The Special Characteristics of John Hersey's Writing
THE SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF JOHN HERSEY’S WRITING STYLE IN HIROSHIMA
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
JUVENTUS GEMBONG NUSANTARA
Student Number: 054214021
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2010 THE SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF JOHN HERSEY’S WRITING STYLE IN HIROSHIMA
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
JUVENTUS GEMBONG NUSANTARA
Student Number: 054214021
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2010
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Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not. ‐ Pablo Picasso
In a war, a normal code of social life was suspended. - James Nachtwey
For or less, I’m free.
- Gembong Nusantara
FOR THE REST OF MY
SOLITARY LIFE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The first one, I would like to thank the Almighty God for being inside me.
Thanks for the love and blessing upon me. I believe without the Almighty God’s hand I will not have any power to finish this thesis. I do love the Almighty God with my whole heart and soul.
I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Fr. B. Alip, M.Pd., M.A. for helping me in finishing this thesis. I thank for the patience, guidance, advice, time, and support. This thesis would not complete without his help.
I would like to thank my co-advisor, J. Harris H. Setiajid, S.S., M. Hum. for helping me in finishing this thesis. This thesis would never be completed without his guidance, time, support and advice.
Then I would like to express my gratitude toward my family especially my parents, my grandmother and my brother who pray for me every day. They always give me love and support until this thesis finish. I dedicate this thesis for them.
Next I would like to express my gratitude toward Chatarina Trihastuti.
Thanks for the days we have spent together in finishing this thesis.
Juventus Gembong Nusantara
ABSTRACT
JUVENTUS GEMBONG NUSANTARA. The Special Characteristics of John Hersey’s Writing Style in HIROSHIMA. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2010.
In 1960’s, there was a new genre of journalism called as literary journalism or narrative journalism. This genre involves the strength of novel into journalistic work. Although it involves the strength of a novel, narrative journalism is not always a novel. HIROSHIMA is one work of narrative journalism. HIROSHIMA was a news report written by John Hersey. It was published for the first time on August 30, 1946 by the weekly magazine The New Yorker. Three months after, HIROSHIMA was republished by Alfred A Knopf in a book form, and later on HIROSHIMA is called as a novel. HIROSHIMA has certain characteristics of the writing style to be categorized as a novel. The study covers two main problems. The first problem is to find the journalistic elements of HIROSHIMA. The second problem is to find the characteristics of HIROSHIMA that make it similar to a novel. In order to answer the problems, this study used an analytical method. The first is data collection and the second is analysis based on the data. In the data collection, all the elements of journalism and novel are identified in the text of HIROSHIMA. From the finding of the identification, the next step is analyzing the writing style of HIROSHIMA based on the utilization of the journalistic work and novel elements. After the analysis is finished, the results of the study are gained. The first is HIROSHIMA has the elements of journalism. The elements are character, setting, conflict, motive, narrative, facts, access, emotion, and fresh. The setting includes setting of time, setting of place, action set in time, chronology, and series of the time. The second is HIROSHIMA has the characteristics of a novel. They are theme, character and characterization, story and plot, point of view, setting, style, and irony. From the utilization of the elements of journalistic work and novel, the writing style of HIROSHIMA can be categorized as a journalistic work and a novel.
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ABSTRAK
JUVENTUS GEMBONG NUSANTARA. The Special Characteristics of John Hersey’s Writing Style in HIROSHIMA. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2010.
