undermine the danger of climate change with her use of more narrative and emotional writing. It is clear that Carson knows almost everything there is to know about pesticides, especially in the chapter entitled “Deadly Elixirs” where she chemically breaks down “Modern insecticides” in much detail. At the time of its release, Silent Spring is one of few books on climate change that are available to the public. Nearly sixty years later, the book is still in print. This is a testament not only to the content of Carson’s work, but how she writes about it. Because Silent Spring is written in a more of a narrative form as opposed to a lengthy dissertation, people who may have never even thought about environmental issues picked it up and learned something new. For this reason, Carson and the book are credited with sparking the climate change fight amongst the general public. Without her groundbreaking writing, the environmental conversation in the 1960s may have been one only opened to the smartest of scientists. Rachel Carson and Silent Spring offers everybody a seat at the table.
