Atomic Bomb And Its Effects On Post-World

War Ii Essay, Research Paper

The Atomic Bomb and its Effects on Post-World War II American LiteratureRob GioielliMrs.

McFarlanSenior English6 Dec. 1994Gioielli 1Rob GioielliMrs. McFarlanSenior English 6 Dec.

1994Then a tremendous flash of light cut across the sky . Mr. Tanimoto has a distinct

recollection that it traveled from east to west, from the city toward the hills. It seemed

like a sheet of sun. .John Hersey, from Hiroshima, pp.8 On August 6, 1945, the world

changed forever. On that day the United States of America detonated an atomic bomb over the

city of Hiroshima. Never before had mankind seen anything like. Here was something that

was slightly bigger than an ordinary bomb, yet could cause infinitely more destruction. It

could rip through walls and tear down houses like the devils wrecking ball. In Hiroshima it

killed 100,000 people, most non-military civilians. Three days later in Nagasaki it killed

roughly 40,000 . The immediate effects of these bombings were simple. The Japanese

government surrendered, unconditionally, to the United States. The rest of the world

rejoiced as the most destructive war in the history of mankind came to an end . All while

the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki tried to piece together what was left of their

lives, families and homes. Over the course of the next forty years, these two bombings,

and the nuclear arms race that followed them, would come to have a direct or indirect

effect on almost every man, woman and child on this Earth, including people in the United

States. The atomic bomb would penetrate every fabric of American existence. From our

politics to our educational system. Our industry and our art. Historians have gone so

far as to call this period in our history the .atomic age. for the way it has shaped and

guided world politics, relations and culture. The entire history behind the bomb itself is

rooted in Twentieth Century physics. At the time of the bombing the science of physics had

been undergoing a revolution for the past thirty-odd years. Scientists now had a clear

picture of what the atomic world was like. They new the structure and particle makeup of

atoms, as well as how they behaved. During the 1930.s it became apparent that there was a

immense amount of energy that would be released atoms of Gioielli 2certain elements were

split, or taken apart. Scientists began to realize that if harnessed, this energy could be

something of a magnitude not before seen to human eyes. They also saw that this energy

could possibly be harnessed into a weapon of amazing power. And with the advent of World

War Two, this became an ever increasing concern. In the early fall of 1939, the same time

that the Germans invaded Poland, President Roosevelt received a letter from Albert Einstein,

informing him about the certain possibilities of creating a controlled nuclear chain

reaction, and that harnessing such a reaction could produce a bomb of formidable strength.

He wrote: This new phenomena would lead also lead to the construction of bombs, and it is

conceivable, though much less certain-that extremely powerful bombs of a new type may thus

be constructed (Clark 556-557).The letter goes on to encourage the president to increase

government and military involvement in such experiments, and to encourage the experimental

work of the scientists with the allocation of funds, facilities and equipment that might be

necessary. This letter ultimately led to the Manhattan Project, the effort that involved

billions of dollars and tens of thousands of people to produce the atomic bomb. During the

time after the war, until just recently the American psyche has been branded with the threat

of a nuclear holocaust. Here was something so powerful, yet so diminutive. A bomb that

could obliterate our nations capital, and that was as big as somebodies backyard grill. For

the first time in the history of human existence here was something capable of wiping us off

the face of the Earth. And most people had no control over that destiny. It seemed like

peoples lives, the life of everything on this planet, was resting in the hands of a couple

men in Northern Virginia and some guys over in Russia. The atomic bomb and the amazing

power it held over us had a tremendous influence on American Culture, including a profound

effect on American Literature. After the war, the first real piece of literature about the

bombings came in 1946. The work Hiroshima, by Jon Hersey, from which the opening quote is

taken, first appeared as a long article in the New Yorker, then shortly after in book form.

The book is a non-fiction account of the bombing of Hiroshima and the immediate aftermath.

It is told from the point-of-view of six hibakusha, or .survivors. of the atomic blast. In

four chapters Hersey traces how the these people survived the blast, and what they did in

following weeks and months to pull their lives together Gioielli 3and save their families.

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