Hiroshima by John Hersey essays

Hiroshima by John Hersey essays In his book, Hiroshima, John Hersey tells the story of six human beings who lived through the greatest single man-made disaster in history the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Brilliant in his straightforward and unambiguous prose, John Hersey explains what these six individuals were doing immediately before and after 8:15 a.m. on that fateful day when the first atomic bomb destroyed Hiroshima. The story in its eloquence weaves a tale of the lives of these six survivors from the time they awoke on that momentous morning until the moment when, with a blinding flash, their lives were irrevocably changed. Hersey's purpose in writing this book is to demonstrate how the dropping of the atomic bomb impacted the lives of its victims in hopes that the horror of this event will never be repeated. Employing everyday language and depicting commonplace occurrences, Hersey enables the reader to experience the daily routines of the people. The author divides each chapter into sections that follow the movements of the six people during specific periods of time that morning. The book begins with their first waking thought, carries the six through the actual bombing of the city, and describes their utter bewilderment as to what had transpired. Hersey goes into minute detail, describing the sounds, the smells, and the sights. Although the citizens of Hiroshima anticipated that their city would be attacked, they did not expect the level of destruction that the atomic bomb produced. Hersey uses quotations from citizens who survived the assault to illustrate the people's inability to comprehend the devastation. Small clues such as the fact that walls had tumbled inward, not outward, the collapse of so many buildings when the people heard no planes, and the fact that not enough bombs h ad fallen to cause such a catastrophe, are but a few of the personal details the book sets forth. ...