August 6th, 1945: the first atomic bomb was dropped. One bomb was all it took for the American army to utterly destroy the city of Hiroshima and its 245,000 occupants. With 100,000 dead and another 100,000 injured, only few lived to tell the story. In John Hersey’s novel, the lives of six survivors are narrated. The book starts out describing the main characters everyday activities in the moments before the bomb is dropped. Mr. Tanimoto, a Methodist Reverend, is helping a friend two miles outside of the city. Mrs. Nakamura, a tailor’s widow, is at home with her sleeping children when the bomb strikes. Dr. Fujii, who runs a private hospital on the water, is sitting on the porch in his underwear when the blast from the bomb throws his office and himself into the river. Father Kleinsorge, a German Jesuit, is resting in his mission house, which is not effected as it’s been double braced in case of an earthquake. Dr. Sasiki, a surgeon for the Red Cross Hospital, remains unharmed by pure luck; he had taken an earlier train than usual. Miss Sasiki, a young clerk, is crushed by a fallen bookcase and knocked unconscious. All six people are living almost normal lives up until this point. In less than a second and a “noiseless flash” they are thrown into utter confusion. Mr. Tanimoto,…show more content… All six characters kept their pride for their country the while time. They stuck together through it all. Even those who remained uninjured felt guilty that their fellow citizens were suffering while they were not. Hersey states, “One feeling they did seem to share, however, was a curious kind of elated community spirit . . . a pride in the way they and their fellow-survivors had stood up to a dreadful ordeal.” In Asano Park, they all helped to comfort and feed each other. When the bomb dropped it destroyed families, so the people of Hiroshima had to come together as one and create a new