Summary Of Hiroshima By John Hersey

Many of us don’t realize just how devastating the atomic bomb was on Hiroshima. The author John Hersey in his book called Hiroshima suggests that we as Americans should feel more compassion towards those affected by the bomb as he tries to explain how terrifying that bomb really was. The book follows 6 different characters as it changes viewpoints we get to see the different ways people were in despair and in need of help. The book was published about 40 years after the tragedy as it persuades it readers of just how badly the atomic bomb affected their lives. The book was mainly aimed towards the general public that were a part of a subscription to get articles and such in the mail. There were multiple people that contributed to the book such

Firstly, a summary and basic knowledge will be needed to meet the requirements for understanding the full story. John Hersey’s book Hiroshima implies that the author is just simply wanting to bring awareness of the situation to make the general public comprehend the tragedy. In order for Hersey to be able to make his book, and inform his audience, he asked for 6 people to give their firsthand accounts of the occurrence. Two of them were doctors, two women, and two religious men were used to perceive the whole situation from the most painful moments to the happiest. At the beginning of the book our first character is Mr. Kiyoshi Tanimoto who is described as a community leader and a Methodist Pastor who luckily is unscathed by the explosion but trouble starts once fire caused by the explosion spreads throughout the town like wildfire forcing him to leave his location. On his way to the outskirts of town he helps people that are injured and carries them over. Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge who is a Jesuit priest consoles the ones in need of and helps bring water to those who need it. A lot of them escape towards the outskirts of town near a river but now they have to protect the injured from whirlwinds, the rising of the tide, and from the fire. The book then moves on to Miss Toshiko Sasaki who is a young clerk whose leg gets fractured in the explosion but she is out of luck as the wound is not treated and it gets infected which is not treated for until weeks after the explosion. The book then describes how many doctors were killed by the bomb with more than half being dead or heavily injured. The story then introduces Dr. Masakazu Fujii who is injured and is unable to help anybody else out but himself. Dr. Terufumi Sasaki is uninjured and remains to be part of the staff of the Red Cross Hospital and barely ever leaves his post. Weeks after the explosion a new factor of terror come in,