Silent Spring, Fable for Tomorrow, Rachel Carson, Apocalyptic Fiction

This post was developed and authored by Megan Hastings

CITATION

  • Silent Spring, Fable for Tomorrow, Rachel Carson
  • Houghton Mifflin Company, September 27, 1962

SUMMARY

  • This particular story begins with the description of a beautiful and prosperous town, with colorful fields, trees, and plentiful vegetation. Everything the citizens need or want they have, and they appreciate the abundance of nature that lies in their town. Many visitors come to fish and enjoy the natural beauty of this community. But quickly the story takes a depressing turn into darkness and despair and the town faces a series of unfortunate events. The livestock perishes and fall ill, families start to pass away suddenly, unexplained deaths increase, doctors are finding new illnesses and have trouble helping their patients, and everything becomes lifeless. The fish die and the visitors stop coming. “It was a spring without voices. On the mornings that had once throbbed with the dawn chorus of robins, catbirds, doves, jays, wrens, and scores of other bird voices there was now no sound; only silence lay over the fields and woods and marsh” (Carson, page 2). Carson speaks of an “evil spell” that seemed to have been cast upon the town, changing it to an apocalyptic setting. This exact town does not exist, but towns around the world experience these hardships all of the time. “The people had done it to themselves” (Carson, page 3). The message that the people had done it to themselves sends a clear and strong message that we need to be doing something different in order to preserve the beauty of our society. This story shows the hardships that one town faces, but heavily relates to troubles all around the world.

TEACHING RESOURCES

  • Lerner, Robert E. “Apocalyptic Literature.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/art/apocalyptic-literature. In this source, apocalyptic literature is explained which is the main idea of the primary piece of work, Silent Spring. It gives the origin and reasoning behind writings with such a tone and tells about the earliest apocalypses written by Jewish people. Sometimes a tone like this is overwhelmingly depressing and scary, but it has been around since around 200BCE and has told stories for many years. The apocalyptic genre had disappeared after the Middle Ages but is making a comeback today in modern literary works. This website gives the example of the American bestseller The Late Great Planet Earth which was written in 1970 by Hal Lindsey. Lindsey was a preacher in the Protestant faith that put forward this idea and genre and it became very popular. In Silent Spring, it is unsettling to read about the hardships that fall upon the town, and it was something that I had never read before. This source explains how apocalyptic writing has evolved and come about in our own world. Although Silent Spring is fiction, it can demand the reader to make connections to their own world and history. The history of this type of reading is helpful in understanding the reason people write in this way and love it and unlike the third source, this one explains in great detail the history of apocalyptic fiction across many different cultures for many years.
  • Lear, Linda. “Silent Spring.” Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, www.rachelcarson.org/SilentSpring.aspx. This site further explains the text of Silent Spring and Carson’s intentions behind writing it. She tried to take the struggles of real communities all around the world that were exposed to the chemical compound Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, DDT, which had damaged the environment as well as the beings who inhabited it. This is an insecticide that has the potential to severely harm the environment and this book is portraying what would happen if the use of DDT continued. In 1972, DDT was actually banned and deemed a probable human carcinogen in the U.S. and by international authorities. Silent Spring had become such a popular fable that John F. Kennedy even read it and it became an instant best-seller. Carson believed that humans were misusing many kinds of chemical pesticides and that humans were to see the effects shortly if they did not have pesticide use under control. She argues that the users of DDT especially might not know the harm to the biome when they use it. Her book inspired a movement that started years later after the publishing of it, and it was successful at conveying the message that she hoped it would deliver.
  • MasterClass Staff. “What Is Apocalyptic And Post-Apocalyptic Fiction? – 2021.” MasterClass, MasterClass, 8 Nov. 2020, www.masterclass.com/articles/what-is-apocalyptic-and-post-apocalyptic-fiction#7-common-themes-in-apocalyptic-fiction. This source provides a more in-depth review and explanation of apocalyptic writing. The importance of understanding and appreciating this genre will help the readers of Silent Spring understand the message that Carson is giving. Why such a dark tone? Why so unsettling and unhappy? This site gives key information on why people write this way, and why it is important sometimes to do so. In Silent Spring, Carson clearly is trying to tell the reader that they are doomed by giving an example of a town that actually is. It shows the reader their potential future if things do not change. Many different religions such as Christianity, Islam, and Judaism have stories of their people reaching “the end.” This source also lists the seven common themes that appear in apocalyptic fiction which include climate change, nuclear holocaust, medical pandemic, the rise of sentient robots, the destruction of a major city, endless war, and a fascist government engaged in mind control. These all would lead to “mass unrest, societal breakdown, and widespread death” (Masterclass, 2021). In silent spring, we see the theme of climate change as the environment starts to dwindle and suffer.

LITERARY ANALYSIS

  • This vivid piece of apocalyptic fiction is extremely straightforward in the troubles that the town faces, and that humans have done this terrible thing to themselves. The setting of this piece is very important because it relates closely to the real world and hits very close to home. Nothing in this story is very far-fetched because all of the events that occur, occur in our own world. It clearly views the town in two different ways, one when it was alive and prosperous, and two when it was damaged and dark. The plot starts with a perfect little town and it suddenly takes a turn to where evil and darkness consume it. This contrast sets up the tone of the story which creates the reader to react, making them feel sad for what has happened to the town. Carson does not go right out and announce what has happened to the town, other than an evil spell being cast upon it, figuratively. In the second source listed, it is explained further that insecticide was the root cause of the despair in the town. The message in this story is that humans should appreciate nature in all of its beauty, and while taking advantage of it might be easy, when it is all gone there will be nothing left and it will not go unnoticed. The theme is that nature needs to be treated more gently or else many of the bad things the reader learns of in this story may happen to us on Earth. Humans have neglected and destroyed nature for long enough, and now it is time to stop and help it heal. This story does a great job of creating an apocalyptic tone/style that will surely cause the reader to care about environmentalism after they have finished reading it.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  • Is the genre of apocalyptic fiction dangerous? Can it be misleading or misunderstood? Could it cause false worry or stress? What is your view of apocalyptic fiction? Does your opinion change depending on the story?
  • How does the story Silent Spring encourage care for the environment when it is such a dark and dreary story? Is the message more negative or positive?
  • How do you as the reader feel after reading Silent Spring? Rachel Carson accuses the humans of doing the damage, do you feel as if you have caused any significant damage to the environment? What might this kind of story provoke you to do about the dwindling environment?