Hiroshima Essay

The most significant theme in John Hersey’s book “Hiroshima” are the long- term effects of war, confusion about what happened, long term mental and physical scars, short term mental and physical scars, and people being killed.

The confusing things after the A-bomb was dropped on Hiroshima where that the city had been wiped out, all means of communication where gone, all the roads and street signes where wiped out, destroyed or blocked by collapsed buildings “…saw through the darkness that all the houses in her neighbourhood had collapsed.”1 People not knowing what had happened as there had been no siting of a plane before the bomb was dropped, not being sure if a bomb or a fire had caused all the damage “The Americans are dropping gasoline. They’re going to set fire to us!”, and not knowing what the site effects of the bomb would be on the people and land such as acid rain “The drops grew abnormally large.”2

The long-term mental and physical scars left on the people of Hiroshima would have been not knowing what happened to family members, and friends who where missing and still are missing to this day, “You’ve go to find him”3, and “….search for him.”4 The physical scars left on the people of Hiroshima after the bombing are, organ damage, disease, accelerated aging, eye brows burnt off and skin damaged on faces and hands. People forgetting what Americans did to Japanese civilians, by dropping that awful thing, “He was slowing a bit. His memory, like the world’s was getting spotty.”8 Now whenever anything shocking happens to America all they want is compassion, and for all people to worry about them and their need, and not for their enemies, as all there past history has been swept under the carpet, for dust together on.

The short-term mental and physical scars left on the people of Hiroshima were people suffering in gutters and on side of roads before death, none seriously injured people not helping injured, and none seriously injured not being able to help injured as there where to many injured. The city being on fire, and people having to stay in river to seek refuge from the fire but drowned due to being exhausted and the strong currents, one side of the city extremely burnt while the other was not. People trying to help rescue and escape from the fire and city but not able to due to more fire and destruction “He tried several cross streets, but all were blocked.”5, and “…as he approached