The Clan of the One Breasted Woman”, is my favorite assigned reading in this class. The author did an amazing job expressing her emotions and made the reader feel as passionate as she did. Before reading, I had been aware of the testing of nuclear bombs during the 1950s and 1960s, and had been told it took place in rural areas where there were no people for hundreds of miles. I had no idea that people were around to see the blast happen, I did not think that the government would allow this to happen. At that time, people were not aware of the severe repercussions of nuclear bomb testing. The government was not concerned with the public’s health, their only concern was the arm’s race. When her father told her that it was a common occurrence to see a nuclear explosion in the 50’s, I was absolutely mortified. I cannot believe …show more content…
Although, there is no evidence that the radiation caused the cancer, that is the most likely cause. I was also surprised by how having a mother exposed to the radiation and is breastfeeding, it can affect the health of the child. It is heartbreaking to think that they were trying to do the best thing for their child, and while doing so, exposed them to deadly chemicals. Then she begins to discuss how her mother told her to “Just let it go” The author felt as if she could not let it go, as she saw this as terribly unjust. She describes how she would see these beautiful woman, become bald and sick. I felt like I could see this woman she was describing, and it was painful to think about. This story was difficult to read, as there was so solution to the problem. I was expecting for the end to include what was going to be done about this problem, but there was not. There was no way to prove that the nuclear bomb is what caused her family to die. This story, makes me want the United States to take responsibility for the pain that have
In order to better understand the historical context of nuclear development it seems to me as though Iversen dove into a fair amount of investigative journalism. The book focuses primarily on the events of Rocky Flats and her life through a narrative nonfiction interpretation. By providing a journalist approach, Iversen makes it easy for the reader to build a relationship with the characters presented throughout the book. At times I found myself visualizing the intensity of the fires, the whirlwind of emotions from locals, and the lasting environmental impacts that would not only plague Colorado, but taint the reputation of what it means to be human.
The crises to which this work responds was the total annihilation of Hiroshima and the aftershock experienced by those left behind. Those who witnessed this devastation were left to make sense of it, and then attempt to carry on with their lives. Aki had temporarily managed to go on with her life until she went to visit her friend Tomiko. At her friends house she saw "two small jars"that contained "fetuses that had been miscarried"( Takenishi 1895), most likely an after affect of being exposed to the bomb. The sight of these fetuses must have stirred some deeply buried feelings, because shortly afterwards, Aki started to have very disturbing flashbacks and dreams of the devastating event that took place during her childhood. Through these dreams and flashbacks it becomes apparent that Aki is unable to acquire any closure regarding this horrible event. This feeling of deficiency could be, in part, attributed to her feeling that there was a shameful lack of consideration shown for the "rites" owed to those who died. In her eyes they were never properly laid to rest; Therefore they" will not rest in peace" (Takenishi 18...
Brown took her time to interview people and look through archives to get the raw scenery of what happened behind closed doors. The third part was “The Plutonium Disasters.” She brought light to how dangerous it was to work and live there, and most of the people in the camp did not know how it can affect their body. Dr. Herbert Parker, the head of the Health Physics Division, “estimated there were eight hundred million flakes of [plutonium], which, if sucked into workers’ lungs or [ingested], could lodge in soft organs and remain in the body of years, a tiny time bomb that Parker feared would produce cancer” (Brown 166). This radioactive element that workers are producing is not just affecting the environment, but is also affecting the workers and their families. Brown has given an immense amount of evidence to explain to the readers how it affected so many of the workers’ health; she gives a vivid picture of how the radioactivity and particles of plutonium lingers in the air. The affects to the workers and their family ranges from cancerous cells to organ deterioration, when a pregnant woman is exposed to it, the health of her baby is also at risk. The fourth and last part of the book is “Dismantling the Plutonium Curtain,” this curtain is the curtain of secrecy. Brown interviewed people who lived in the camps as children and also people who worked there. Many of the people she
