Genre
Journalism
Setting and Context
Hiroshima, Japan in 1945, at the end of World War II
Narrator and Point of View
As it is a piece of reporting, Hiroshima is narrated from a third-person point of view. It follows six subjects: Mr. Tanimoto, Father Kleinsorge, Miss Sasaki, Dr. Sasaki, Dr. Fuji, and Mrs. Nakamura, flipping between their stories and spending equal time on all of them.
Tone and Mood
The mood is initially one of panic, as the survivors try to keep themselves alive and help others in the immediate aftermath of the bombing. Eventually, the book takes on a tone of resolve as the survivors harden themselves to their new lifestyle.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Six residents of Hiroshima are the protagonists. The immediate antagonist is the atomic bomb, and the more distant antagonist is the United States, Japan's war enemy that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima.
Major Conflict
The United States drops an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan in an attempt to force the nation's surrender, and the citizens of Hiroshima must work to survive in the aftermath, helping both their neighbors and themselves.
Climax
Because this is journalism and the story has no real ending, there is no definitive climax. The detonation of the atomic bomb is a kind of climax, but this happens at the very beginning of the book.
Foreshadowing
The initial paragraphs of Chapter 1 explain what each subject was doing in the instant before the bomb hit. Many people anticipate an air attack from a B-29 plane, and their musings over this foreshadow the eventual bomb that is to come. Mr. Tanimoto, for example, is moving many of his important belongings out of the city because he expects an attack to happen soon.
Understatement
N/A
Allusions
N/A
Imagery
See separate section on imagery.
Paradox
N/A
Parallelism
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
As is true in many war stories, nations themselves are personified. At the end of Chapter 3, when the Emperor himself broadcasts word of the surrender, Mr. Tanimoto uses the phrase "Japan started on her new way" (Chapter 3, pg. 81). Hersey also frequently describes the city itself as one would a living being, with phrases like "Wild flowers were in bloom among the city's bones" (Chapter 4, pg. 85).
