John Hersey's Hiroshima

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.

It is important that we read stories like Hiroshima because it gives the reader a detailed explanation from first-hand survivors what happened during the Hiroshima attack. Although this book is a secondary source it is filled with valuable heart and mind changing primary sources and information. The book shows the hardships, pain, suffering innocent women, men and children went through. What decision one made and was untouched how one slight movement, staying in bed, and hiding in a different place could have saved your life. Reading historical books in all gives you more knowledge on what happened in history from all around the world. Hiroshima states the events that happened before during and after the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

The author of the book, John Hersey, had a good purpose in telling so many individual anecdotes about the life before the bomb. He focused on expressing the stories of these survivors in a way in which the reader could see it from their point of view. His aim was to demonstrate that each individual was a real human being with real feelings just like us. The author seeks to make sure that readers understand that the bombings happened to people who had a daily life and were astonished by what had happened. Hersey demonstrates that the bombing impacted people who had previously been undergoing a lot in life.

In the essay “The Scar,” the author Kildare Dobbs reports the parallel stories of Emiko; a young Japanese girl and Captain Robert Lewis; a U.S. army Captain harrowing events of Aug 6/1945 in Hiroshima, a day that forever changed their lives. Emiko, a 15 year old “fragile and vivacious” Japanese girl lived an hour’s train ride away from Hiroshima, in a town called Otake with her parents, her two sisters and brother. At that time, her youngest sister was extremely sick with heart troubles, her 13 year old brother was with the Imperial Army and her father was an antique dealer. Emiko and her 13 year old sister Hideko traveled by train daily to Hiroshima to their women’s college. Captain Robert Lewis was the co-pilot of the Enola Gay, a U.S.

     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

Mr. Tanimoto consciously repeated to himself “‘These are human beings’”(Hersey 1946), as he attempted to save paralyzed, dying men and women, in the book “Hiroshima” by John Hersey. This nonfiction book was published on August 31 1946, a year after the atomic bombing fell on Hiroshima, Japan. This publication was raw, uncensored, and truthful. John Hersey unapologetically revealed the gruesome damages done by the bombing, while also silencing those who believed that the atomic bomb was a justified attack. Hersey’s brilliant journalism and ability to write this story without bias, is why this book was selected. The author did not want those who died to be remembered as casualties, but as mothers, fathers and children. Hersey wrote this book about the the physical, and psychological impact this bomb had on both survivors and victims of the atomic bomb. There were many historical events that contributed to the cause and effect of the atomic attack; historical events such as industrialization, the trench wars, and militarism. This was not just a simple bomb, but a complex attack on humanity.

In Hiroshima, John Hersey focuses on the survivors of the atomic bomb that is dropped on the city of Hiroshima at the end of World War II. Instead of focusing on one individual, Hersey decides to report on six that survive the blast. The survivors came from many different walks of life and were all affected by the coming of the nuclear age. Mrs. Hatsayo Nakamura was a widow raising three young children. Dr. Terufumi Sasaki was a young surgeon unhurt during the explosion, leaving him to care for thousands of Hiroshima’s wounded. Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge was a German priest that comforts many of the wounded and dying. Toshiko Sasaki was a young woman working in a factory to make ends meet for her family and her parents. Dr.

John Hersey’s Hiroshima takes place in Hiroshima Japan, surrounding areas included, from when the bomb went off on August 6th, 1945 to the middle of the 1880’s. This particular setting and time had a certain impact and influence on the way the people who survived this tragedy had dealt with it.

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

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.

Hersey's Hiroshima was originally an article written for The New Yorker Magazine in order to help a "reader identity with deceased and survivors of the Hiroshima's bombing" (The New Yorker). He accomplished this by

The book Hiroshima by John Hersey is, to me, one of the most captivating literary works to date. This nonfictional book centers around the lives of six survivors— two women, two doctors, a Reverend, and a Father— of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan. Throughout the book, the author traces their lives before, during, and after the massive bombing that killed nearly three-fourths of Hiroshima’s entire population. The book’s setting, Hiroshima bombing in 1945, is a significant element in the story as it shapes the tone, mood, and vividness of the book, altogether making it a fascinating story.

“Hiroshima”, written by author John Hersey is based on the real life events that occurred on August 6, 1945, in Hiroshima, Japan. During these final stages of World War II, the U.S. dropped the first atomic bombs on the cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Hersey captures the experience of six survivors, and the events of that day. Nearly four decades later he travels back to the city in search of the survivors and tells of their present lives, post-war. The purpose of the novel was to connect others with their humanity and to recognize the devastation faced by ordinary people.

Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge’s journey in the book Hiroshima was extremely exciting and touched me personally. His acts of heroism even in bad conditions and constant xenophobia by the locals show how he was truly selfless. Even though he was brave and a hero his journey did not have that much of an effect on my views on the use of atomic bombs in Japan in World War II.

Though Hana was relieved to see a familiar face, she found it hard to move her feet to go with Yui to er family’s relatives outside the city where they hoped they would be safe. It was easy for Hana to agree to go, but it was difficult for her to get herself to move. She found it difficult to abandon her family, her possessions, though none of it existed anymore. But as Yui called out to her, “You coming?” she realized she was a survivor and that if she could survive and find hope, so could and so would the city of Hiroshima and every citizen in