This thought-provoking play follows scientist and nature writer Rachel Carson in her battle to expose the truth about the pesticide DDT.
Learning Objective: to identify text evidence that supports key ideas in a story
SCENE 1
A cottage in Maine, 1961
ALFRED EISENSTAEDT/THE LIFE PICTURE COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES
Rachel Carson
N1: The lights come up on Rachel Carson. She sits in a big bed, the covers drawn up around her.
N2: Her eyelids droop as she tries to read a report.
N3: Jeanne Davis walks in carrying a tray of food.
Davis: You can’t keep this up, Rachel. You need rest.
Carson: I am fine.
Davis (gently): You have cancer, Rachel.
Carson (sighing): I know. I just . . .
Davis: Let me help you.
N1: Jeanne sets the tray down and sits on the bed.
Davis (pointing at some papers): What are these?
Carson: An old colleague of mine at the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries sent them—in secret. They are studies from decades ago that show DDT is harmful.
Davis: There is a lot of talk about your book already.
Carson: I know. And The New Yorker magazine is going to run some excerpts.
Davis: I have a feeling your book is going to cause quite a storm. Are you sure you can manage all this?
Carson: I won’t rest until my book is done, Jeanne. I can’t. There is too much at stake. If I do nothing more in my life, I must tell this story.
Davis: Then I will do everything I can to help you.
SCENE 2
A bird sanctuary in Massachusetts, 1957
N2: It is four years earlier. Olga and Stuart Huckins sip iced tea on their porch.
N3: Surrounding their house is a thick green forest.
N1: Birds chirp as a warm breeze gently rustles the trees.
N2: Suddenly, a loud whirring noise shatters the peaceful scene.
Olga: What is that?
Stuart (pointing): Look there.
N3: They watch a plane fly over their land. It releases a spray that settles over the woods and marshes of their bird sanctuary.
Olga: That plane is spraying DDT again!
Stuart: It’s just killing the mosquitoes.
N1: The Huckinses walk around their property.
N2: Suddenly, Olga gasps.
N3: Five songbirds lie on the ground—dead.
Olga: These birds were poisoned.
Stuart: Something is terribly wrong.
N1: There is a thud.
N2: A robin drops from a tree branch above them. Its bill gapes open. Its splayed claws are drawn up in agony.
Olga (kneeling down): What a horrible death.
Stuart: What can we do about this?
Olga: I’m going to write my friend Rachel.
Stuart: The nature writer?
Olga: Yes. She knows people in Washington, D.C. Maybe she can help us.
SCENE 3
Rachel Carson’s home in Maryland, 1957
N3: The lights come up on Rachel Carson sitting at a small desk strewn with open letters.
N1: She picks up a letter and reads.
Olga (voice): My dear Rachel, I do not know what to do. The birds in our sanctuary are dying because the state of Massachusetts is spraying DDT on our property—and without our consent. Our water is contaminated too.
N2: Rachel picks up another letter and reads, her expression growing more troubled.
Miss Benson (voice): My horse drank from a trough after DDT was sprayed on my farm. She died hours later.
N3: Rachel picks up another letter, shaking her head.
Mr. Murphy (voice): My ducklings are hatching with deformities. Many do not hatch at all. And my piglets . . .
N1: Rachel picks up the phone and dials.
Carson: Mr. Murphy? This is Rachel Carson. (listening) Yes. I’d like to visit your farm—(listening) Next week? Great. (listening) OK, Mr. Murphy. I will see you soon.
SCENE 4
Mr. Murphy’s farm in Pennsylvania, the following week
N2: Rachel stands outside a pigpen with Mr. Murphy.
Murphy: Thank you for coming. I’ve read your articles in The New Yorker, and I thought you could help.
Carson: You were right to contact me.
Murphy: What you are about to see will upset you.
Carson: Mr. Murphy, I am here to discover the truth.
