"He felt a sudden pressure, and then splinters and pieces of board and fragments of tile fell on him. He heard no roar. (Almost no one in Hiroshima recalls hearing any noise of the bomb)"
This quote deals with Rev. Tanimoto's experience of the explosion of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, highlighting its brutality as his house crumbles around him. While this is a personal account, Hersey highlights how Tanimoto's individual experience is indicative of the wider experience of those in Hiroshima, who also did not recall "hearing any noise of the bomb." Thus through, using an individual as a case study, Hersey manages to explore the effects of the bomb on the wider community and the Japanese consciousness in general. The short sentence "he heard no roar" is intentionally succinct, reflecting the sudden impact of the bomb itself. The fact that it did not "roar" also emphasizes its unnatural nature: the immediate explosion is all the more horrific in its silence.
"On the other side, at a higher spit, he lifted the slimy living bodies out and carried them up the slope away from the tide. He had to keep consciously repeating to himself, these are human beings."
This quote about Mr. Tanimoto provokes a visceral reaction from the reader, using the grotesque "slimy" to emphasize the condition of victims on the brink of death. Their condition dehumanizes them to "living bodies" as opposed to individuals: indeed, Tanimoto has to remind himself that they are animate through his repeated mantra, "these are human beings."
“There, in the tin factory, in the first moment of the atomic age, a human being was crushed by books.”
The book immediately emphasizes the human impact of the "atomic age": an age where it is easy to forget about the individual in favor of technological advancement. Hersey consciously refers to Miss Sasaki as a "human being," drilling in a message of humanity. This sets the tone of Hersey's work, one that studies individual struggles as a way of highlighting the horrific impact of war: the death toll of 145,000 suddenly has a human face.
"And, as if nature were protecting man against his own ingenuity, the reproductive processes were affected for a time; men became sterile, women had miscarriages, menstruation stopped."
Hersey personifies nature, attributing protective intentions to it as a protective force against the brute of mankind by preventing the reproduction of mankind. The sentence is politically charged, highlighting how nuclear weapons are a perversion of the natural order; the natural order is, in a sense, fighting back.
"(...) their faces were wholly burned, their eyesockets were hollow, the fluid from their melted eyes had run down their cheeks."
The language is relentlessly brutal and unforgiving, presenting a realistic account of the appearance of the victims of the bomb. Eyes are often considered 'gateways to the soul', yet the impact of the bomb has hollowed out the eyes of many citizens, and the melted residue is described as resembling tears that "run down their cheeks." The sentence is thus both horrific and melancholy in tone.
"Over everything—up through the wreckage of the city, in gutters, along the river banks, 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."
This quote details a peculiar phenomenon that Miss Sasaki observes as she sees her ruined city for the first time. The explosion has actually stimulated the growth of plants, and they have begun to cover every surface, including the fragments of destroyed buildings. These small plants are a sign that the city still has hope, and that it will be reborn again.
"In an emergency like this, the first task is to help as many people 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."
This quote from a doctor at the East Parade Ground to Mr. Tanimoto reveals an unsettling truth about priorities in the wake of a disaster as severe as this one. Human instinct is to help those who are weakest and most gravely wounded first, but that is not the way medical providers can operate when dealing with thousands upon thousands of casualties. In order to truly save lives, doctors must choose to work on the injuries they actually have a chance of healing. This is difficult for Mr. Tanimoto, who has never fought in a war, to accept.
"As a Japanese he was overwhelmed with the shame of being unhurt."
Mr. Tanimoto is ashamed that he has escaped this tragedy unhurt while so many others are suffering and dying from terrible injuries. This sentiment is representative of one of the driving forces behind Japanese culture: guilt and shame that moves people to make honorable decisions. It is a different way of viewing the world than most readers will be familiar with, since Western culture typically prizes individual well-being and self-reliance.
"It was difficult for all the children in the park to sustain the sense of tragedy."
Though they are solemn, scared, and sick in the initial aftermath of the bombing, Mrs. Nakamura's children are still young, so the tragedy does not have as deep an effect on them as it does the adults in the park. This is example of the unique experience of children who lived through Hiroshima: they are resilient and can forget more easily, yet the event happened at such a formative, essential time that it was unknown how it might affect them later in life.
"One feeling they did seem to share, however, was a curious kind of elated community spirit, something like that of the Londoners after their blitz—a pride in the wy they and their fellow survivors had stood up to a dreadful ordeal."
Despite their suffering, the citizens of Hiroshima fought hard to recover from tragedy, rebuild their city, and return their lives to some semblance of normalcy. This is a powerful example of the uniting effect that war can have on a community. Today, Hiroshima is a thriving Japanese city that remembers its past, and though the survivors' lives would always be an uphill battle, the strength and resilience they showed in the face of their ordeal was inspiring to many.
