John Hersey's Hiroshima Bombing Effects

Life for the two hundred and forty-five thousand innocent Japanese civilians after the atomic bomb struck Hiroshima as impossible to fathom. The decimation of Hiroshima and its brave Japanese citizens with an inequivalent sense of nationalism can only be understood through stories of very few lucky survivors. John Hersey’s Hiroshima attempts to provide an understanding for all the abandoned and helpless Japanese citizens that were tragically affected by “the first moment of the atomic age” (Hersey 16). Concerning the aftermath of the tragic events of Hiroshima, the city and its people were greatly impacted.
Addressing the true severity and longevity of the atomic bomb’s aftermath, complete obliteration ravaged the city of Hiroshima. Moments after the atomic bomb made contact with Hiroshima “a gigantic photographic flash” (Hersey 14) swept the city. Once the blinding light subsided, the Japanese
Considering the rough estimation of a hundred thousand casualties, “twenty-five percent had died from direct burns from the bomb, about fifty percent from other injuries, and about twenty percent as a result of radiation effects” (Hersey 81). Those fortunate enough to survive were severely burned and cut to the point where “eyebrows of some were burned off and skin hung from their face and hands” (Hersey 29). Within the ruins of flatted city blocks “every second or third house came voices of people buried and abandoned” (Hersey 28). According to Hersey, “in general, survivors that day assisted only their relatives or immediate neighbors” (Hersey 29). Countless bodies, both dead and alive, were scattered throughout the devastation. According to Mr. Tanimoto, one of the documented survivors, “distinguishing the living from the dead was not easy, for most of the people lay still with their eyes open” (Hersey