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TMA 01. How the author Rachel Carson uses language to convey changes in mood and meaning.

A Fable for tomorrow.
The author has coupled together two very opposite words in the title. Fable in the dictionary means a short story, a folk tale or fiction, and usually refers to the past. However the word tomorrow clearly means the future, demonstrating that the author is looking to show the reader that you never know what the future might hold, and although some things might not be factual at this precise moment in time, it might not be long before they will be.

In the first extract the author conveys an image of a beautiful town in the heart of America. The authors tone is soft and soothing and sends the reader on a sensory journey; feelings are invoked by colours, sounds and natural objects such as fields, farms, wildflowers and hillsides. The town’s beauty is admired by both locals and travellers all year around (“even in winter the town roadsides were a place of beauty”). Everyone lives in harmony; man, animals and nature. The author also conveys a feeling of peace and serenity with her description of the seasons ( “in spring, white clouds of bloom drifted above the green fields”),( “in autumn, oak and maple birch set up a blaze of colour”).


In the second extract the author’s mood and tone change drastically
(“then a strange blight has crept upon us”) and her words are now contrasted with images of death and destruction (“the birds can no longer fly”) and (“flocks of chicken are swept away”). She invokes the reader with fear and disbelieve that the once beautiful, fertile town has so suddenly and inexplicably started to change. Life and beauty unnaturally begins to fade and die. She blames the tragedies on some supernatural force (“some evil spell has settled on the community”), implying that even the town doctors seem to be powerless against this mysterious, unstoppable force that spares no one....