The experiences of six people that survived the planets first nuclear explosion are reported to us in Hiroshima by John Hershey. The book begins by describing the situation of the six individuals just before and at the moment of the explosion that changed history.
The book first introduces Miss. Sasaki, a tin factory secretary, had just turned to say something to her friend. Next, Dr. Masakazu Fugii, a doctor at a private hospital, was about the sit on his porch and read the daily newspaper. Then, Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura was looking at his next-door neighbor through her kitchen window.
Fr. Wilhelm Kleinsorge, a German priest, was lying on a couch in his house reading a magazine. We continue with Dr. Teru Fumi Sasaki, a surgeon was walking down the hospital hallway carrying blood specimens. Finally, Rev. Mr. Kayo She Tanimoto, the pastor of the Hiroshima Methodist Church, was about to put away some clothes.
While these innocents civilians were carrying out their lives, yet unknown to them, a plane called the Enola Gay silently passed unnoticed overhead and quietly dropped the world’s deadliest bomb that changed history forever. All they saw was a split second, a tremendous flash of light which gave them just enough time to turn their heads, and then chaos rang out like church bells on a Sunday morning.
When the bomb detonated all hell broke loose. Miss. Sasaki was knocked unconscious when her bookcase trampled her to the ground. Dr. Masakazu Fugii was tossed, like a stone, into the nearby river. Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura was trapped under her many household items. Fr. Wilhelm Kleinsorge fell to the ground and hid behind his desk. Dr. Teru Fumi Sasaki simply fell to the ground. And finally, Rev. Mr. Kayo She Tanimoto was hurled to the ground and covered by the garments he was putting away.
The scope of destruction was enormous. It looked like an apocalypse. Everything near the center of where the bomb dropped was totally obliterated. Buildings turned to rubble. People turned to ash. It was chaotic. The survivors were running madly along the streets in a fog of radiation.
Some suffered burn marks, some severed limbs, others, who unfortunately stood outside when the bomb dropped, were permanently burned to the sides of buildings and roasted like an insect on a bed of lava. Nothing was left but the cries of the survivors. Civilizations just came crashing over Hiroshima
The scope of moral destruction was also unprecedented. It was very obvious that the bomb was in the wrong hands. Just like the Emperor and the flying machine, he was afraid not of the man who invented the flying machine, but the people who could get their hands on it. IT is very odd that at the same time the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, so did the television in the Western world.
Television is evil in itself. It tries to make us forget about what is going on, in this case, Hiroshima and diverts our attention to commercials and soap operas. It is like a shield that is poisoning our minds into thinking that the dropping of the bomb is irrelevant, and slowly starts to pull us away until we forget it ever happened. War is inhumanity run wild on the largest scale.
Until this century, people had to kill others one at a time. Until this century our savage impulses had a limit. Science changed all that. One person can destroy many at the touch of a button. Thus, there are fewer limits to savagery than in Hiroshima. These days, the killing experience is remote and the savagery comes easy because their moral horror is remote. We sense that we could have easily been in their place.
Hence the popularity of T.V. The enormous scale of the horror is a nagging reminder of our weakness and fear. We can’t go back to killing one at a time or in large numbers. To prevent this requires intelligent strength. Where is the good tyrant to keep everyone in strength?.
