The Obligation to Endure

The primary aim of initiating an argument is to convince and persuade the audience to whom the argument is directed to with the goal of making them understand their topic while at the same time owe them to support their ideas. It is therefore for the urge of convincing and obtaining support that makes the person present concrete facts as proof to their audience that their argument is not an opinionated debate. Rachel Carson in her article ‘The Obligation to Endure’ (Carson, 2014) can be termed as one of the greatest persuasive essays of the year the 1950s due to her explicit use of the scientific facts as well as explanations in the presentation of her argument. Through her skillful presentation of the facts against pesticides, her audience was hugely convinced about the effects and dangers of the use of the harmful DDT that led to the eventual banning on the use of the pesticide. Rachel presents various facts in her argument to which she aimed at persuading her audience to which were a success to her motive of writing the essay.

Rachel Carson presents a variety of facts concerning pesticides throughout her writing, and besides she has also managed to have the scientific facts as well as their explanation relating perfecting to each other, and eventually introducing her audience to another augment. To begin with, Rachel Carson explains how the pesticides tend to be harmful to the environment, and then she goes ahead to demonstrate how the use of the dreadful pesticides is detrimental to the environment. And finally, she states of the assumption and reasoning that the use of pesticides is deemed to be necessary to the maintenance of the farm production is falsely (pg. 86). Rachel initiates her argument with a scientific fact regarding how pesticides contain certain chemicals to which contribute to the pollution of the environment as well as the living creatures in a manner to which cannot be revoked. She describes the pollutants as being evil as a way to portray the pesticide negatively, having an implication that the pesticides are causing more harm than good and therefore intrigues the reader of work as to whether the use of the pesticides is essential.

After making the reader question the use of the pesticide, she provides an answer by referring to Charles Darwin’s principle of natural selection where she proves that the use of the pesticides is unnecessary. She terms the use being useless because with the ability of the pests being able to mutate, there arises the need for the development of new insecticides and through this, she relates to the continued development of new pesticides as being useless for the control of the pest problem. After answering the question, she changes her tone to bring into light the real problem of crop production, where she states that ‘yet is our real problem not one of overproduction?’(pg. 86) as the creation of more pesticides is supposedly necessary for all the production of the crops. However, Rachel goes ahead and points out that due to the overproduction, a majority of the American citizens were required to pay over a billion dollars to cover the cost. Therefore, it is evident that Rachel Carson has done a lot of research before the initiation of her argument and thus proving she has the basis of her arguments. Through the skillful connection of the of the scientific facts, Rachel Carson assures her readers that she has done enough research through the provision of a variety of counts that are attributed to be reliable evidence.

In the article ‘The Obligation to Endure,’ Rachel has made it possible for her readers to understand her arguments by stating her facts in a manner that is not complex. She digs into details with her facts and explanations while at the same time compelling her readers with keywords and phrases to attract her audience on her side of the argument. For example, “In this now universal contamination of the environment, chemicals are the sinister and little-recognized partners of radiation in changing the very nature of the world- the very nature of its life … chemicals sprayed on croplands or forests or gardens lie long in the soil, entering into living organisms, passing from one to another in a chain of poisoning and death” (pg. 84). She argues her point through first describing the chemicals as being sinister, grabbing the reader’s attention and then presents her facts in a more straightforward manner such that the readers can understand and get informed.

From the article, Rachel begins a new major point in her essay that precedes a fact that is aimed at strengthening her argument. On page 87, “The devotion of immense acreages to a single crop ….set(s) the stage for explosive increase in specific insect population”, here she refers to the incident in history where most of the towns were infected disease that was transmitted by beetles and therefore acts as a proof to her readers. From the skillful presentation of the arguments by Rachel, it leaves the audience with no choice but instead conforms to her argument as the evidence provided is solid and it is almost impossible for a person or the reader to argue against it. Rachel decides to use the scientific facts and explanations rather than using her statements that are opinionated according to her views so that her argument would be valid and successful and therefore she is compelled to present a compelling argument to which can be backed up by substantial evidence and not just meaningless statements. Rachel Carson has been able to successfully persuade her audience through her strong argument that is backed up by evidence to which makes the reader connect easily and therefore compels the reader to agree with her ideas.