Analysis Of Berger's 'Hiroshima'

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In “Hiroshima,” Berger expounds upon the events of the bombing of Hiroshima through an inspection of the book, Unforgettable Fire. He describes how America has erased the emotions and meaning behind the bombing though a “...systematic, slow and thorough process of suppression and elimination” (17). The greatest evil (be specific) lies not in the US bombing Hiroshima but in our ability to indifferently look beyond the suffering and destruction that these bombs caused, focusing only on statistics and relative calculations. Berger incorporates personal accounts from bomb survivors and delves into Medieval concepts of evil to express how “...evil has been reduced to a little adjective to support an opinion or hypothesis (abortions, terrorism, ayatollahs)” (19). Begin with more of a reflection instead of an overview of Berger’s essay.
Berger claims that modern society has diminished the concept of evil, but the word still holds strong emotional and moral implications. Susan Neiman points out in her book Evil in Modern Thought that the destruction of Lisbon in 1755 drastically changed the way that people understood evil. This understanding evolved from the belief that evil was the cause of all natural disasters, illnesses and temptation to a label for serial killers, …show more content…

In Berger’s essay, he explains that dropping two atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, without discrimination, was an act of terrorism. “Today terrorist groups mostly represent small nations or groupings, who are disputing large powers in a position of strength. Whereas Hiroshima was perpetuated by the most powerful alliance in the world against an enemy who was already prepared to negotiate, and was admitting defeat” (18-19). This very statement illustrates that there are several categories of terrorism: governmental, small group and domestic terrorism. (how so?

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