Essay on Hiroshima by John Hersey

Have you ever questioned why and how the US government decided to drop those two nuclear bombs in Japan in the World War II? It is still a universal concern while many disapproval have made toward its humanity. In a book that I’ve read recently, from the point of view of an eyewitness, Yamaoka Michiko, the author of story “Eight hundred meters from the Hypocenter”, shows how humanity was exchanged with the ambition of a nation by reviving a heartbroken experience when she witnessed her hometown was destroyed by such a terrific violence in the war.

In the story titled “Hiroshima”, the author John Hersey explains the damage that the atomic bomb caused by the United States was horrific. Hersey supports his explanation by saying this on page 985, on lines 16-17, “A hundred thousand people were killed by the atomic bomb, and these [four] were among the survivors.” The author’s purpose is to show that the bomb was devastating and had killed many people. The author writes in a serious tone for the audience to show how lucky the four people were to live through the bomb in the story.

Human life is precious in the sense that it is all about survival. There are qualities found in humans that make survival possible. In the book Hiroshima, by John Hersey, readers experience the core of humanity found in the six survivors during the days, months, and years following the atomic bomb. Through inspiration, perseverance, and a sense of community, the Japanese people demonstrated the strength of the human spirit.

John Hersey's journalist narrative, Hiroshima focuses on the detonation of the atomic bomb, Little Boy, that dropped on the city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Although over one hundred thousand people died in the dropping of the bomb, there were also several survivors. John Hersey travelled to Hiroshima to listen to the experiences of six survivors. Hersey uses his book to tell the story of six of these survivors (spanning from the morning the bomb fell to forty years later) through a compilation of interviews. Hiroshima demonstrates the vast damage and suffering inflicted on the Japanese that resulted from US deployment of the atomic bomb. And although depressing, humbling, and terrifying, this book was very good, interesting, and

     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

“We have to protect our Earth, so our children and grandchildren will never suffer like that,’ she said. And she looked ahead. ‘Maybe nuclear weapons won’t be abolished while I’m alive,’ she said. ‘But I will never give up.” (Hanley, NBC News). August 6, 1945 at 8:16 in the morning, the United States dropped the world's first atomic bomb on thousands of unsuspecting people in Hiroshima, Japan. Not only did this catastrophic event kill thousands of civilians, but it also resulted in other nations obtaining and learning how to create these deadly weapons, weapons that we still have today. In the book Hiroshima by John Hersey he gives readers a new look at that day, through the eyes of six victims who survived the horrific attack on Hiroshima, he shows how the entire city of Hiroshima suffered, and were left alone to fend for themselves.The book Hiroshima by John Hersey, sheds light on the immense dangers of nuclear warfare, and the government's responsibility for its people, affected by a war they aren’t fighting in.

The dropping of the atomic bomb has been significant in understanding the long term effects that radiation has on the body. It was important that the bomb be used in order for our society to comprehend the repercussions of nuclear warfare. In the book Hiroshima, a survivor named Rev. Kiyoshi Tanimoto briefly describes a commission set up by the United States

After the bomb was dropped many people had developed serious health issues, many not knowing they had any. Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge, a German priest, had to have repeated visits to the hospital, to be treated for medical symptoms commonly found in the A-bomb survivors. “Back in the hospital in Tokyo for the second time, Father Kleinsorge was suffering from fever, diarrhea, wounds that would not heal, wildly fluctuating blood counts, and utter exhaustion. For the rest of his life, he was to be a classic case history of… borderline form of A-bomb sickness… many of which turned up in hibakusha…” (Hersey, 110). A few years after the atom bomb was dropped many survivors, commonly called hibakusha, meaning explosion-affected persons, had to make many trips to the hospital because the United States dropped the atom bomb. Dr. Fujii, a physician who has a private hospital, planned to have a gathering on New Year’s Day with his family, but never showed up. “At half past eleven, Dr. Fujii had not appeared, and

