Essay - Rachel Carson She Was Belittled as an Anti-humanitarian, Nicknamed a...

Rachel Carson

She was belittled as an anti-humanitarian, nicknamed a priestess of nature, and dismissed as a hysterical woman (Rachel pp). The director ***** the New Jersey Department of Agriculture once remarked that she inspired a "vociferous, misinformed group of nature-balancing, organic gardening, bird-loving, unreasonable citizenry" (Rachael pp). "I thought ***** was a spinster. What's she so worried about genetics for" quipped an ********** of the Federal Pest Control Review Board while ridiculing her concern about genetic mutations caused by the use of pesticides (Rachel pp). A native Pennsylvanian, Rachel ***** had provoked these venomous ***** vengeful reactions ***** writing a book called "Silent Spring," a book th*****t ***** destined to irrevocably change the course of world history (***** *****).

Rachel Louise Carson was born on May 27, 1907 in Spr*****gdale, Pennsylvania ***** sixty-five acres her fa*****r Robert Warden Carson, an aspiring real estate developer had purchased in speculation that Spr*****gdale would become a burgeoning steel city (Rachel pp). However, when Pittsburgh looked the ot***** way, Rachel ***** left free to spend her childhood roaming the undeveloped and unspoiled countryside (Rachel pp). Rachel mother, Maria McLean Carson, who had been a teacher until her marriage in 1896, encouraged ***** daughter's exploration of the woods and meadows surrounding their farmho***** and instilled in Rachel her own love ***** nature ***** fierce independence (Rachel pp). Maria also indulged ***** daughter's love of books and often read aloud to her even as a young child (R*****chel pp). Rachel began writing and submitting stories to the children's magazine, St. Nicholas, and at the age of ten, won the *****'s Silver Badge, a ten dollar prize (Rachel pp).

Carson enrolled in ***** ***** College for Women, now Ch*****ham College, ***** ***** with a hundred doll*****r scholarship, far from the one thousand dollars needed to finance a single year of tuition and expenses (Rachel pp). When Carson sought help from the college president ***** dean, the women were so impressed with intelligence and dedication that they lobbied friends ***** personal loads to cover the remaining fees, and *****tually Carson sold a portion of her family's land to settle the debt (Rachel pp).

Majoring in English, Carson cont*****ued to write and submit articles and ***** for the *****'s newspaper and literary magazine, however, when she was forced ***** take a two-semester science requirement, Biology ***** Mary Skinker renewed ********** love nature by conducting classes in the wilderness of Cook State Forest and hiking amid the forest, streams, and wildlife near ***** interurban rail***** between Pittsburgh and Butler (Rachel *****). Although considered an inappropriate avenue for a woman, Carson changed ***** major to zoology and graduated magna cum laude in 1928 (Rachel pp). After graduation, she spent six weeks at the Marine Biological Labor*****ory at Wood Hole, Massachusetts and then began to work on her master's thesis at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore (***** pp). ***** Carson family moved with Rachel to a house near the Chesapeake Bay and despite a full one-year scholarship, Rachel worked throughout gradu*****e