Hiroshima By John Hersey (TOW#2)

 

With a noiseless flash the atomic bomb was dropped on the citizens of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, the beginning of the end of WWII; similarly, with a serene scene Hersey started his narration of the horrifying experiences of six survivors from the Hiroshima disaster: two doctors, a clerk, a widow, a Japanese pastor, and a German Jesuit. The bombing of Hiroshima may be a fading memory for many, but to Hersey and many others that are affected by the bomb the attack seemed just as vivid as if it happened yesterday. Many people remember Hiroshima bombing as simply an event in history, but Hersey does not, and he stated it loud and clear by writing the book Hiroshima, a book resulted from 15 years of interview of survivors and research and a follow up with the survivors decades later.

       The goal of Hersey’s writing is clearly not sympathy but empathy, and he did so through the realistic yet humanized depictions of six individual survivors from the Hiroshima disaster. By describing how “Dr Fujii was settling down cross-legged to read the Osaka Asahi”(Hersey 1) and how Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge reclined in his underwear on a cot on the top floor…” (Hersey 2) to how “their mouths were mere swollen, pus-covered wounds” (Hersey 52) and “She discovered her family were all dead” (Hersey 63), Hersey did a amazing job at convincing the readers who see Hiroshima as a mere event as something more personal, something more devastating to the nature of humanity.

After all, the opening of the book was just like contemporary life experienced by many; people relax, read news, and worry about daily matters. However, the gradual development of the narration made a dramatic turn. The six survivors, who the readers can relate to perfectly at the beginning of the book, suddenly began to experience things beyond ordinary comprehension. They began to see true suffering in great detail, and the serene imagery was completely replaced by that of similar to hell. Yet, the readers were still able to follow. Not because they desired to but because Hersey had already tied them with the survivors at the beginning of the book. The readers had connected to the survivors, and therefore feel their pain, and as the readers feel the survivors’ pain, they then also began to feel Hersey’s purpose.

Hiroshima is not going to be the same again.