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.
