Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Atomic Bomb Essays

Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Atomic Bomb Essays Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Atomic Bomb Paper Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Atomic Bomb Paper HIROSHIMA 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. Through the shocking and troubling graphic detail of human suffering and the physical effect of radiation and burns caused by the dropping of the atomic bomb Hersey exposes to the reader the deeply disturbing physical impact of a nuclear attack. In the book when Hersey writes about Mr. Tanimoto helping people out of the river he uses the sentence, He reached down and took a woman by the hands but her skin slipped off in a huge glove like piece, to shock the reader with something a person would only expect to find in a horror movie. By him putting that sentence in the text Hersey exposes the physical effect a nuclear attack has on the human body and suggest we should never let this happen again. When the characters of miss Sasaki, a clerk in her young twenties who is crushed by a bookshelves that fall on her from the impact of the bomb and is severely injured and left crippled the author show that the bomb didn’t only affect people be directly burning them or by radiation but also by the structural damage. Another sentence John Hersey uses to expose the physical impact of a nuclear attack is, their faces were wholly burned, their eye sockets were hollow, and the fluid from their melted eyes had run down their cheeks. Through this sentence Hersey again shocks the reader with the graphic detail of human suffering caused by the nuclear attack. In the book Hiroshima the author not only exposes the physical impacts right after the bomb but also weeks and years after the nuclear attack. The effect of radiation caused by the atomic bomb on people for most lasted for the rest of there live and often was the cause of the death and for those who had children affected some of there children. One of the six people interviewed, Father Kleinsorge who had only suffered minor cuts when the bomb had been dropped, a month later they still hadn’t healed and was suffering from high fever and abdominal pain and low white cell count. But his character couldn’t receive the one thing which would have probably helped, a blood transfusion because with atomic bomb patients they weren’t sure that if you stick needles in them they’ll stop bleeding. By telling the reader about Father Kleinsorge Hersey shows the reader that the nuclear attack caused many people to suffer from radiation sick months after the actual bombing and the irony is that one of thing that could save them could also kill them. The author also tells us that by 1950 the incidence of leukemia in hibakusha (survivors of the atomic bomb) was between ten and fifteen time above the normal, this was five years after the bomb had hit Hiroshima. Hersey does this to show the reader that even for those that are lucky enough to escape death and the terrible burns from the bomb they still are affected physically by the effect of radiation sickness and also other sicknesses caused by the radiation from the bomb. Hersey not only expose the physical impact of a nuclear attack in his book Hiroshima but also the emotional impact the dropping of a atomic bomb has on people and a society. The character of miss Sasaki who was left crippled by the dropping of the bomb suffered more from the emotional impact of the bomb the just the physical. Hersey exposes to the reader that after the had nuclear attack left her crippled it also left her feeling hopeless. Being unable to walk properly for the rest of her life, Miss Sasaki knew that she wouldn’t be able to take care of her family anymore and that her chances of ever getting married had reduced, which in her society meant a lot because married women had a higher statue then those which were unmarried. All of this left Miss Sasaki depressed for a long time. By Hersey including this in his book he expose to the reader that a nuclear attack has a huge effect on people emotionally for years after the actual attack even if they’re not severely physically affect. The story of Mrs. Nakamura is another example Hersey uses to expose the emotional impact of the dropping of an atomic bomb. After the bomb is dropped it leaves the Nakamura with out much money and Mrs. Nakamura in one part off the book is forced to sell her dead husband’s sewing machine to pay for doctor bills. In the book she describes this as the lowest and saddest moment of her whole life. The bomb leaving them with nothing forces Mrs. Nakamura to do anything she can to care for herself and family which leaves her very emotionally distort. Hersey tell the reader this part of Mrs. Nakamura story to show the reader that even after the immediate damage the bomb still inflects emotional horror to those lucky enough to escape the physical impact of the bomb. The book Hiroshima also expose to the reader the sever psychological impact of the dropping of an atomic bomb. After the bomb had left a hundred thousand people dead in Hiroshima, Dr. Sasaki and Mr. Tanimoto were left wondering why they had survived while so many others had perished. On the day of the bombing Mr. Tanimoto spent most of his time helping people but in one part of the book when he was walking in the dark he tripped over an injured person. The book described him as feeling ashamed of hurting wounded people, embarrassed at being able to walk upright. Dr. Sasaki moved away from Hiroshima six years after the bomb to withdraw form the effect of being a hibakusha and the awful memories. But for his whole life he tried to forget yet couldn’t fully. He was still haunted by his failure to properly label all the dead to the Red Cross hospital so they could be properly honored. The Author shows the reader the damaging psychological impact the bomb had on those that had survived and had guilt over deaths that weren’t there fault simply because of the fact that they didn’t die like the rest. By Hersey exposing the psychological effect he also exposes to the reader that the effect of a nuclear attack can last for the rest of people lives. The dropping of the first atomic bomb not only had horrible effects on people but also a huge structural impact on there home. hey found that the power exerted by the explosion was 5. 3 tons per square yard and substances like mice which had a melting point of nine hundred degrees Celsius had fused with granite 80 yards from the center. The heat released by the bomb of six thousand degrees Celsius had pretty much destroyed every structure that it came in contact with which included thousands of peoples home and hundred hospitals. By Hersey telling the reader about the enormous structural damaged caused by the bo mb he not only tells about buildings being destroyed ut also lives. Thousands of people were left homeless and for the survivors a lot of the hospitals were destroyed leaving them with only a few places to get aid which resulted in many people not getting the help they needed. Hersey tells the reader this so they get the full impact of an atomic bomb. Through his uses of descriptive language Hersey exposes to the reader the physical, emotional, Psychological and structural damage caused by a nuclear attack. He shows the reader how peoples are physically changed but also how emotional psychologically scared by this act of horror. Through Hersey’s graphic detail of the horror after the bomb and the effects years after he shock the reader while also give the message that we shouldn’t let this happen again. In the book Hiroshima the author John Hersey exposes that a nuclear attack is not simply a disaster that fades away when the rubble is removed and buildings are rebuilt but an act of horror that changes the course of people’s live.