Pada tahun 1960an ada sebuah aliran baru dalam jurnalisme, disebut sebagai jurnalisme sastrawi atau jurnalisme narasi. Aliran ini memasukkan kekuatan novel kedalam penulisannya. Walaupun aliran ini memasukkan kekuatan novel, tidak semua karya jurnalisme narasi adalah sebuah novel. HIROSHIMA adalah satu dari banyak karya jurnalisme narasi. HIROSHIMA adalah laporan berita yang ditulis oleh John Hersey. Pertama kali HIROSHIMA diterbitkan pada 30 Agustus 1946 oleh majalah mingguan The New Yorker. Tiga bulan kemudian, HIROSHIMA diterbitkan kembali oleh penerbit Alfred A Knopf dalam bentuk buku, yang kemudian disebut sebagai sebuah novel. Jadi HIROSHIMA dikategorikan sebagai karya jurnalistik dan novel. HIROSHIMA memiliki gaya penulisan yang khas untuk dikategorikan sebagai novel. Penelitian ini mencakup dua masalah pokok. Pertama adalah mencari elemen jurnalistik di dalam HIROSHIMA. Kedua adalah mencari karateristik dari HIROSHIMA yang membuatnya sama dengan sebuah novel. Dalam urutan analisis untuk menjawab permasalahan tersebut, penelitian ini menggunakan metode analisa. Pertama adalah pengumpulan data dan kedua adalah menganalisa berdasarkan hasil dari data temuan. Dalam pengumpulan data, semua elemen jurnalistik dan novel diidentifikasikan didalam text HIROSHIMA. Dari temuan identifikasi kemudian dianalisa gaya penulisan HIROSHIMA berdasarkan penggunaan elemen jurnalistik dan novel. Setelah analisa selesai, kemudian hasil dari penelitian didapat. Pertama adalah HIROSHIMA memiliki elemen jurnalistik. Elemen tersebut yaitu karakter, latar belakang, konflik, motif, narasi, fakta, akses, emosi, dan unsur kebaruan. Latar belakang mencakup latar belakang waktu, latar belakang tempat, kejadian dalam urutan waktu, kronologi, dan urutan waktu. Kedua adalah HIROSHIMA memliki karakter sebuah novel. karakter tersebut adalah tema, karakter dan karakterisasi, cerita dan alur, sudut pandang, latar belakang, gaya dan ironi. Berdasarkan pengunaan elemen jurnalistik dan novel, gaya penulisan HIROSHIMA dapat dikatgorikan sebagai karya jurlaistik dan sebuah novel.
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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
In 1960’s journalism in U.S. experienced a saturated situation in reporting
(Setiati, 2005: 43). Printed media had to strive against domination of electronic media. Electronic media have the competitive advantage of giving up-to-date information quickly. Starting from this saturated point, journalists of printed media in U.S. tried to make different report that electronics media did not have.
Feature as a media deep report became a way out from saturation that covers printed media. Kurnia in his book “Jurnalisme Sastra” (2002: 27) states feature is a kind of journalistic report that has no deadline and it has light news. Feature covers up humanity-theme-story, and it is also a long, detail, and deep story.
Years before, feature was called the writer’s masterpiece. It was so because the writer was able to cover up minor news and changed it to major news by maximizing human-interest point in the story (p.30).
Feature as pioneer of literary journalism has tone and unique style. The
journalists pay attention on fact selection, quotation, diction, and length of
sentences and paragraph (p.30). Kurnia gives example of feature of rock
musician and classic musician. In rock music feature, the journalists usually
write short sentences and in every paragraph the journalists use one or two
sentences. It is to match the feature with the beat of rock music. The journalists
will use different style if they write about classic musician. Long sentences and
less beat words are used to go along with tone and wave of classic music. The
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calmness and taste of classic music become the focus of the journalist when the journalist writes about classic music.
Kurnia (p.4) assumes that there are at least two reasons why literary emerges and joins with journalism. The first is at that time a novel become a fever in society. Writing style in novel is the trendsetter in writing. The second is in effort of giving good competition to electronics media or audiovisual media.
Printed-journalists are tired of tight routine and tight procedure in writing report.
The monotonous in writing and covering procedure limit the journalist’s space and their creativity.
Journalism needs something new and fresh. Kurnia (p.5) adds that they, journalists, do not only write the fact but also give the readers detail of facts and deep reports. Wolfe states in his book The New Journalism (1973: 25), all journalistic students want to write not only a journalism report but also a novel, like the experts do. Writing style of novel has entered in journalism reporting and changes the standard of feature writing. A journalistic report is more like a novel but non-fiction because all events are fact.