The character, Miss Sasaki, who was left trapped, disabled and severely injured, by the dropping of the bomb suffered more in the long haul, from the emotional impact than just the physical destruction alone. Not only was she physically disabled, but also emotionally disabled, as the overwhelming feeling of being hopeless is a permanent psychological scar on the brain. Being unable to walk properly for the remainder of her life, Miss Sasaki, knew that she would no longer be able to provide for her family anymore; in Japanese cultural the honor of their family is of utmost importance, similar in nature to radical religious groups. Also of Japanese cultural priorities, were that of marriage. In Japan, women who were married were looked upon with higher statue and class. Miss Sasaki knew that her chances of getting married now had been reduced and for a woman of this time, that realization, also leaves damaged emotional baggage within herself. All of the aforementioned, left Miss Sasaki depressed for years to come and ultimately left her a permanent emotional scar affecting the rest of her life. By including the accounts of Miss Sasaki, in this book, John Hersey, exposes to the readers, that atomic warfare not only affects the human body physically for years to come but also
Composing a story is not just about writing down ideas and events. The true art of writing is an intricate and timely process. Convincing the reader of your beliefs and opinions goes beyond actual facts and data. In the 1600's a man named Roberto de Nobili recognized this situation and discovered the rhetorical triangle, which is still commonly used today (Faigley 5).. The rhetorical triangle consists of three key structural terms that must be evident in a story to enable the reader to comprehend and trust the writer. The three tactics of persuasions became ethos, pathos and logos. The Clan of One-Breasted Women, by Terry Tempest Williams describes the tale of a young girl's family being affected by breast cancer and how it has greatly impacted her lifestyle. When taking a closer look at the structural content of the story, one can notice that the elements of persuasion are vaguely apparent and misused.
As Mother’s Day approaches, writer Penny Rudge salutes “Matriarchs [who] come in different guises but are instantly recognizable: forceful women, some well-intentioned, others less so, but all exerting an unstoppable authority over their clan” (Penny Rudge), thereby revealing the immense presence of women in the American family unit. A powerful example of a mother’s influence is illustrated in Native American society whereby women are called upon to confront daily problems associated with reservation life. The instinct for survival occurs almost at birth resulting in the development of women who transcend a culture predicated on gender bias. In Love Medicine, a twentieth century novel about two families who reside on the Indian reservation, Louise Erdrich tells the story of Marie Lazarre and Lulu Lamartine, two female characters quite different in nature, who are connected by their love and lust for Nector Kashpaw, head of the Chippewa tribe. Marie is a member of a family shunned by the residents of the reservation, and copes with the problems that arise as a result of a “childhood, / the antithesis of a Norman Rockwell-style Anglo-American idyll”(Susan Castillo), prompting her to search for stability and adopt a life of piety. Marie marries Nector Kashpaw, a one-time love interest of Lulu Lamartine, who relies on her sexual prowess to persevere, resulting in many liaisons with tribal council members that lead to the birth of her sons. Although each female character possibly hates and resents the other, Erdrich avoids the inevitable storyline by focusing on the different attributes of these characters, who unite and form a force that evidences the significance of survival, and the power of the feminine bond in Native Americ...
In the book Hiroshima, author paints the picture of the city and its residents' break point in life: before and after the drop of the "Fat Boy". Six people - six different lives all shattered by the nuclear explosion. The extraordinary pain and devastation of a hundred thousand are expressed through the prism of six stories as they seen by the author. Lives of Miss Toshiko Sasaki and of Dr. Masakazu Fujii serve as two contrasting examples of the opposite directions the victims' life had taken after the disaster. In her "past life" Toshiko was a personnel department clerk; she had a family, and a fiancé. At a quarter past eight, August 6th 1945, the bombing took her parents and a baby-brother, made her partially invalid, and destroyed her personal life. Dr. Fujii had a small private hospital, and led a peaceful and jolly life quietly enjoying his fruits of the labor. He was reading a newspaper on the porch of his clinic when he saw the bright flash of the explosion almost a mile away from the epicenter. Both these people have gotten through the hell of the A-Bomb, but the catastrophe affected them differently. Somehow, the escape from a certain death made Dr. Fujii much more self-concerned and egotistic. He began to drown in self-indulgence, and completely lost the compassion and responsibility to his patients.
