Analysis Of John Hersey's Hiroshima

Excuse me for having no burden like yours” said Mr. Tanimoto . The words of Mr. Tanimoto, a Reverend who survived the atomic bombing in Hiroshima, is a parallel of my initial response to reading Hiroshima. I cannot fathom the atrocity that the victims and survivors of Hiroshima must have felt, but my immediate response to the book Hiroshima written by John Hersey was that the suffering of the Japanese could have been avoided if the United States would have enforced proportionality. The atomic bomb itself was disproportionate because it not only hurt the army but “a hundred thousand people,” including civilians. Moreover, the survivors experienced environmental contamination. Some of these experiences John Hersey was able to embed in his book …show more content…
Hersey was the voice of the six initial survivors of the bombing. The initial survivors of the bomb that Hersey wrote about were Miss Sasaki a clerk, Dr. Fuji a physician, Mrs. Nakamura tailor’s widow, Father Kleinsorge a German priest, Dr. Sasaki a young surgeon, and Reverend Tanimoto a pastor. The story begins with each of the characters experiencing the atomic bomb. Hersey utilizes pathos and ethos to determine if the total war was justifiable in the bombing of Hiroshima. I argue that America bombing the of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was disproportional. I will show Hersey how the rhetoric made me as the reader feel the suffering of Dr. Fuji, Father Kleinsgore and Miss Sasaki to establish that the atomic bomb was not …show more content…
Sasaki was another survivor of the bombing who was a young surgeon at the Red Cross Hospital. He was carrying a blood sample up the stairs when the bombing took place. Dr. Sasaki was the only doctor who was not hurt and had to take care of numerous bomb victims. After the bombing, Dr. Sasaki worked tirelessly for “nineteen hours straight” he was unable to dress “another wound.” Hersey explaining the exhaustion that Dr. Sasaki had to experience showed another side of the bombing and suffering. The experience of tiredness affected the Hiroshima survivors because they were tired of living with the things that hurt them the most. Dr. Sasaki worked all he could do was attempt to help heal the hurt and relieve some of the tiredness by doing his job. After, reading and reflecting on the tiredness that Dr. Sasaki experience reminded me of when I was having blackouts throughout high school. I could sympathize with the victims when I felt tired of having to go to the doctor and never figuring out what caused my blackouts and I still sometimes experience them today. From Dr. Sasaki himself seeing people suffer from radiation sickness with no were else to turn made everyone feel tired. Once things were better Dr. Sasaki left the Red Cross and started his own private clinic. Dr. Sasaki, Mr. Tanimoto, and Mrs. Nakamura went through the tragedies of a disproportionate war against