Literary journalism is one of three names of the writing genres in United
States that involves deep reportage and uses literary style. Some others say that it is narrative journalism because it involves events, characters and actions
(Harsono, 2005: viii). Clark in his Nieman report “Essays on Craft” (2006) remakes new 5W1H elements, “who” becomes “character”, “what” becomes
“action set in time”, “where” becomes “setting”, “when” becomes “chronology”,
“why” becomes “motive” and “how” becomes “narrative”. 3
Publishing The New Journalism (1973), Tom Wolfe and EW Johnson introduce this kind of writing genre in journalism report as the answer of the challenges, to compete with electronic media. The book is an anthology of journalism report written by Hunter S. Thompson, Joan Didion, Truman Capote,
Jimmy Breslin, and Tom Wolfe himself. Wolfe titles its second part of preface with “Like a Novel” (pp.10-23). His statement is based on the quality of literary journalism. Literary journalism includes the novel strengths into journalistic report and produces non-fiction writing as good as a novel (fiction). Reading literary journalism reports is felt like reading a novel. It can bring readers to come inside the incident not just the story. Commonly literary journalism works do not tell what happened, but how it happened.
The reason HIROSHIMA is chosen because it is the most suitable work to be analyzed journalistically and literally. HIROSHIMA is a journalistic work and a novel at the same time (Crawford, 1953: 279). It was a journalistic work when it was published in The New Yorker Magazine, and it is a novel when Alfred A
Knopf published it in a book. The other reason is HIROSHIMA is the best narrative in the history of American Journalism chosen by 37 experts of history, journalism, writing, and academic from 100 best narratives in United States
(Harsono, 2005: xiv).
HIROSHIMA has some interesting things that lay behind. First, the atomic bomb dropped by a B-29 had killed thousands victims. Hiroshima bombing is well known as the most tragic accident in the history of human kind. In this case
Hersey was able to catch the fact in detail from few survived witness. Hersey 4
was inspired by The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder in the point of
view and in the writing style of HIROSHIMA (Harsono, 2001.
www.pantau.or.id/detailartikel.php ?id=5). Second, the bombing of Hiroshima
has a role in Indonesian Proclamation August 17th 1945. Indonesia could declare
its independence because there was a vacuum of power after Japan surrendered
to the Allied (Ricklefs, 2001: 425-426).
B. Problem Formulation.
In order to guide and limit the points of discussion, several research questions relate to the topic are prepared. The questions are formulated as follows:
1. What are the journalistic elements in HIROSHIMA?
2. What are the characteristics of HIROSHIMA that make it similar to novels?
C. Objectives of the Study.
Based on the problem formulation above, this study has two objectives.
Basically this study tries to find out the journalistic elements in HIROSHIMA, things that make it become journalistic work. After finding out its journalistic elements, this study tries to discover the characteristics of HIROSHIMA that make it similar to the novels; things that make HIROSHIMA called as a novel.
D. Benefit of the study
Like other researches, this research also has benefit. Expectantly, this research can be useful for students, young writers and young journalists. Students can use this research as the reference for their thesis. Young writers and young 5
journalists can use this research as the reference if they want to write a narrative journalism.
E. Definition of terms
There are some terms to be explained to prevent an ambiguity. All the definitions are taken from trustworthy sources such as Glossary of Literary Terms by Abrams and Dictionary of Stylistic by Wales.
A Character is a person in the story, novel or narration. The character lives in story physically and psychologically. Dialogue and action are the indication of character existence. Dialogue and action are the ways of expressing feeling and thought of the character. Abrams explained character in his book A Glossary of
Literary Term sixth edition as
The persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the readers as being endowed with moral dispositional and emotion qualities that are expressed in what they say – the dialogue – and by what they do – the action. (1985: 35)
Based on A Dictionary of Stylistic (2001: 6) “an action refers to physical acts or activities, speeches and thoughts”. Then, action set in time is what happens in a particular time or a situation in a particular time. It usually begun with a question
“What happens in that time?” The expected answer is mostly in detail.
