Three quotes from John Hersey’s “Hiroshima” seemed to really strike a chord with me.  Each shows a very different view of the affects of the atomic bomb.  In Chapter One, we see the destruction brought on by the bomb.  In Chapter Three, we are shown the hopelessness brought on by the bomb.  In Chapter Four, we see evidence of hope for the future for the first time since the bomb dropped.  Each of these quotes demonstrates a powerful message, and each enables the reader to empathize with the victims in a different way.

In the very last line of Chapter One, it says, “There, in the tin factory, in the first moment of the atomic age, a human being was crushed by books” (Hersey 16).  The imagery in this quotation is interesting, as she is “crushed by books,” showing how a human invention has turned on humanity.  This is also the case with the atomic bomb itself.  A human invention is being used to destroy humanity. 

In Chapter Three, Rev. Tanimoto decides to bring a doctor to Asano Park himself.  He then has the following conversation with an Army doctor:

“Why have you not come to Asano Park? You are badly needed there.”

Without even looking up from his work, the doctor said in a tired voice, “This is my station.”

“But there are many people dying on the riverbank over there.”

“The first duty,” the doctor said, “is to take care of the slightly wounded.”

“Why—when there are many who are heavily wounded on the riverbank?”

The doctor moved to another patient. “In an emergency like this,” he said, as if he were reciting from a manual, “the first task is to help as many 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.”

“That may be right from a medical standpoint—” Mr. Tanimoto began, but then he looked out across the field, where the many dead lay close and intimate with those who were still living, and he turned away without finishing his sentence, angry now with himself” (Hersey 50).

This conversation shows the extreme hopelessness that was felt by those who were not dead or dying.  Tanimoto tries to blame the doctors for not helping enough, but soon sees that they are doing the best that they can.  The weight of the conversation seems to lay in the fact that Tanimoto simply wants to find a way that they can save everyone, but it is hopeless, as there is no way to save the majority of the people injured.

The most interesting quote in the book is in Chapter Four, when Miss Sasaki is brought into Hiroshima for the very first time since the bombing.  “Over everything—up through the wreckage of the city, in gutters, along the riverbanks, 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. Weeds already hid the ashes, and wild flowers were in bloom among the city’s bones. The bomb had not only left the underground organs of the plants intact; it had stimulated them,” (Hersey, 69). 

This is significant, because it is a sign that even amid all of the destruction, life will go on.  It shows that even if humanity destroys itself, the world will regenerate and continue on without us.  Also, it shows a strange irony in that nature is already healing from the blast, while the humans will take years to overcome the devastation, which has been unleashed upon them.