Important Quotations Explained
1. There,
in the tin factory, in the first moment of the atomic age, a human
being was crushed by books.
This powerful quotation, referring to
Miss Sasaki’s injury after the atomic explosion, ends the first
chapter of Hiroshima. The image is powerful because
it juxtaposes very disparate elements. Both tin factories and books
represent technologies that have become old-fashioned in the atomic
age. Books are mundane and nonthreatening, whereas the force of
the blast is almost beyond human comprehension. On the other hand,
both books and “the atomic age” suggest human knowledge turning
on human beings to destroy them. Miss Sasaki is crushed because
of the misuse of scientific knowledge, and the fact that books literally
fall on her and crush her symbolically underscores this idea.
2. He
was the only person making his way into the city; he met hundreds
and hundreds who were fleeing, and every one of them seemed to be
hurt in some way. The eyebrows of some were burned off and skin
hung from their faces and hands. Others, because of pain, held their
arms up as if carrying something in both hands. Some were vomiting
as they walked. Many were naked or in shreds of clothing. On some undressed
bodies, the burns had made patterns—of undershirt straps and suspenders
and, on the skin of some women (since white repelled the heat from
the bomb and dark clothes absorbed it and conducted it to the skin),
the shapes of flowers they had had on their kimonos. Many, although
injured themselves, supported relatives who were worse off. Almost
all had their heads bowed, looked straight ahead, were silent, and
showed no expression whatsoever.
Mr. Tanimoto encounters this gruesome
scene as he runs into the city in search of his wife and child in
Chapter Two. This is one of a few scenes where we encounter large
groups of severely injured, nameless victims of the bomb. Hersey
describes the scene graphically, but he does not try to sensationalize
this potentially dramatic, cinematic moment; he merely describes
the tragic facts and allows the horrible details to speak for themselves.
This paragraph also conveys two of the narrative’s themes—that following
the tragedy, the victims helped one another as best as they could,
whether or not they were injured, themselves; and that many victims
showed a uniquely Japanese stoicism regarding their pain.
3. “Why
have you not come to Asano Park? You are badly needed there.”
Without
even looking up from his work, the doctor said in a tired voice,
“This is my station.”
“But there are many
people dying on the riverbank over there.”
“The
first duty,” the doctor said, “is to take care of the slightly wounded.”
“Why—when
there are many who are heavily wounded on the riverbank?”
The
doctor moved to another patient. “In an emergency like this,” he
said, as if he were reciting from a manual, “the first task is to
help as many as possible—to save as many lives as possible. There
is no hope for the heavily wounded. They will die. We can’t bother
with them.”
“That may be right from a medical
standpoint—” Mr. Tanimoto began, but then he looked out across the
field, where the many dead lay close and intimate with those who were
still living, and he turned away without finishing his sentence,
angry now with himself.
In this exchange in Chapter Three, Hersey
depicts the overwhelming sense of hopelessness that many of the
uninjured felt when faced with so many others’ pain and death. Mr.
Tanimoto tries to blame the doctors for not doing more to help.
However, in this scene he realizes that there are not enough doctors
to care for the thousands of injured people, and that most of the
seriously injured will simply be left to die. Hersey mentions in
Chapter Two the fact that out of 150 doctors
in Hiroshima, sixty-five were killed and most of the rest were wounded.
Out of 1,780 nurses, 1,654 were
either dead or too badly hurt to help anyone. Compounding the tragedy
of Hiroshima was this lack of medical care. Doctors and nurses were
either killed or injured, or they had no access to hospitals, medical
supplies, and resources. Many injured people could have survived
the explosion with proper treatment, but there was simply no one
to provide it. In this passage, Hersey forces us to face this fact,
and thus, other ramifications of the atom bomb explosion.
4. Over
everything—up through the wreckage of the city, in gutters, along
the riverbanks, tangled among tiles and tin roofing, climbing on
charred tree trunks—was a blanket of fresh, vivid, lush, optimistic
green; the verdancy rose even from the foundations of ruined houses.
Weeds already hid the ashes, and wild flowers were in bloom among
the city’s bones. The bomb had not only left the underground organs of
the plants intact; it had stimulated them.
In Chapter Four, Miss Sasaki is brought
into Hiroshima for the first time since the bombing. On the way
to the hospital where she is being taken, she is amazed to see that
amid all the destruction there is an unexpected display of life—lush
greenery, weeds, and wildflowers in the crevices of the ruins. The
inclusion of this observation provides the narrative with hope as
well as a touch of irony. The most destructive device ever made
by man has annihilated 100,000 people,
destroyed an entire city, and changed the future of modern warfare
forever—yet nature still endures and flourishes in the cracks caused
by the destruction. More than merely surviving, nature seems to
be taking over in a way that gives Miss Sasaki “the creeps,” as
though humans have had their chance to contain it, and nature is returning
to take over again. Hersey includes Miss Sasaki’s humorous observation
that “it actually seemed as if a load of sickle-senna seed had been
dropped along with the bomb.” In detailing one of a number of unexpected
consequences of the bomb, this passage contributes to the sense
that the victims are unwitting participants in a gruesome scientific
experiment.
5. Dr.
Y. Hiraiwa, professor of Hiroshima University of Literature and
Science, and one of my church members, was buried by the bomb under
the two storied house with his son, a student of Tokyo University.
Both of them could not move an inch under tremendously heavy pressure.
And the house already caught fire. His son said, ‘Father, we can
do nothing except make our mind up to consecrate our lives for the
country. Let us give Banzai to our Emperor.’ Then the father followed
after his son, ‘Tenno-heika, Banzai, Banzai, Banzai!’ . . . In thinking
of their experience of that time Dr. Hiraiwa repeated, ‘What a fortunate
that we are Japanese! It was my first time I ever tasted such a
beautiful spirit when I decided to die for our Emperor.’
At the end of Chapter Four, we read
excerpts from letters that Mr. Tanimoto wrote to Americans, describing
the attitudes of many Japanese regarding the bomb. As in this passage,
he continually depicts the Japanese as people who demonstrate selfless
fidelity to their country and the emperor. Stories such as these
help explain that the main reaction of the Japanese, after the horrific
bombing, was one of optimistic rebuilding, not anger or bitterness.
The Japanese in Mr. Tanimoto’s stories seemed to embrace the opportunity
to work or die for their country, and Hersey does not counteract
this depiction by showing the views of people who might have been
openly critical of the bombing.
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