Journal 8- Lily Eldadah

Two characters that I will hold onto from Hiroshima are Mr. Tanimoto and Mrs. Nakamura. The reason I will be holding onto these two characters is because they both played a huge role in the book by being heroic, caring people, who put others lives before their own. Starting with Mr. Tanimoto, I will hold onto how he responded to the atomic bomb by helping others and apologizing to everyone he saw that was hurt. He felt guilty for being lucky enough to not be harmed like everyone else, and this reaction is so eye opening to how caring and considerate some people are. Next, Mrs. Nakamura, who did anything and everything she could to take care of her three kids and keep them safe.  From the beginning of the book after the bomb when she searched and screamed for her three children and dug them out of the remains from the house, to the end of the book, where although she was growing really tired she continued to work to make enough money to feed her three children! Both these characters are very important and survived the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, and instead of becoming malicious; they were grateful for their lives and helped out who they could with their wealth.

I do not want to forget how I reacted to the book emotionally because I am a very emotional person and that is the way I most reacted to the book. How strong each of the 6 characters were in Hiroshima and how positive they stayed throughout their lives is really motivating to me and I hope that I will be able to go through my little struggles as well as they did with their huge struggles. For example, Dr. Sasaki went through many struggles in his life including the atomic bomb, the feeling of dying, and the death of his wife, but he continued to prosper and continued to stay positive and helpful. I hope to hold onto his reaction to hard times, and hopefully be able to react in this way for my struggles in life.

Three passages I want to hold onto are:

1.                    “They did not move and he realized that they were too weak to lift themselves. He reached  down and took a woman by the hands but her skin slipped off in huge, glovelike pieces, he was sickened by this that he had to sit down for a moment. Then he got into the water and, though a small man, lifted several of the men and women, who were naked, into his boat,” (45). I would like to hold onto this quote because it is a great visual of how badly the people suffered after the bombing, and also how strong and compassionate Mr. Tanimoto was because honestly I feel like if I was I his position I would be too sickened by the sight of that to continue to help them.

2.                    “And as if nature were protecting man against his own ingenuity, the reproductive processes were affected for time; men became sterile, women had miscarriages, menstration stopped” (78).

3.                    “The fathers and brothers of the Nagasaki Novitiate noticed over the years that there were almost always fresh flowers at the grave,” (118). This passage really stuck to me.

            One thing we can learn from this book is to remember big events that have effected the world we live in. We should not forget the things that changed history. Like many people have heard before,  “It is important to learn from our past to avoid the reoccurrence of this in our future”.  This book really helped me understand the incident before, during and after the atomic bomb of average people living in Hiroshima and a lot could be learned from this book.