Hiroshima John Hersey

How does Hersey use descriptive details (imagery, language, character development) to convey meaning and ideas in Hiroshima?

Is he able to show dread towards the power of nuclear weapons? Randomness of death? Survival? Uncertainty and ignorance? Widespread destruction means personal suffering?

Hersey has given a factual description of the first impression or observation of the blinding light of all the six characters. Hersey emphasizes what statistics cannot: that the extreme destruction is so unexpected and so shocking that these survivors remember clearly their first reactions.

Hersey’s effort was to show the human consequences of war. Hiroshima awakened Americans to the bomb's impact on everyday human beings leading everyday lives.

To the factual details Hersey added more human elements, such as how each person felt and what his or her human cares and concerns were on that particular day. Hersey wanted the readers to see that this gigantic event happened to real human beings and that those individuals were forever changed on that day.

Element of suspense By stopping each story where he does in this first chapter, Hersey adds to the suspense and desire to read on. When the tailor’s wife ( a single mother who struggles in life) and her children are buried in debris in their home, readers want to find out what happens to these people who have struggled to get through life.

All of these cares and vicissitudes of life make readers of all racial and socioeconomic backgrounds see these survivors as average, ordinary people caught up in an extraordinary event.

Symbols/ Irony ? Light, which is usually associated with spiritual purity and goodness in traditional Western fiction, is now a destroyer.

Dr. Fujii, When he regains consciousness, is being held aloft between the timbers of his house like crossed chopsticks, a traditional Asian image that reminds readers of the culture and Eastern civilization that is about to be destroyed. Although the account is factual, it is also ironic that these timbers symbolize chopsticks, a tool for eating and thus nurturing.

Chapter 1 ends with an ironic note Universal symbol – books. What do you think is the significance of the last paragraph of chapter 1 ? Explain the symbolism. Explain the irony.

He ends the chapter on an ironic note by explaining that Miss Sasaki is being crushed by books. Mankind's knowledge/ education — symbolized by books — has become not a tool for improving life but a weapon of destruction. This is what makes August 6, 1945, a watershed event: Man's capacity to use his creativity and intelligence to make the world a better place has instead been used to produce technology that can destroy on an unprecedented level.

Homework Read Chapter 2 to page 29. As you read through, record three bits of quoted evidence from the text IN YOUR NOTES that give us descriptive details or imagery. 1) Write out the full quotation and the page number 2) Then explain what the description conveys. Why is it significant?