John Hersey not only brings home the instantaneous physical impacts following the implosion of the atomic bomb, but also the weeks, months, and years to come after the bomb was dropped. The effects of radiation on a majority of people, caused by the atomic bomb, lasted for the rest of their lives. If fact, radiation was often the cause of the death later in life, whether it be the direct cause of fragility or cancer but also for those who procreated. The radiation also affected some of their offspring, resulting in complications, defects and ultimately continuing the death count. Another one of the six main characters, Father Kleinsorge, who had only suffered minor cuts when the bomb had been dropped, still hadn’t healed a month later and was

Hiroshima is an outstanding recreation of the complete annihilation and devastation of during the aftermath and the year following the United States’ dropping of the atomic bomb. As the war in the east carried on, many thought this desolated war might last a lifetime, all the while hoping for an end and praying it not mean their own end. To end the war, Americans had to pick a target that would leave the Japanese government with nowhere to retreat, allowing for a crippling effect that would essentially cause their collapse and surrender. In his writings, John Hersey proclaims that Hiroshima was a “… inviting target - mainly because it had been one of the most important military command and communications centres in Japan …” (HERSEY, P. 107). In the minds of American strategists, this must have seemed a flawless method to force the Japanese military into a corner, not allowing withdrawal without laying down of arms. There was surely no doubt that dropping this bomb of god-like destructive power would, at a minimum, tear into the souls of Japanese, causing catastrophic devastation.

In John Hersey's Hiroshima, he based his book upon the one perspective that, the bombing of Hiroshima was an act of inhumanity. What Hersey failed to do was to give the perspective of the Americans. Hersey did not account for the Pearl Harbor bombing of 1941 or the death march in the Japanese Bataan Camps in 1942. Without giving both perspectives, Hersey does not give the reader a fair chance to form their own opinion; instead, the reader is swayed into Hersey's bias beliefs of the event.

When beginning this story it's not very easy to catch on to Hersey's beliefs but keep reading onto the next chapter and you see his language change drastically. Hersey’s first slip up was when he stated “B-29 raid that everyone expected Hiroshima to suffer” (pg.13) Hersey says this nonchalantly as though a nuclear bomb wasn't that big of deal. Just because the people of Hiroshima knew of the bomb does not make the aftermath

It covers Hiroshima years before the war and a year post-war. Hersey focused on six Japanese survivors and was one of the earliest accounts of Hiroshima. Interestingly, Hersey was one of the first Western journalists to travel to Hiroshima. Hiroshima became a national phenomenon that was met with a lot of positive reception. For example, the Army and the Atomic Energy Commission wanted to distribute thousands of copies of the account to impress Americans with the power of the new weapon. This is ironic because John Hersey was not writing as a propagandist and his report showed the actual and uncensored experience and survival of the Japanese in Hiroshima. Although Hersey was born in China, his views on the Japanese were not influenced by the wartime atrocities that the Japanese committed during World War II while writing Hiroshima. Interestingly, he did not submit his material to the U.S. government for censorship clearance either. Hersey states, “There, in the tin factory, in the first moment of the atomic age, a human being was crushed by books.” This quote signifies that the atomic bombing of Hiroshima as an example of technological advancement and human knowledge being used to destroy each

Hiroshima shares the personal stories of six people who survive the massive blast delivered by the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. Before the bomb is dropped, each individual has a life that is very different from the other survivors’ lifestyles. But after the bomb, they all have something in common: they have survived one of the most devastating bombings in history and their lives will never be the same. Although they do not realize it at first because of the immense amount of shock and pain they endure, the bomb makes each of them a stronger and more humble person, and many of them dedicate the rest of their lives to serving others.

On the other hand, the more patriotic viewpoint of the debate at the time was that the dropping of the bomb was beneficial to saving American lives as well as lessened the number of additional casualties. This novel was able to show the viewpoint of the Japanese. The hardships, the health, and the ever lasting effect on the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were able to diminish some of the pride people had in the bomb. One specific example that truly caught the attention of the readers was Mrs. Nakamura. In a flash of light, her house was mere ruins and her most of her family was killed. She was left as a single mother supporting her family in the worst of economy by taking the oddest of jobs. Most people were ignorant of the fact of how they affected civilian lives, not just soldiers. Hersey used the characters and the story to convey his viewpoint of the atomic bomb and helped develop the understanding of the situation for many