Hersey’s Purpose in Writing Hiroshima

John Hersey was born in China on June 17th, 1914. John Hersey wrote the book Hiroshima on August 31, 1946. The book is about six survivors from the bombing of Hiroshima. The survivors was: Mrs. Hatsuy Nakamura, Dr. Terufumi Sasaki, Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge, Toshiko Sasaki, Dr. Masakazu Fujii, and Reverend Kiyoshi Tanimoto. These survivors were very strong people. They had to live off any resources that were left.

Hersey wrote the book to tell the effects of the nuclear weapon. So he chose those 6 people. He described the pain that was visible. He also told about how much destruction the bomb had caused. Hersey also told the readers about how many people had died and te conditions they were in. The bomb caused exscrutiating burns all over their body. Many of the people that didn’t die from the bomb was sickened with nausea, headaches, diarrhea, malaise, fever and other symptoms.

It killed ninety-five per cent of the people within a half-mile of the center, and many thousands who were farther away. Hersey explained in the book the moment that the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.Hiroshima was also written to tell about the rumors that were going around about what had just happened in their town. The book also explained how the bomb surviors was able to put their lives back together with all their injuries and the scarceless resources.

It also tells about how all the survivors had to work together to survive. Hersey also tells the readers about how the survivors are today. He found out that two were dead. Another was a nun. One of them had started touring the U.S.A for money so he could rebuild his church. Another had become a surgeon in his own clinic. No description about the last survivor.

So as you can see the book Hiroshima was very helpful. It helped see the effects of the bomb. Also, it helped described the pain that it caused outside of the body and inside. It also gives assistance to the scientist to see how much destruction in the a town that the bomb had caused.