Hiroshima, written by John Hersey, is now seen as one of the first examples of new journalism in literature. New journalism is a style of writing that came about in the 1960s and 70s. It is centred around the idea of a subjective perspective on journalism and nonfiction writing. After publishing Hiroshima in 1946, Hersey would note about the book that, “the things we remember are emotions and impressions and illusions and images and characters: the elements of fiction.” This quote perfectly exemplifies the method of development used in Hiroshima. Hersey uses elements of fiction writing to draw the reader in. By using an illustrative method of development, Hersey leads the reader to understand and agree with his opinion on the atomic bomb, rather than follow the traditional, factual method of journalism at the time.
“He reached down and took a woman by the hands, but her skin slipped off in huge, glove like pieces.”
– Excerpt from Hiroshima by John Hersey
Something that I found interesting when reading Hiroshima is that Hersey never explicitly states his opinion on the atomic bomb. Instead, Hersey uses that style of fiction writing, purple prose and allusion to persuade the reader to unconsciously agree with his opinion. As I was reading, I noticed that Hersey spent a lot of time describing injuries and harm, almost to draw a feeling of sympathy from the reader. Hersey’s choice to only focus on 6 people rather than all of the hibakusha as a whole allows the reader to relate and connect to events in the story. Now I don’t mean the average American understands what its like to have their skin hanging from their faces, but it is much easier to relate to a soldier’s widow with 2 kids or a man separated from his family because of the war. By implementing a descriptive narrative to the event, Hersey gives the reader an opportunity to relate and connect the story to events in their own lives.
It is quite understandable that relations between the Japanese and the Americans would be tense, but I think Hersey’s ultimate goal with the book was to shift the public opinion of the bomb and of the Japanese. The bomb was seen as a positive around the world. After all, it ended the war and brought about VJ Day. Very few newspapers would have focused on the hundreds of thousands affected by the bomb. Hersey brought his new technique of including fiction techniques to non fiction writing in order to capture the worlds attention and show the world that the atomic bomb is nothing we have seen before. The development and use of the atom bomb was not a cause for celebration; it could very well be the end of humanity. Like I said before, Hersey was trying to draw that feeling of sympathy, and maybe even empathy, towards the victims of the atom bomb. It just so happened that these victims were seen as the enemy at the time, which is what made Hiroshima so revolutionary and groundbreaking.
Many journalists saw the bomb as an excellent topic for writing, but few understood the suffering that had happened in the Pacific Theatre the way Hersey did. Many of the reporters of the time wrote about the success America had against the “Japs”, which is a very 2 dimensional view on the topic. I think the reason Hiroshima had so much success as a novel was that it brought light to the actual suffering caused by the bomb. The novel stood out among the other reports as a new perspective, focusing on the “enemy”, which I think was the reason Hersey wrote about it in the first place.
Hersey introduced a new perspective, something that was very much needed, to the USA and the rest of the world. After spending the last 6 years plagued by war, the world needed a reminder that everyone is human, that every weapon used in war affects real people. Hiroshima showed the world that in that number of 130,000 casualties, each and every one of them had emotions, feelings, and a life.