The Loss Of Life In John Hersey's Hiroshima

Many people, who have been through an extreme event and lost a loved one, feels like their lives have also ended. They often feel like everything is gone, and there is nothing to live for. The message in John Hersey’s nonfiction book Hiroshima, is that people may have survived and be living, but they have lost their lives. Hiroshima informs those, who have not experienced or not heard of World War II, about the Japanese side after the major event of the United States’ drop of an atomic bomb. It shows the lives of six survivors after the tragic event and how their lives were affected. Personal evidence in Hiroshima was more pivotal to Hersey’s message, as it shows the personal lives of the survivors and the negative impact on their lives; ultimately, …show more content…
Mrs. Nakamura and her family were sick, and she needed her sewing machine to work for her family, but it was “submerged in the water tank, and when he brought it home, she saw, to her dismay, that it was all rusted and useless … she was too poor to see a doctor … Myeko’s hair fell out, and she had tiny burn on her arm which took months to heal. The boy, Toshio, and the older girl, Yaeko, seemed well enough, though they, too, lost some hair and occasionally had bad headaches” (Hersey, 55-56). Before the bombing, Mrs. Nakamura had a healthy family with a job to help them get money and food, but after the bomb, the radiation from the atomic bomb hit them, and now they have radiation disease. They did not have the money to go to the doctor to help treat it, and her two older kids also had bad headaches. The sewing machine Mrs. Nakamura wanted to find was what she used to work and money out of. Since it is damaged and not usable, they have nothing to support the family and help them. Since they did not have anything or money, they did not get the necessities they needed to survive, so they may still be alive, but they do not have anything, they have lost their lives. After the bomb attacked and destroyed his house, Dr. Fujii stayed at Mr. Okuma’s house, and over a month later, there was …show more content…
Sasaki and Mr. Tanimoto’s experience. After all the bad things Miss Sasaki has gone through, “her depressions were deep. She knew she would always be cripple. Her fiance never came to see her. There was nothing for her to do … her parents and brother died. She was nervous, and any sudden noise made her put her hands quickly to her throat. Her leg still hurt” (Hersey, 63-64). Miss Sasaki’s leg was stuck on heavy material which was what injured her leg, and she got many treatments, yet her leg still hurt. Miss Sasaki would usually work and take care of herself, but since her leg hurts and is injured, she cannot provide for herself. There is also no one there for her, her whole family containing her parents and brother had died. She also does not want to live anymore; she would kill herself, whenever there is a something sudden. Miss Sasaki would think it could be another bomb, and she does not want to go through the same thing, so she would rather end her life. The message says that person can live but have lost their life, which is exactly Miss Sasaki. She no longer has a family or work to take care of herself, and she is injured. Mr. Tanimoto wrote a letter to America about what he experienced which was bad because “I couldn’t help my sister who was buried under the house, because I had to take care of my mother who got a