Hiroshima by John Hersey is a historical nonfiction book that tells the stories of six survivors of the devastating nuclear bomb dropped on Japan on August 6th, 1945. Each character feels the effects of the bomb directly and has to deal with the changes in their formerly ordinary lives, along with the misery and hysteria, and the mysterious radiation sickness that follows the devastating nuclear explosion. This book was mostly written to dispel derogatory views of the Japanese in America during the war, and to show them the true horrors and effects behind the immense power of nuclear weapons through the perspectives of those who have dealt and suffered from the catastrophe from firsthand experience. All of it is written with immense detail
…show more content…
The first character, Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura, is a tailor’s widow and a mother of three children. She is described by Hersey as a caring, resourceful person who had a long habit of doing what she was told. Although she and her children survive the initial explosion, she and one of her daughters later come down with radiation sickness. Although she was passive towards the war, her opinion changes as she comes down with radiation sickness. “Mrs. Nakamura and her relatives had been quite resigned and passive about the moral issue of the atomic bomb, but this rumor suddenly aroused them to more hatred and resentment of America than they had felt all through the war.” (Hersey 42) The rumor in question is that America dropped poison with the bomb in order to make the people sick and unable to put up a fight. However, when this rumor is later dispelled, she becomes passive once again. However, the effects of the war are still hard on her. Along with suffering from the sickness, she also suffers from destitution, but she does not blame the war for her problems, and eventually even manages to secure a job. This goes along with the theme of not giving up. Even despite how bad of a situation she got in, she didn’t throw her hands up and give up on trying to have a better life. Another character in this book is Ms. Sasaki, who, similarly to how Mrs.
The first character, Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura, is a tailor’s widow and a mother of three children. She is described by Hersey as a caring, resourceful person who had a long habit of doing what she was told. Although she and her children survive the initial explosion, she and one of her daughters later come down with radiation sickness. Although she was passive towards the war, her opinion changes as she comes down with radiation sickness. “Mrs. Nakamura and her relatives had been quite resigned and passive about the moral issue of the atomic bomb, but this rumor suddenly aroused them to more hatred and resentment of America than they had felt all through the war.” (Hersey 42) The rumor in question is that America dropped poison with the bomb in order to make the people sick and unable to put up a fight. However, when this rumor is later dispelled, she becomes passive once again. However, the effects of the war are still hard on her. Along with suffering from the sickness, she also suffers from destitution, but she does not blame the war for her problems, and eventually even manages to secure a job. This goes along with the theme of not giving up. Even despite how bad of a situation she got in, she didn’t throw her hands up and give up on trying to have a better life. Another character in this book is Ms. Sasaki, who, similarly to how Mrs.