N3: Mr. Murphy leads Rachel inside his pigpen. Seven newborn piglets lie still next to their mother.
Murphy: The entire litter was born dead.
Carson: How long has this been happening?
Murphy: Nine months ago, our farm was sprayed with DDT. Since then, not one pig has been born alive.
Carson: I am going to do something about this.
SALLY EDELSTEIN COLLAGE
MIRACLE CHEMICAL?
DDT was hailed as a hero for how effectively it killed bugs—and mosquitoes in particular. DDT was sprayed from planes, blanketing large areas of land (see photo at right). Trucks rolled through towns and fogged the streets with DDT spray. Advertisers encouraged families to coat their windows and walls with DDT products to keep bugs from getting into their homes. Why were people so excited about DDT? What didn’t they know?
SCENE 5
Rachel’s hotel room, that night
N1: Rachel listens to the radio in her hotel room. A commercial comes on.
Actor 1: Today, everyone can enjoy comfort, health, and safety through the insect-killing powers of DDT.
Actor 2: Bigger vegetables, juicier fruits—all free from unsightly worms.
Actor 1: Your cows will produce 20 percent more delicious milk . . .
Actor 2: . . . and your steers will gain 50 pounds when you get rid of pests with . . .
Actors 1 & 2 (in unison): . . . our DDT products!
N2: Rachel turns off the radio.
SCENE 6
Rachel’s house in Maryland, 1960
N3: Three years have passed. Rachel has immersed herself in research, speaking to doctors, bird and insect experts, scientists, and farmers.
Scientist 1: In places where pesticides are sprayed heavily, large numbers of birds are dying. The birds eat the poisoned insects and get poisoned themselves.
Scientist 2: DDT gets into the food supply, and can make people sick.
Scientist 3: DDT could be causing cancer in animals.
N1: Rachel sits at her desk writing.
N2: The phone rings. It is Rachel’s literary agent.
Marie Rodelle: Good news! I have a publisher for your book.
Carson: That’s great, Marie. But I am afraid this story is going to be more terrible than I imagined. DDT is meant to kill pests, but it affects our entire ecosystem.
Rodelle: You’ve always said that nature is interconnected.
Carson: I had such a haunting nightmare last night.
Rodelle: What was it?
Carson: Picture an ordinary American town on the first day of spring— except there are no chirping birds, no flowers or bushes or trees. No people and no children. Nothing lives. The stores are empty. The playgrounds are empty. The streams and rivers have no fish. Everything is quiet. Utter silence. Dead silence. A silent spring.
Rodelle: A silent spring. (quietly) I think you have your title.
SCENE 7
A boardroom, 1962
N3: Executives from chemical companies sit at a big table. Sunlight streams through the windows, but the mood is anything but sunny.
Executive 1: Rachel Carson will destroy us.
Dr. Robert White-Stevens: She isn’t even a scientist.
Executive 2: She did train as a marine biologist. And her book Silent Spring is thoroughly researched.
White-Stevens: Don’t you understand that she’s a fanatic? Your businesses will be ruined. She wants to ban ALL pesticides.
Executive 3: She doesn’t say that. She says we should study the long-term effects before using pesticides indiscriminately.
White-Stevens: Whose side are you on? She’s making us out to be murderers. What would the world be like without pesticides?
Executive 1: We’d be back in the Dark Ages, with bugs and disease ruling the Earth.
White-Stevens: We must stop her.
SCENE 8
Washington, D.C., 1963
N1: Rachel Carson walks up the steps of the U.S. Capitol, surrounded by reporters. Jeanne Davis stands beside her.
N2: Few people know Rachel has cancer. In spite of her illness, she seems strong.
Reporter 1: Miss Carson! What do you say about the chemical industry calling you a peddler of fear and a hysteric?
Carson: My research speaks for itself.
Reporter 2: Is it true you’re being sued?
Carson: I’ve been threatened with lawsuits.
