Shigematsuu Shizuma's Black Rain

Black Rain

The novel, Black Rain, is a first hand recall of the events of a man's life during the bombing of Hiroshima. The main character, Shigematsu Shizuma, is concerned that his niece, Yasuko, will be unable to marry because prospective husbands are scared off due to the fact that she was near the bombing and that her or her children will suffer the effects of this radiation sickness that had already affected so many. In his quest to find a husband for his niece he decides to rewrite his journal of the bombing of Hiroshima. It is his copying of this journal that takes the reader though the treacherous events of the bombing and the effects on his and others' lives. Mr. Shizuma writes of every detail of the bombing. He describes
You could easily imagine the hopeless feelings of the people of Japan as doctors came to try and treat a disease that they had never seen before and were leery of even trying to treat if for fear of catching it themselves. You can easily see the paranoia as "air raids" were yelled out again and again as people put on their air raid caps and ran for cover. When I think of war I think of a battle fought far off in a foreign land. We feel protected because we are in our own country. These people probably felt the same thing until the bombing. I can't imagine the horror of having not only your house, but also having your entire hometown destroyed in the blink of an eye. The destruction of the city was only the initial damage done. The sickness that affected the people reminded them for many years to come of the effects the bombing would continue to have on their lives. When the book ends, you are really given dose of the fear of the people as they ponder what was going to happen to them at the end of the war. You can feel the fear of the people as they try to imagine the things that are going to happen as they are taken over by another country. They feared that their culture was about to be taken away from