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The most significant theme in John Hersey’s book “Hiroshima” are the long- term effects of war, confusion about what happened, long term mental and physical scars, short term mental and physical scars, and people being killed.
The confusing things after the A-bomb was dropped on Hiroshima where that the city had been wiped out, all means of communication where gone, all the roads and street signes where wiped out, destroyed or blocked by collapsed buildings “…saw through the darkness that all the houses in her neighbourhood had collapsed.”1 People not knowing what had happened as there had been no siting of a plane before the bomb was dropped, not being sure if a bomb or a fire had caused all the damage “The Americans are dropping gasoline. They’re going to set fire to us!”, and not knowing what the site effects of the bomb would be on the people and land such as acid rain “The drops grew abnormally large.”2
The long-term mental and physical scars left on the people of Hiroshima would have been not knowing what happened to family members, and friends who where missing and still are missing to this day, “You’ve go to find him”3, and “….search for him.”4 The physical scars left on the people of Hiroshima after the bombing are, organ damage, disease, accelerated aging, eye brows burnt off and skin damaged on faces and hands. People forgetting what Americans did to Japanese civilians, by dropping that awful thing, “He was slowing a bit. His memory, like the world’s was gettin...
The book “Hiroshima,” written by John Hersey is an alluring piece coupled with an underlining, mind grabbing message. The book is a biographical text about the lives of six people: Miss Sasaki, Dr. Fujii, Mrs. Nakamura, Father Kleinsorge, Dr. Sasaki, and Rev. Tanimoto, in Hiroshima, Japan. It speaks of these aforementioned individuals’ lives, following the dropping of the world’s first atomic bomb on 06 Aug 1945, and how it radically changed them, forever. John Hersey, the author of “Hiroshima,” attempts to expose the monstrosity of the atomic bomb, through his use of outstanding rhetoric, descriptive language, and accounts of survivors. He also attempts to correlate the Japanese civilians of Hiroshima to the American public, in hope that Americans
As a matter of first importance, the characters in the story are incredibly affected by the Hiroshima bomb dropping. The bomb being
In the book Hiroshima, author paints the picture of the city and its residents' break point in life: before and after the drop of the "Fat Boy". Six people - six different lives all shattered by the nuclear explosion. The extraordinary pain and devastation of a hundred thousand are expressed through the prism of six stories as they seen by the author. Lives of Miss Toshiko Sasaki and of Dr. Masakazu Fujii serve as two contrasting examples of the opposite directions the victims' life had taken after the disaster. In her "past life" Toshiko was a personnel department clerk; she had a family, and a fiancé. At a quarter past eight, August 6th 1945, the bombing took her parents and a baby-brother, made her partially invalid, and destroyed her personal life. Dr. Fujii had a small private hospital, and led a peaceful and jolly life quietly enjoying his fruits of the labor. He was reading a newspaper on the porch of his clinic when he saw the bright flash of the explosion almost a mile away from the epicenter. Both these people have gotten through the hell of the A-Bomb, but the catastrophe affected them differently. Somehow, the escape from a certain death made Dr. Fujii much more self-concerned and egotistic. He began to drown in self-indulgence, and completely lost the compassion and responsibility to his patients.
In John Hersey's book, Hiroshima, he provides a detailed account of six people and how the bombing of Hiroshima affected their lives. John Heresy felt it was important to focus his story on six individuals to create a remembrance that war affects more than just nations and countries, but actual human beings. Moreover, the book details the effect the bomb had on the city of Hiroshima. “Houses all around were burning, and the wind was now blowing hard.” (Hersey, 27).
The non-fiction book Hiroshima by John Hersey is an engaging text with a powerful message in it. The book is a biographical text about lives of six people Miss Sasaki, Dr. Fujii, Mrs. Nakamura, Father Kleinsorge, Dr. Sasaki and Rev. Tanimoto in Hiroshima, Japan and how their lives completely changed at 8:15 on the 6th of August 1945 by the dropping of the first atomic bomb. The author, John Hersey, through his use of descriptive language the in book Hiroshima exposes the many horrors of a nuclear attack.
Years later people do not know the challenges Hiroshima had to undergo. Takashi explains, “those who survived must continue to talk about our experiences.” The violence experienced by Takashi and many others needs to be told by everyone. The hardship that the city of Hiroshima coped with should never be forgotten. The pain the country experienced was never exposed to the public. No one knows what the survivors had to recover from because it is hidden from the public.
