In the second paragraph of “The Marginal World”, Rachel Carson goes into great detail describing the dual nature of the intertidal zone. She describes the two states of the shoreline when she says, “On the ebb of the tide, it knows the harsh extremes of the land world, being exposed to heat and cold, to wind, to rain and drying sun. On the flood side, it is a water world, returning briefly to the relative stability of the open sea.” By understanding the environment of the intertidal zone, the audience is able to see the reasons behind Carson’s observations about the creatures one could find. Later in the essay, her descriptions are about the creatures’ adaptations to the harshness of the environment. For example, some have shells, while others burrow underground. This can only be fully taken in if the audience already has an understanding of how the environment functions, and the image she provides allows the reader to picture this place. This simple contrast between the two states of the intertidal zone establishes an image on which the rest of the essay depends.
This imagery is also used in this paragraph to demonstrate Carson’s understanding of the shoreline. Oddly, the image she gives depicts the land as harsh and chaotic and the ocean as calm and stable which is the opposite of what readers would expect. Typically, the crashing of waves seems chaotic in comparison to the stability of the land, but Carson puts forth her different view in this paragraph. By placing these observations near the beginning of the essay, the stage is set for what is to come, and Carson’s view of the shoreline’s dual nature is established early. Now the author is able to reference this description later in the essay to support her arguments without confusing the audience.
Works Cited
Carson, Rachel. “The Marginal World.” The Edge of the Sea, Houghton Mifflin Company,
1955, pp. 1-7.
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