A Fable for Tomorrow by Rachel Carson

Rachel Carson begins this piece of Silent Spring by describing the ideal town where "all life seemed to live in harmony with its surroundings." There were birds, and barns, and barking foxes. Everything was perfect. All the farms, and orchards were prosperous, and full of life. This is the way it has been since the very first day it came into being. 


She then proceeds to tell the tale of the blight that took out the whole town. "Everywhere was a shadow of death." She shows us a chilling scene where everything is either dead or dying. People whisper around town, because no one, not even the doctors know what is going on. the complete destruction of this perfect nature, is something that is saddening, yet at the same time, isn't something that we can help. Unlike many of the other things that we have read this semester, this one isn't our fault. Gerard Manley Hopkins, and William Wordsworth talk about how mankind ruins nature, and doesn't appreciate nature. Thoreau, and Emerson both encourage spending time in nature. Carson, however, has portrayed the disease that has covered the land, as the destroyer. But, she does what Hopkins, and Wordsworth have both done--blames the people. "No witchcraft, no enemy action had silenced the rebirth of new life in this stricken world. The people had done it themselves." The people took over this beautiful land, and destroyed it. 


She finishes with a final paragraph about what she has just described. "This town does not actually exist, but it might easily have a thousand counterparts in America or elsewhere in the world. I know of no community that has experienced all the misfortunes I describe. Yet every one of these disasters has actually happened somewhere, and many real communities have already suffered a substantial number of them. A grim specter has crept upon us almost unnoticed, and this imagined tragedy may easily become a stark reality we all shall know." This has happened in America. The story is of a made up town, but there are thousands of places just like it in the United States. This has gradually gotten out of hand, and now the time has come for us to re-write the story.