Book report of Hiroshima by John Hersey

1) This story relates to America dropping the A-bomb in Hiroshima in 1945. It tells the story, of six different inhabitants of Hiroshima, 2 doctors, 2 women, and 2 religious men. It tells the story from each of their points of view, from the daily lives of each character, and how this relates to the story, to the moment the bomb drops until months later, and then even 40 years later. The story is very detailed, graphic and impacting, in the way the events are told, it begins with a brief description of each character and the connection their lives have to the war, to the second the bomb hits and all there is is an incredible flash, and then the ongoing destruction and confusion all around. After that it explains from the different points of view of the 6 people the immediate occurrences, all the different ways the bomb has created destruction and caused death, all of the wounded, how each of the 6 act immediately after, many frantically searching for their family others helping the wounded, and the incredible emotional distress that surrounds all of this. Then how the people try to survive every ongoing day after the bomb, how many continue to die due to the various types of inj

2) The story mentions how the US never previously mentioned anything about this attack to the people of Hiroshima, and this leads me to ask, why did the US do this? How could they commit this atrocity? Why did they attack this innocent city? How could they kill and injure these 200,000 innocent people? It shocks me how someone could do that, create that amount of suffering, pain, and death to innocent people. The way that Hersey describes the destruction and the wounded, for example saying how a woman held a dead baby in her arms, and was crying for her presumed dead husband, or how a persons entire family was dead, mentioning that a group of soldiers was found alive with their eyes melted, how a man tries to help a women by lifting her and getting a handful of her flesh, and that some were so badly wounded they could barely be recognized as humans. Even more, the aftereffects such as radiation related diseases such as wounds reopening and the various deformities such as the “Hiroshima maidens”, young unmarried women with face deformities who require plastic surgery. Also how many people related to the tragedy could not get jobs afterwards, and how this lead to poverty. These and many other examples just help feed the outstanding shock I feel, and the disbelief I have of how and why they did this. The author also mentions how most of the people mentioned in the story affected do not feel enraged by everything that has happened, they hold no grudges (except for Ms. Sasaki) or bitterness towards the people who caused this tragedy. Even Ms. Sasaki forms strong ties with Americans years later. Hersey mentions how one of the characters (Mr. Tanimoto) writes a letter to an American friend saying that everything that has happened was just a great sacrifice by the Japanese people, towards the goal of World Peace. One of the characters, Ms. Nakamura, mentioned to Hersey that the general mood of the Japanese was of acceptance, a sort of “that’s what was expected, it is war anyway”. The fact that these people do not have an incredible hate for the people responsible for this tragedy just surprises me completely, it leaves me in shock, I can’t understand how this could happen, after all the pain and suffering they have caused them. Personally I consider that the spirit and pride these people have is amazing, for example a mention that Tanimoto included in his letter about 2 girls singing the national anthem as they were crushed by a fence, and also the ability to forgive they have is simply

Some topics in this essay:
A-bomb Hiroshima, German Jesuit, Ms Nakamura, Japanese Americans, Red Cross, Americans Hersey, Ms Sasaki, Dr Sasaki, Japanese American, World War, 6 characters, radiation diseases, hersey describes, ms sasaki, japanese people, pain suffering caused, graphic impacting, bomb equal, inhabitants hiroshima, innocent people, mentioned story, hersey describes detail,