Author: Lisa Khadaran
WC: 19500
Topic:1
Reactions in Light of Disaster:
For my project, I decided to look at the attitude and reaction of Japan's society after experiencing the Atomic Bombs. The readings I looked at were those on the atomic bombings (Spring Flowers and Fireflies), and the more modern Astroboy. I wanted to look at the response that these three texts showed towards the bombings. A major result was the peace seeking movement between Japan and all countries in an effort to prevent nuclear weapons from being used in such a horrible way again. I think the documentary that we watched as a class showed a remarkable strength of character of those interviewed because they could still talk about what had happened and advocate for peace, but I think the narratives that we read showed how in shock and out of place the victims of the bombing felt.
The first article that I looked at was Tamiki Hara's Summer Flower. One of the atomic bombs fell near the narrator, and in his narration, he tells how he was saved because he was in the bathroom. Then, he tells of how he goes outside and sees all these other people affected by the bomb as well, and suffering from burns and other injuries. The narrator keeps walking, as if to memorize it all, and passes by numerous people and all sorts of situations: one woman's house is on fire, a bunch of factory girls with few injuries, a young girl floating down the river on a piece of wood, and many others. Originally, the reaction of those affected, was that it was only their house that had been hit. Since their hadn't been any damaged area specifically where a bomb would fall, it increased the terror that was felt as this was a different type of bomb from what was originally experienced, and it took more time for those who were affected to process. The narrator of the story seems to be in almost a state of shock, and finds others in a visible way by the bomb as "strange people", even "lifeless" (44). What I find astonishing about the narrator is that even with all the dying all around him after nearly two days, the narrator actually accepts it to the point of where all he can focus on is his intense hunger and thirst. Even though the narrator is facing all this misery, he is still able to clearly state what was happening to the other surviours. The poem that the narrator composes is perhaps the saddest thing in the whole reading, as there is no real emotion, or reaction, but plain facts of what the narrator is experiencing (51). I think this is the saddest of our class readings, and I think Yoko Ota's Fireflies does a good job in putting emotion behind this sad, almost clinical, piece of writing.
Fireflies takes place, and was written years after Tamiki Hara's Summer Flower. In fact, the reader finds out what happened to the author, Tamiki Hara, when the narrator of Fireflies explains that even though she had not met the poet, people in the area were looking for a place to engrave his poetry, and that the poet had killed himself. The narrator compares herself to Tamiki, saying that she has eyes and a soul similar to the poet of the previous story. Everything she sees, she compares it to the atomic bomb. Like, for the wall that was a possibility to use in the engraving, was too thin if it was a human, and would have burned up when the bomb fell (86). The bomb still perverts her life, even though people around her don't seem as affected as she is. The workmen that pass her even laugh at her fierce assurance that she isn't planning on killing herself, even though deep inside she still feels that there is the danger of death lurking around her (88). She constantly feels the flames of the atomic bomb at her back, as she says, "the feeling was not a false one. To me it was the ultimate truth. (88)" She believes that she has to always live with what happened to her and others. Her reaction is one of perseverance, because even though she feels like death is a constant companion, she feels like she can still live.
While she feels like death is a constant companion, it shows just how much even though they wanted to, those affected by the bombings couldn't get away from them. Her sister even says that she ways to "just once more in my lifetime, I'd like to live in a house with running water," but even though the narrator tells her sister not to be discouraged, the sister finds it difficult not to be as no new house have been built. Nearly seven years, the sister had been living in the shacks that had been built up from the rubble of the bomb sites. I think the most sever reminders of what had happened in Hiroshima for the narrator, are the scars that the bomb left behind. The narrator mentions that her sister used to be quite pretty, but when she smiled the keloid scars wrinkled and puffed out, and then she talks about Mr. Kikawa.
Mr. Kikawa had keloid scars all over his body, and the narrator mentions that she had only seen the scars on his body in a photograph, but guesses that if she were to see them in person she would probably be able to look at them with a certain degree of attachment (97). I think this shows a wishful thinking on the narrator's part, because she imagines that since she's seen them already that she would be able to look at them in person with detachment, however, I think actually seeing them in person would be even more shocking. Pictures can be almost clinical. When Mr. Kikawa finally does take off his clothes, the narrator reacts not how she imagines, and feels herself beyond tears when she looks at Mr. Kikawa.
