John Hersey's Hiroshim The Role Of Writing In The Future

A common description of writing frames it as a simple instrument of communication, a conversation between one and many. Strinati corrects this view, arguing that a work of writing is much more than a way of communication and that writing is influenced by the countless events and circumstances preceding it. While this is certainly correct, it is possible to expand this claim. Writing is intimately tied to history, both in the past and in the future. At a basic level, writing requires assumptions to be made in order to be understood. These assumptions, built by “social and historical circumstances,” are the foundations on which any work is built. John Hersey’s Hiroshima demonstrates this phenomenon aptly. The setting of the story, the very end of the Second …show more content…
At times, it may be clear what the purpose of a work of writing is. Ray Bradbury’s 1984 is a clear warning against totalitarian governments, and Marx’s Communist Manifesto presents a clear future to obtain. At other times, however, like in Hiroshima, such influences are more subtle. Hiroshima never explicitly demands an action, and, by weaving fact into fantasy, the reader is driven to care. The strength of these survivors and the depths of their pain is conveyed in spite of a somewhat dry tone. At times, it is easy to forget that the “story” actually occurred, but it is in those precious moments that Hiroshima has its impact. In the light of reality, the reader is pushed towards an opposition towards letting tragedies like Hiroshima occur ever again. Themes like the ones found in Hiroshima, no matter how seemingly insignificant, are what makes writing more than a simple collection of arbitrary words. Through the universal presence of themes, writing is linked to the future. Indeed, it can be said that writing cannot be divorced from a concern for the future so much as a writer cannot stop