Reporter 3: Silent Spring is a best-seller. Are you surprised?
Carson: It is my hope that my book will inspire us to think differently about nature.
Reporter 1: What do you mean?
Carson: We are part of nature, so a war against nature is inevitably a war against ourselves.
Reporter 2: Miss Carson—
Davis: That will be enough for now, folks. Miss Carson must be going.
N3: Inside, Rachel sits at a table, facing a group of senators. She spreads her reports neatly in front of her.
Senator Ribicoff: Thank you for joining us, Miss Carson. You have written much about the dangers of chemical pesticides, and we are all alarmed. What do you think we should do to deal with this problem?
Carson: Stop spraying pesticides over large areas, and research other ways to control pests. But more than that, we need a way to protect the American people from chemical hazards.
Ribicoff: By chemical hazards, you mean the aerial spraying of DDT?
Carson: Precisely. Is it not a basic human right for every citizen to be safe in his home from poisons applied by others?
N1: The hearing continues, and Rachel carefully answers each question put to her.
Ribicoff: Thank you, Miss Carson. Your testimony today is greatly valued.
EPILOGUE
N2: The characters return to the stage to address the audience directly. Behind them, a small group slowly carries a coffin.
Executive 1: The chemical companies tried to discredit Rachel Carson.
Executive 2: But our efforts backfired.
Executive 3: We ended up generating publicity for Rachel’s book, Silent Spring.
Olga: Rachel was flooded with supportive letters from readers.
Stuart: Many people in the scientific community stood behind her.
Mr. Murphy: Americans began taking steps to make sure that pesticides were used more carefully in their communities.
Miss Benson: President John F. Kennedy read Silent Spring and ordered his science committee to investigate Rachel’s claims.
Olga: In 1972, DDT was banned in the U.S.
Davis: But Rachel did not live to see the impact her book would have on the world.
Stuart: She died on April 14, 1964, less than two years after her book was published.
Ribicoff: Her legacy lives on through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which was formed in 1970. The EPA’s mission is to protect human health and make sure our air, water, and land are safe . . .
Carson (just her voice): . . . and to make sure that no spring is ever silent.
This play was originally published in the April 2017 issue.
As a class, read this New York Times book review of Silent Spring. Ask students what the article reveals about how the public reacted to the ideas presented in Silent Spring.
As a class, watch this clip of a Walter Cronkite interview with Rachel Carson. Ask students what point Carson is making about the human impact on the environment.
As a class, listen to and read this moving poem about the power of protest. As a class, discuss the themes presented in the poem and how they relate to Carson and her crusade against DDT.
Have students read this excerpt from Silent Spring, which appeared in the June 16, 1962 issue of The New Yorker. Ask: Why does Carson tell readers about the water in Clear Lake, California? What does this example tell you about how nature works?
EXTENSION ACTIVITY!
“As much as any book can, ‘Silent Spring’ changed the world by describing it.”
-Elizabeth Kolbert
Write or post this quote on a whiteboard. In small groups, have students discuss what Kolbert means. As a class, discuss whether Kolbert was right. Students should draw on evidence from both the short read, “When Mosquitoes Were Killers in America,” and the play.
1. PREPARING TO READ
2. READING THE PLAY (30 minutes)
3. SKILL BUILDING
Explain why the U.S. should create Rachel Carson Day—a national holiday to celebrate her legacy. Your entry can be in the form of an essay, a video, a slideshow, or a poem
Choose two adjectives that describe Rachel Carson. Explain your choices, using details from the play to support your ideas.
In Scene 8, Rachel Carson says, “We are part of nature, so a war against nature is inevitably a war against ourselves.” Explain what she means and how this idea applies to the use of DDT.
Literature Connection: Classic stories about the relationship between humans and the environment
Hoot
by Carl Hiaasen (novel)
The Race to Save the Lord God Bird
by John Boyne (novel)
Silent Spring
by Rachel Carson (nonfiction)
