Successful composers manipulate the musical elements to portray military conflict and emotional impact. A polish composer, Krzysztof Penderecki, composed an experimental piece, later titled Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima, in 1960. The piece was originally titled 8’37” but was changed when he heard it being performed. Penderecki stated ‘I was struck by the emotional change of the work… I searched for associations and, in the end, I decided to dedicate it to the Hiroshima victims’ (Jamie-Leigh, 2010). Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima is composed for 52 stringed instruments and depicts the horror and tragedy of the bombing. The composer is successful in his ability to manipulate the musical elements, expressive devices, pitch and timbre, to portray the military conflict and negative emotional impact of Hiroshima.
Penderecki’s purpose of evoking emotions and relating to military conflict is evident in his manipulation of expressive devices, specifically though his use of dynamics. At 3:32, the violas begin playing very loud at ff. After this the other instrument groups have delayed entries with loud fortissimo dynamics. This is seen specifically at 3:32 to 3:45, when a violin and cello group begin to play but are not joining in at the same time. These delayed entries combined create a sense of high tension. The additional instruments playing increase texture and thus increases the volume. Due to these loud dynamics, an image of pain and horror can be heard. The delayed
What if I told you truma could be inherited; meaning you were not the one who initially experienced the traumatic event, however, you still suffer great stress from it. Sarah Stillman in “Hiroshima and the Inheritance of Trauma” suggests that trauma may be a ‘contagious disease’ that can spread amongst both families as well as generations. She uses an example of a woman named Tomiko Shoji who was only nineteen when she survived the bombing of Hiroshima. Shoji suffered post traumatic stress disorder as well has radiation poisoning, which consisted of her losing her hearing, sight, and teeth in her forties. She also had psychological symptoms which consisted of losing control during thunder storms and collapsing with fear when she tried to speak of the event. Some of these were inherited by her granddaughter Keni Sabath who first became aware of her grandmother’s experience in a disturbing way at the young age of six. According to an article in Scientific American by Tori Rodriguez, there is a study being done that researches mass trauma survivors and their offspring. The study looks at holocaust survivors and their descendents as well as their levels of cortisol, a hormone that helps the body return to normal after trauma. Sabath was affected by the trauma because she has close contact with Shoji who experienced the trauma. This goes to show that trauma after all may be a ‘contagious disease’, one that haunts not only the traumatized individual but those they are close to.
In the midst of World War II, August 1945, the United States unleashed the first ever atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The usage of the atomic bomb was effective, but at the same time devastating and unnecessary. The United States should not have dropped the atomic bomb because it maimed countless of Japanese civilians, caused radiation poisoning whose effects impacted future generations, left both cities in ruins, left citizens homeless, and it was absolutely unmoral for the United States to have created such havoc and chaos in these two cities. Being there on the day Hiroshima was struck by the atomic bomb, junior high student,
During the bombing of Hiroshima, casualty rates among medical personnel were in the range between 80 to 93 percent. Injuries resulting from the bombing often went untreated, and the survivors did not receive health care for some time. The book Hiroshima discusses this issue in great length, specifically why they were not given the necessary aid. The government of Hiroshima played a major role in this.
The book, Hiroshima, is the story of six individuals who experienced the true effects of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, August 6, 1945. Miss Toshinki Sasaki, a clerk in the East Asia Tin Works factory, just sat down in the plant office and was turning to converse with the girl at the next desk when the bomb exploded. Dr. Masakazu Fujii, a physician, was relaxing on his porch, which overlooked the Kyo River, where he was reading the morning periodical when the shell detonated. Before the eruption, Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura was observing her neighbor destruct his house as part of a fire lane in preparation of an American attack. Previous to the attack, Father
A slow universal crescendo is audible until bar 29, when the dynamic then holds at a fortississimo (fff) – ‘as loud as possible’. Tr.1 provides a rest from the constant dissonant chords in bars 40-42 before returning to the regular rhythmic figure. This opening successfully displays the unpredictable intensity and discomfort of war through is constant rising and falling in dynamics and unexpectedly changing texture. At the end of bar 67 (after B1), all instruments quickly crescendo to another fff, before moving directly into the next section (C1 – see figure 2.2). This presents a triumphant mood through the melody of the brass instruments moving strictly along the D major scale (making regular use of its’ tonic, octave tonic, subdominant and dominant notes), and the lack of minor harmonies and dissonant intervals so commonly used in A1 and B1. The segment slowly begins to incorporate these dissonant harmonies in canon, bringing about an eventual sense of dread as the dynamic builds to a gradual fortissimo (ff) crescendo. Following this crescendo, all instruments participate in an ff universal decrescendo, combining to create an irregular Am (not native to the tonic chord) on a lower register (predominantly A2).