The next term is setting. Abrams (1985: 192) said that setting is general locale, historical time and social circumstances in which the action takes place.
Setting is not only related with place or location and time. Yet, it is also related with social condition where the action takes place. Social circumstances cover 6
economic, culture, morality, ethic, way of thinking, inter-personal relationship and emotion.
Chronology replaces for “when” element in journalism. In literary, the common term for chronology is plot. Again, Abrams (p.159) defines plot or chronology as a series of events that are arranged in time order toward achieving particular emotion and artistic effects. There are some techniques of writing the chronology. The writer can use forward plot, from beginning to the end. Second, the writer can write the plot with flashback style. The writing from the end goes backward to the past. Or the writer combines it, uses the forward and backward style at the same writing.
Motive or motivation is a reason for someone to do or to say something.
Abrams explains it as “the grounds in the character’s temperament, desires, mad moral nature for their speech and action” (p.23).
The last is “narrative” as the extension of “how”. Narrative is a story involving characters, characters’ action, and events as described by Abrams
(p.123). Similar to the previous definition, A Dictionary of Stylistic (2001: 264) defines narrative as “a story of happening or events, either real or imaginary”.
According to this dictionary as well, narrative is narrated in words, speeches and in writing; and it can be visualized on stage, film or mime. In this case the narrative is narrated in writing because HIROSHIMA was written in newspaper or book later.
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
This chapter consists of three parts. The first part is a review on related studies. This review is to see the stand of this research and to support this research. There are two related studies used in this research. The first study is an article in Yale Alumni Magazine by Carter Wiserman (1993). The second study is an article written by Steve Rothman. The next part is the review on related theories. It contains some theories used in the analysis. The last part is the theoretical framework. The theoretical framework explains briefly how the theories are applied in the analysis systematically.
A. Review on Related Studies
Carter Wiserman, Hersey’s classmate in Yale University wrote in Yale
Alumni Magazine (www.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/93_10/hersey.html;
1993) that Hersey’s writing style was a combination of fact and fiction. Wiserman says Hersey had capability to write a narrative the same as its reality.
A unique relationship between reportage and fiction was to become his hallmark. A reporter, he could convey vividly the truth of a situation as he saw it. Marshaling an immense troop of facts, shaping them, giving prominence as he saw fit, he went beyond the surface narrative to reveal a further dimension. And that dimension almost invariably involved the individual person -- the soldier on foot, the plain citizen, the ordinary and faintly bewildered member of a confused society ... But the fiction is as spare in its reliance on realistic detail as had been the reporting; and sometimes (and indeed in his best work) the two forms become supplementary and almost indistinguishable. (1993)
Wiserman says Hersey could write a narrative as it was because Hersey saw an event further and could catch the detail of the story. Another point about
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Hersey is he can mix between fiction and fact nicely. Hersey can write a realistic event with fiction taste. The reportage writing can serve as a novel. These two unique combinations almost cannot be separated from each other and from Hersey as a writer.
This research was conducted to support Wiserman’s opinion. This research supports Wiserman’s opinion by its analysis on Hersey’s writing style in
HIROSHIMA. Hersey is well-known as a journalist who includes the strength of fiction in reportage writing. Most of his reportages contain fiction elements, and
Hiroshima is the one example of it.
Steve Rothman argues that Hiroshima was written in coolness, simplicity, and easiness. His argument is supported by Hersey’s letter to Boyer. Rothman argues that Hersey’s style is good in persuading the readers.
Hiroshima was written in a dry, calm manner that struck some readers as emotionless but permitted the survivors' stories to speak for themselves. Forty years after he wrote the article, Hersey said in a letter to historian Paul Boyer, "The flat style was deliberate, and I still think I was right to adopt it. A high literary manner, or a show of passion, would have brought me into the story as a mediator; I wanted to avoid such mediation, so the reader's experience would be as direct as possible”. (http://www.herseyhiroshima.com/hiro.php)
Definitely, by analyzing Hersey’s writing style in HIROSHIMA, this research supports what Rothman wrote in his article. In the way of writing HIROSHIMA,
Hersey chooses not to involve himself too far in the story. It gives enough spaces for the readers to get involve into the six survivors’ life. Relationship between survivors and readers can be built freely without the writer’s disturbance. It is supposed to be the survivors who tell the story not Hersey.
