In John Hersey’s novel Hiroshima, community ties play a significant role that enables the citizens of Hiroshima to work together and survive. The benefits of these community bonds are displayed when a fire sweeps into Asano Park, where most of the city is gathered. Several young men with relatively light injuries come together and volunteer to “[fight] the fire for more than two hours, and [they] gradually [defeat] the flames”(Hersey 38). This gradual extinguishing of the fire over a long time span indicates that their fight against the fire is a toilsome struggle and is barely achieved. However, the fire is eventually overcome as the community works together. The fire here represents one of the community’s many adversities, and just how the