“Hiroshima,” brings to light the psychological impact the detonation of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima had. Following the atomic bomb, over a hundred thousand people were dead and another one hundred thousand people severely injured in a city with a population of 250,000. Dr. Sasaki and Mr. Tanimoto were left wondering why they had survived while so many others had perished, this is known as survivor’s guilt and it can be very heavy and dangerous baggage to carry. On the historic day of the first use of the atomic weapon, Mr. Tanimoto spent most of his time helping people however, one night he was walking in the dark and he tripped over an injured person. He felt a sense of shame for accidentally hurting wounded people, who were in enough pain
In the article “My Son, You Must Remember: Hiroshima and Nagasaki in William Styron’s Lie Down in Darkness” by Virginia Nickels, she reflects on William Styron who was a Marine officer during World War II. Remembering his fear approaching the Japanese invasion and recalling that 17,000 of American soldiers have already died. Nickels uses the book Lie Down in Darkness to show how not only the Japanese felt about the bombing on Hiroshima but also how the Americans felt. This show a very large difference because some Americans at the time didn’t even know that this atomic bomb had been built while others perceived the atomic bomb as the most versatile tool of the 20th century. For example, “Winkler cites one farmer’s letter inquiring as to where he could purchase a small atomic bomb to remove tree stumps from his fields, as a dynamite proved unsatisfactory” (Nickels 8). This is showing how some Americans are taking the bomb as almost a joke. Whereas, on the other hand, “particularly Berger’s identification of the inherent evil in mankind and Harry’s regret over the loss of Japanese lives”(Nickels 6). This is showing how some Americans post war did feel a sense of guilt for all the lives lost and how their attacks no longer held to their original innocence. Due to such a difference in feelings
For more than four years after the events of Pearl Harbor, Americans sacrificed their lives to the war against the country of Japan. The attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7,1941 achieved complete surprise and success. It was Pearl Harbor that unified American opinion and determination to see the war through on the Japanese who still maintained its position of being an aggressive enemy against Allied Powers. The U.S. fleet was rebuilt with astonishing speed, and its chain of defenses (Sakamoto). At the Potsdam Conference, a conference between the Allied forces to discuss war options, Truman learned of the successful test explosion of the atomic bomb and informed the other Allied leaders, that the atomic bomb was complete and ready. The United States, Britain, and China then issued a statement threatening to destroy Japan unless it surrendered
When looking at the aftermath of the atomic bomb in both Nagasaki and Hiroshima the devastation it caused is evident. The majority of the population in Japan could have never imagined such a catastrophic event. On August 6, 1945 and August 9, 1945 massive amounts of lives were changed forever when an atomic bomb fell from the sky and created an explosion as bright as the sun. These two bombs were the first and only accounts of nuclear warfare. (“Atomic Bomb is…”) The impact that the two bombs left on the cities of Japan was tremendous. The bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima devastated the country through structural damage, long term medical effects, expenses, and the massive loss of life.
World War II brought up many new technologies for warfare. Advanced on existing developments such as weaponry, ships, vehicles air crafts, navigational devices and medicine are just a few broad examples of developments in warfare during this time in United States and World history. One development, however, changed the entire way of warfare. The Atomic bomb was developed during this time out of fears that the Germans had the same technologies, or at least were working to obtain it. Once the United States had this technological capability of producing atomic weapons, the way of fighting was changed. Two bombs were dropped on Japan in August of 1945, one on the city of Hiroshima and the other on the city of Nagasaki. Afterward, the ear of atomic diplomacy came up in American international relations, which as we have seen today, has led to the development of even stronger, more deadly weaponry and bombs. The bombing of Japan also brings up the still prevalent debate of whether the bombings were justifiable or not. Historians Gar Alperovitz, Robert P. Newman and Barton Bernstein all have written essays expressing their opinions in the matter.
Japan will never forgotten the day of August 6 and 9 in 1945; we became the only victim by the atomic bombs in the world. When the atomic was dropped at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there was World War II. The decision of dropping the atomic bombs was affected by different backgrounds such as the Manhattan Project, and the Pacific War. At Hiroshima City, the population of Hiroshima was 350,000 when the atomic bomb dropped. Also, the population of Nagasaki was around 250,000 ("Overview."). However, there was no accurate number of death because all of documents were burned by the atomic bombs. On the other hand, the atomic bombs had extremely strong power and huge numbers of Japanese who lived in Hiroshima
“Little Boy,” the bomb dropped on Hiroshima killed 70,000 people with an additional 66,000 injured (30-39). “Fat Man,” the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, also carried its “share of America’s duty” by killing 40,000 people and injuring another 25,000 (30-39). The bombs also killed an estimated 230,000 more people from the after effects of the two explosions (30). The two bombings had opened the world’s eyes to the destructive power that could be unleashed by man. The bombs had raised hell on earth for those few minutes and produced a tremendous amount of casualties.
The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki The long lasting effects of the atomic bomb dropped on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki were justified by the United States. The United States had no other choice, or the war would just go on, which would be unfavorable for both the United States and Japan. The first reason why the US’s choice to use Atomic Bombs was justified is that it saved many soldiers’ lives. If the war had continued, many more lives on both the United States and Japan’s side would have been lost.
The atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima have a lasting effect on America by allowing everyone to see ...