“Hiroshima” by John Hersey Explores Unique Perspectives on the 1945 Bombing
On Aug. 6, 1945, Hiroshima, Japan was the victim of an atomic bomb dropped by the United States. Over 100,000 people were estimated dead, with thousands still remaining unnamed today. While it’s impossible to accurately account for every person’s experience in the bombing, “Hiroshima” by John Hersey does an incredible job of sharing six unique perspectives from the tragic event.
Hersey explores the perspectives of Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura, Dr. Terufumi Sasaki, Reverend Kiyoshi Tanimoto, Miss Toshinki Sasaki, Dr. Masakazu Fujii, and Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge, each with a story vastly different from the next. From a mother of three children to a German priest, Hersey captures a variety of experiences to share with the world.
The novel utilizes a unique structure, consisting of five parts reflecting each stage in the tragedy, from the moments before the bomb dropped to decades after the event. Each character’s story begins as an isolated perspective, but as the novel continues, some perspectives merge together and characters interact with each other through their own perspective. While this stylistic choice seemed confusing at first, it ultimately ended up making the novel that much more impactful and engaging, capturing an even more realistic telling of the events.
Hersey’s portrayal of the events through the eyes of each character made the story incredibly unique; something that not a lot of authors are able to achieve. Originally written in 1946, just a year after the bombing, “Hiroshima” only included four chapters, telling the story through a few months after the bombing. In 1985, Hersey updated the novel, adding a fifth chapter, “The Aftermath,” adding details of the characters’ lives years after the explosion and going into detail about what each person did with their life.
The addition of this chapter made the novel even more emotionally challenging than it already was; while some characters had incredibly happy endings, changing their lives for the better, it is heartbreaking to find out that two of the characters passed away from bomb-related health issues and injuries. In any book, the death of a character can be upsetting, but because of the realistic nature of this novel, in which Hersey writes strictly about real people’s experiences, whom he interviewed himself in the months after the bomb, the deaths are even more devastating.
Throughout the novel, Hersey shows how the characters evolved and changed as a result of the bomb. We see how each character responds in the face of tragedy, and we see their true colors and values shine in the aftermath. From the empathetic nature of Dr. Sasaki, who spends days and weeks working endlessly to treat thousands of patients solo, to Mrs. Nakamura’s motherly nature that allows her to fight through her injuries and sickness, Hersey explores the true values that come into play during the disaster.
Hersey does an incredible job of sharing the stories of these six individuals who experienced the heartbreaking event. “Hiroshima” reflects one of the biggest tragedies in history, and it not only serves as a novel to share these stories, but it also educates everyone who reads it, emphasizing important details and truly showing the effects of this tragedy on a personal level.
