Question

Which excerpt from Silent Spring best appeals to readers’ pathos?

Answer 1

The section that states "this imagined tragedy may easily become a stark reality we shall know" is the best line

Answer 2

Answer:

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.

Explanation:

Pathos refers to an appeal to emotion. This is one of the three most common rhetorical appeals, the other ones being ethos and logos. In this case, the author uses pathos in the last sentence, as she uses extremely negative and hopeless words to describe the future. The use of words like "grim specter," "imagined tragedy" and "stark reality" is meant to appeal to the readers' emotions and in this way make the argument more persuasive.