Through his uses of descriptive language Hersey exposes to the reader the physical, emotional, Psychological and structural damage caused by a nuclear attack. He shows the reader how peoples are physically changed but also how emotional psychologically scared by this act of horror. Through Hersey’s graphic detail of the horror after the bomb and the effects years after he shock the reader while also give the message that we shouldn’t let this happen again. In the book Hiroshima the author John Hersey exposes that a nuclear attack is not simply a disaster that fades away when the rubble is removed and buildings are rebuilt but an act of horror that changes the course of people’s live.
In her essay “The Clan of One-Breasted Woman”, she describes her family are suffering from cancers due to the impact of government nuclear testing. She is from a Mormon family and fears to question the government and the world. She cannot bear only watching her close family members died from the disease caused by the environmental pollution, but she started to use her own ability to protest this issue. She describe her own experiences. One scene is from her dream, women circled around the fire to sing out their fear and anger. The other one is she breaking into the nuclear testing area. Her essay is to express her feeling about the hurt on her family from the government and her firm faith to fight against the fear.
...d them to end the war with Japan. But not only did they create bombs, but they also found a new way to power the spreading cities of America. Also, even though many knew the power of a nuclear bomb, they couldn’t have predicted the lasting effects on the land and the people. So within this scientific experiment we have learned that nuclear radiation can cause genetic mutations, the formation of cataracts, leukemia, and a shortened life (Document I).
Have you ever judge a book by the cover or made a bad first impression without getting to know the person first? Human beings need to come to the realization that everyone come from different walks of paths. We need to stop labeling people as "the other." No-Name Woman, Kingston 's aunt experienced Edward Said 's concept through the people in her village by them looking at her situation through a one-sided lens. The village that Kington 's family lived in had a preconceive notion on what the people should behave like and adultery was like a sin and a crime no matter of the circumstances.
However, all the impacts that the nuclear bomb left to this day are but a shadow of the health effects that were observed during the 1960-1990. The way researchers have quantified the long term health effects from the nuclear bomb, specifically for the significant increase in malignant tumors, is by using a absolute risk function. This function takes the total excess deaths from cancer over 1 million year per rad. The higher the number the greater deaths observed from cancer. Between 1950 – 1954 the absolute deaths from leukemia among nuclear blast survivors was 4.13. The amount of leukemia deaths decreases with the years so that during 1971 – 1974 the absolute death quotient was 0.42. For other cancers there is a different story. For all cancers excluding leukemia there was a disturbing upwards trend during the years following the use of the nuclear bomb. During 1950 – 1954 the absolute death quotient was 1.58 and during the 1971 - 1974 period the quotient was 9.17. These increases in the deaths from cancer during this 25 year period is frightening. The Americans by using this bomb killed thousands of people 10, 20, 30 years down the road from the war. Eliminating chunks of the Japanese work force even decades after the fact. This however, is not the end of the story, children were also victims of this atrocious weapon. As made clear in a study by the Radiation Research Society, the dose specific risk from radiation for breast cancer was greatest in females under the age of 20. This means that not only did America take out a large chunk of adult Japanese, they also afflicted innocent children post war with a terrible
This girl from Hiroshima was eleven years old when she was contaminated with radiation . She died 20 years later of cancer .
This is an odd little book, but a very important one nonetheless. The story it tells is something like an extended parablethe style is plain, the characters are nearly stick figures, the story itself is contrived. And yet ... and yet, the story is powerful, distressing, even heartbreaking because the historical trend it describes is powerful, distressing, even heartbreaking.
During the 1960s, a woman’s world was highly restrictive in almost all areas, from home life to the work field. A woman’s role was bound to homemaking, raising children and serving their husbands. If they chose to go into the professional world, their options were limited to subservient roles as nurses, teachers and secretaries, as not to disrupt the social hierarchy during the time. Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique transformed this patriarchal dominated society and changed the way middle-class white women viewed their roles and identities in society post-World War II and throughout the 1960s. Friedan’s generation succeeded the generation of “first wave” feminism who pushed for women’s