Exotic Resonances Hiroshima In American Memory Summary
547 Words3 Pages
In Paul Boyer’s paper Exotic Resonances: Hiroshima in American Memory he writes about the history of how we, as American’s, have viewed the tragic event that was the dropping of the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. His argument starts with the idea that there has been many sites where historical events have taken place and therefore have created a powerful symbolic meaning behind just the name of the place. For example; he uses Carthage as a place that has created the view of Carthaginian Peace, Waterloo as a place for irrevocable defeat, Gettysburg as the Civil War’s turning point, and so on.
He goes through the aftermath of Hiroshima and how our views are shaped as well as how they evolve into becoming this irreplaceable argument against nuclear warfare. The United States, under the control of Harry S. Truman, shared the view that the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima was a justified action in the defense against a Japanese invasion. Because we made the first move, thousands of Americans lives were saved. In turn it also was show in a way of something that should never happen again. Many people had much to say about the historical and cultural impact of the bombing.…show more content… Boyer writes about how up through the 70’s and 80’s Hiroshima was still a relevant topic for discussion and was used as a tool of memory to invoke the feeling of how powerful and damaging nuclear warfare can be. There were numerous publications, paintings, pictures, books, and stories of Hiroshima throughout the 70’s and 80’s that were used to help restore the immediacy, historical and human, to the forefront of people’s