Part One:
The character that has been the most interesting to me has
been Mr. Tanimoto. He shows so much selflessness and sees it as his duty to
help the injured Japanese people. He rows the boat for days transporting people
across the river, and he feels embarrassed to not be injured like them. He even
gets upset that other doctors aren’t coming to help. One passage that really stood out to me was on
page 60. Mr. Tanimoto was greatly criticized for having American ties, and also
for being a Christian. Mr. Tanaka was one of the people who criticized him.
Harvey quotes, “Mr. Tanimoto had reason to hate her father (Mr. Tanaka), the
retired shipping-company official who, though he made a great show of his
charity, was notoriously selfish and cruel, and who, just a few days before the
bombing, had said openly to several people that Mr. Tanimoto was a spy for the
American people”. When Mr. Tanaka was
about to die, his daughter came to Mr. Tanimoto asking for help. Mr. Tanimoto
went to help Mr. Tanaka and read him a psalm as he was dying. Trying to help a
person that had offended him in the past shows how selfless and humble Mr.
Tanimoto is.
Part two: My research question was why the bomb dropped on
Hiroshima was silent, and what are some facts or logistics of the bomb?
The nuclear weapon dropped on Hiroshima was called the
Little Boy. It was about 10 feet long, and weighed over 9,000 pounds. It was
made up of uranium 235, naval gun, and other minor components. It was dropped
by a B-29 plane, and exploded about 2,000 feet above the city and with a force
of about 15 kilotons. The bomb was cylinder like, and had uranium on top and on
the bottom. When the uranium on top and on the bottom were shot together, a
nuclear chain reaction occurred. The reaction and the force from the air/air
pressure caused a fireball, which was near 6,000 degrees Celsius. I could not
find a lot of information as to why the people of Hiroshima did not hear the
explosion, but one possible explanation (found by researchers) could be that
light travels at a much faster pace than sound, so the sound of the bomb could
have occurred seconds or even a minute after. Therefore, people saw the
explosion, but may have missed the sound of it.
I could see how people could have missed the sound of the bomb since they were so distracted by the intense light and then, depending how far away they were, hit with the force of the blast. One thing I didn't know is that the bomb exploded above the city rather than on impact which is something I wouldn't have known if you hadn't researched it.
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