Essay On Michiya's Hiroshima Diary '

The dropping of the atomic bomb is perhaps one of the most controversial and debated matters in America’s history. It killed hundreds of thousands - if not millions - of innocent people, and it affected even more. “Hiroshima Diary,” by Michihiko Hachiya, is a book which tells the story of a physician who was injured during this event. The book begins with Dr. Hachiya lounging at his house right before the bomb is dropped. As soon as Hachiya is able to comprehend why his entire house is falling apart around him, and why he is suddenly bleeding and missing his clothes, he runs to the area that used to be his front yard in search of his wife. Upon finding her, Hachiya and his wife begin the slow journey to the only building that is still standing

The way that Michihiko explains his emotions while going through the days - not knowing how many people were going to survive, or if any of them would survive - makes it rather easy for the reader to connect to the story emotionally. Michihiko explains his feelings and perceptions in a way that is easy for the reader to understand, and he also describes the setting of his journals very well. Dr. Hachiya's descriptive settings give the reader an image of post-bomb Hiroshima that was only available to the citizens of Hiroshima. The way that Hachiya's descriptions include every small detail of the scenes around him, and of the images that flash through his mind, really helps to give the reader a sense of the destruction and confusion that the citizens of Hiroshima felt after the bomb was dropped. Another thing that Hachiya’s telling of the story helps an outsider to grasp is the unknowing of almost every person in Hiroshima as to what happened to cause such devastation. Almost everyone understood that the destruction could only have been caused by some new type of weapon, but nobody had any idea as to what such a weapon could be. Another group that did not understand the new type of weaponry that was used against them were the doctors who treated those with radiation poisoning. Because they did not know that an atomic bomb was used, many of the doctors in Hiroshima began