In Hiroshima Mr. Tanimoto experience chance during The bombing. Mr.Tanimoto was a unjuried survivor in the book, and he found “by incredible luck, his wife. She was holding there”infant daughter”. Therefore this happening Mr. Tanimoto had amazing luck/chance. He had a very small chance to see his wife, but he did. Mr. Tanimoto had a small chance to see his wife during the bombing with being injured.
Explain in what ways the bombing raid on Hiroshima on August 6th 1945 was significant and different (cause) from previous bombing raids on the city? Explain why did the people of the city come out of their shelters to watch the bomb descend (effect)?
Dropping the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was justified under the information they had at the time. When criticizing the actions of the Truman administration one needs to consider the effect of knowledge in hindsight. Truman was working under the knowledge that dropping the nuclear bombs would bring a short and fast victory to the Pacific front of the Second World War. As the war had already ended in Europe by this time, leaders were looking to end the campaign in the Pacific as quickly as possible. From a cost benefit perspective dropping the bombs on Japan meant that very few American lives were lost, and the cost of building the bombs compared to the cost of a minimum six month continuation of fighting.Additionally, there was no testing
The United States made the right decision to bomb the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. President Truman, felt that is was evident that the other alternatives where the Allied forces thought of invading Japan could have led to a lot of casualties on their part (Roark 685). Another reason can be because it is the same Japan that agitated America to join the Second World War, which it had initially avoided, by bombing the Pearl Harbor (Riggs 3). Apparently, this grudge was carried forward.
This was the time when the United States and the Japanese had an extreme rivalry between each other. After the Japanese attacked a US territory, killing 2,403 people, the US promptly declared war on Japan, entering themselves into a second world war after being significantly provoked. Germany and Italy declared war on the US after the US declared war on Japan. Later on, after defeating Germany, the USSR agreed to help the US defeat Japan ninety days after the Nazi surrender, so the US had a six month period before the USSR could come and help them defeat Japan. The US did not want to give up any territory to the USSR like they did with Europe, so the US had to attempt to end the war themselves prior to the ninety days. To end the war between the US and Japan prior to the agreed date by the USSR, J. Robert Oppenheimer invented something that would later murder 105,000 people and injure 94,000 more.
The Bombs were not as bad as people think it was. President Harry S. Truman had already warned that any attempt to invade japan would cause unusual acts that would bring the war to a brief end. Roughly about 90,000-146,000 people were killed in Hiroshima & 39,000-80,000 in Nagasaki,which most of the death occurred on the very first day of the bombings. The Army Officer made it seem like that was the only choice was the bomb but it really wasn’t.
While looking for a boat to carry the severely injured across the river, Mr Tanimoto “… Found a good-sized pleasure punt drawn up on the bank… five dead men, nearly naked, badly burned…” (Hersey, 37) near it, he “… lifted the men away from the boat… he experienced such horror at disturbing the dead…” (Hersey, 37). On August 6, 1945 the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to end the war between them. Hiroshima, by John Hersey is a book about six survivors of the first atomic bomb ever dropped on a city. The six survivors tell their stories of where they were before the bomb was dropped, what they did after the bomb was dropped, and what their life was like years after the bomb. The book also
President Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the direct cause for the end of World War II in the Pacific. The United States felt it was necessary to drop the atomic bombs on these two cities or it would suffer more casualties. Not only could the lives of many soldiers have been taken, but possibly the lives of many innocent Americans. The United States will always try to avoid the loss of American civilians at all costs, even if that means taking lives of another countries innocent civilians.
In August of 1945, both of the only two nuclear bombs ever used in warfare were dropped on the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. These two bombs shaped much of the world today.
Though Hiroshima 's bombing was a terrible disaster, it undoubtedly brought the Japanese community together. The terror was undeniable, yet through the destruction people sacrificed themselves to save others. In the novel Hiroshima, written by John Hersey, even though many of the main characters are injured, they still stop to help others. The acknowledgement of others pain and suffering and developing empathy and sympathy for them, having the strength to give up your desires for a moment, having respect for yourself and others are qualities of humans that compel them to help others even if there is nothing to gain. It is only when we put faith in ourselves and others that we truly help others.