THE MARGINAL WORLD RACHEL CARSON RACHEL CARSON Rachel

THE MARGINAL WORLD RACHEL CARSON

RACHEL CARSON --Rachel Carson, writer, scientist, and ecologist, grew up simply in the rural river town of Springdale, Pennsylvania. --She was hired by the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries to write radio scripts during the Depression and supplemented her income writing feature articles on natural history for the Baltimore Sun. She began a fifteen-year career in the federal service as a scientist and editor in 1936 and rose to become Editor-in. Chief of all publications for the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

RACHEL CARSON --Disturbed by the use of synthetic chemical pesticides after World War II, Carson reluctantly changed her focus in order to warn the public about the long term effects of misusing pesticides. In Silent Spring (1962) she challenged the practices of agricultural scientists and the government, and called for a change in the way humankind viewed the natural world. --Carson was attacked by the chemical industry and some in government as an alarmist, but courageously spoke out to remind us that we are a vulnerable part of the natural world subject to the same damage as the rest of the ecosystem. Rachel Carson died in 1964 after a long battle against breast cancer. Her witness for the beauty and integrity of life continues to inspire new generations to protect the living world and all its creatures.

THE MARGINAL WORLD

THE MARGINAL WORLD • Author’s Purpose: -to inform -to explain -to persuade -to describe -to entertain

THE MARGINAL WORLD • 1. “In this difficult world of the shore, life displays its enormous toughness and vitality by occupying almost every conceivable niche. ” *What is her purpose for this statement?

THE MARGINAL WORLD --to inform, to explain, to persuade She is attempting to persuade the reader to think about the ocean life and recognize their toughness, based on the fact that they are able to not only survive but take up every possible space.

THE MARGINAL WORLD 2. “The shore is an ancient world, for as long as there has been an earth and sea there has been this place of the meeting of land water. ” *What is her purpose for this statement?

THE MARGINAL WORLD --to explain, to persuade She is both persuading and explaining to the reader the notion that the shore is an ancient place. This longevity elevates the shore as an almost spiritual place for Carson.

EVERYTHING IS AN ARGUMENT! THE GLORY OF A LITERATURE CLASS

THE MARGINAL WORLD Thesis: “I have seen hundreds of ghost crabs in other settings, but suddenly I was filled with the odd sensation that for the first time I knew the creature in its own world—that I understood, as never before, the essence of being. ”

THE MARGINAL WORLD Thesis: “I have seen hundreds of ghost crabs in other settings, but suddenly I was filled with the odd sensation that for the first time I knew the creature in its own world—that I understood, as never before, the essence of being. ”

AMBIGUOUS PRONOUNS AVOID THEM AT ALL COSTS!

AMBIGUITY OR AMBIGUOUS • am·bi·gu·i·ty (noun) • uncertainty or inexactness of meaning in language. ***synonyms: vagueness, obscurity, abstruseness, doubtfulness, uncertainty

AMBIGUOUS PRONOUNS

TEST REVIEW Thursday • “Occupation Conductorette” • “Marian Anderson…” • Nonfiction narrative or Creative nonfiction • Foreshadowing, irony • Ambiguous pronouns Friday • “Tepeyac” • Comparing literary styles (Tepeyac & Marian Anderson) • “The Marginal World” • Vocabulary #3 • Ambiguous pronouns