Also, when Mr. Kikawa talks about Miss Takada, the narrator's words are that she had "tried to live away from the public eye, as though they had done something bad. (97)" Because of the disfigurement that most people suffered through as a result of the atomic bombs, it was almost shameful to go out in public for some people, as reminders of the horrible occurrence and for people to stare. The narrator than, almost as if comparing them, mentions that the strange men walking around had polished faces with groomed beards. What makes the narrator different, I feel, from Tamiki Hara, is that the Hara's narrator would have compared those left with misshapen, scarred bodies as the strange men, but here, the narrator compares the clean shave men, with their polished faces as the strangers. And then, when she meets Miss Takada, she breaks down and cries, and tells her to get the surgeries she'll need quickly. However, when Mitsuko, or Miss Takada, visit the narrator, the narrator is told that she is planning on seeing the new culture center, and the narrator feels odd thinking about Mitsuko's face among the audience - as if she is outside the audience. Even though Mitsuko wants to go out, she thinks she can't because of how she is viewed, again, as if it shameful for her to look the way she does, but she still wants to grow up and help people. Mitsuko or Mr. Kikawa cannot find liberation or release from what they look like to the rest of the world that treats them as different; just like how the narrator tries to understand the purpose of the fireflies and the slugs as she asks "Can't you ever rest in peace?"
For the final reading that I looked at, is a more modern art form. Done in comic form, Astroboy. I think that Astroboy can represent different reactions of post-society after the dropping of atomic bomb. One interpretation, is that since robots are different, they represent people like Mitsuko and Mr. Kikawa who are seen by the public as different and a reminder of the atomic bomb. For example, even though robots of the future didn't really look like humans, they were remade to look like them, and became even more and more like humans every day. It's like the survivors who were scarred by their injuries, and underwent surgeries to try and look like everyone else, but were still stared at and thought of as different from other members of society. Even Astroboy is the "remade" version of the director of science's son, has to learn (or relearn) how to fit into society. Just like how Mr. Kikawa said that he would like to go to the general offices and try to show the names of the survivors to try and get more money and rights for the survivors, the man that buys Astroboy says that, "Most people don't like their robots to look too human. They're afraid they might start asserting some weird rights or something," shows a remarkable parallel to how survivors of the bombs were treated (29).
It seems that the primary focus of the texts about the atomic bombings are to the sadness of the event, by presenting a very bleak outlook. Like, Summer Flowers and Fireflies both deal directly with the aftermath of the bombings, while Astroboy could possibly represent the survivor aspect, and how survivors were treated differently. There aren't any real texts that we've read for class that show the more positive outcomes of the bombings, how people are able to rally for peace to prevent something as horrific as the atomic bombs from ever happening. Even Astroboy, which is in comic form, is still very serious. Another text written after a huge Japanese tragedy is Super-Frog Saves Tokyo, written after the Kobe earthquake of 1995. While the Kobe earthquake isn't on the same scale that the horror of the Atomic bomb was on, it shows how a post-modernism writes in a response to the tragedy. The story takes place in a fantastical, magical realist world, where a frog recruits help in killing the worm that will lash out with its negative energy at Tokyo and cause thousands of people to be killed. The story, unlike the other three about the Atomic Bombings almost tries to rationalize why the earthquake happened, by using this antihero, Katagiri, behind Frog in his endeavor to defeat Worm. In the end, Katagiri is sad because Frog is gone.
The stories that we read in class as a response to what has happened to Japan the past 7 decades show a more personal feeling and pain behind national disasters. Even though these stories seem bleak, they do offer some hope: the narrator's nephew in Summer Flowers is regaining strength, and the narrator in Fireflies seems to have found a type of redemption in understanding the slugs and the fireflies. Even in Astroboy, the head of the Ochanomizu research lab takes Astroboy away and promises to be a father to him and turn Astroboy into a wonderful boy. And, even the magical realism story Super-Frog Saves Tokyo, Frog is able to call a draw with Worm and the earthquake doesn't take place, but Katagiri comes to realize that Frog is very important to him. I'm glad I looked at this particular topic, because it shows that even in the face of dark tragedy, there can still be some hope to find in it, even if we have to keep searching for it.
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I apologize for the blocky~ness of this post. I can't figure out how to double-space :(