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B. Review on Related Theories
In doing analysis, theories are needed to support the answers. Based on problem formulation, theories are taken from literature (intrinsic elements) and journalism. There are seven theories from literature. They are Theme, Character and Characterization, Story and Plot, Point of View, Setting, Style and Irony.
From journalism there are two persons whose theories are used. They are Robert
Vare and Roy Peter Clark. Both are tutors of journalism in Nieman Foundation,
Harvard University. Clark is also a teacher in Poynter Institute, Florida.
Vare (Harsono, 2005; ix) make conditions of seven considerations in writing narrative journalism. The seven considerations are Fact, Conflict, Character,
Access, Emotion, Series of Time, and Fresh. Whereas Clark (2006) redefine
5W1H to write a story, “who” becomes “character”, “what” becomes “action set in time”, “where” becomes “setting”, “when” becomes “chronology”, “why” becomes “motive” and “how” becomes “narrative”.
1. Theme
Theme is similar to motif (leitmotif in German). Colwell says theme is to
“express some conviction or belief about the way things are” (1968:17). The theme is what is meant by the story or what the writer wants to say through the work. It is “a general concept or doctrine … is designed to incorporate and make persuasive to the readers” (Abrams, 1985:121). It is the idea that the writer wants to speak through the story. In every story there must be theme because a theme is the embryo of story. Any kind of art work has theme. Colwell states how theme is needed in story: 10
Most serious stories – including funny stories … express a conviction about the world or some part of it. Many art forms other than stories and fables embody theme. In fact, all verbal forms tend to, including of course poetry and drama. Even comic strips may have themes … (1968:17).
2. Character and Characterization
In every narrative or a novel, character is a must. Characters can be human, animal or plant (animal and plant only exist in fairy tale). As cited by Harsono
(2005: xiii), Vare states that narrative journalism needs characters. Characters are needed to tight the story. There are two main qualities in character’s case
(Colwell, 1968:10-13). First is morality. Aristotle’s Poetic defines character as moral quality, goodness and badness. It can be seen when one says “she has a lot of character” – she has good morality. Second is personality. It defines character as a personal and unique person. It sees a character different from other characters.
Abrams combines those two qualities to define character as:
The persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the readers as being endowed with moral dispositional and emotion qualities that are expressed in what they say – the dialogue – and by what they do – the action. (1985:35)
Commonly the appearance of the character can be drawn from the narration or the other character description. According to Murphy (1972; 161) there are nine ways of characterization. a. Personal Description
The author describes the characters’ appearance directly, from physical body and the clothes. The physical body for example the skin, the hair, the height, the size of the body, the teeth, the chin, and the eyes and so on. 11
b. Character as Seen by Another
Here, the author through another character in the story describes a certain character’s appearance and nature. As similar as the personal description, the description of character as seen by another is covering the physical things of the character. Additional, the description is not through the conversation. c. Speech
Through the speech, the character’s nature is described. The description can be the character’s speech or in the conversation through another character’s speech. Murphy (1972; 164) explains as “whenever a person speaks, whenever he is in conversation with another, whenever he puts forward an opinion, he is giving us some clue to his character”. d. Past Life
The character’s personality is formed by past life. By giving the information of the characters past life, the author gives the readers clue of the character’s nature. It is covering whatever in past life, does not matter the way of description.
“This can be done by direct comment by the author, through the person’s thought, through his conversation or through the medium of another person” as Murphy explains (1972; 166). e. Conversation of Others
The author gives clue about the character’s nature through the others characters conversation. The character becomes the object of the others characters conversation. Through this conversation, some clues or descriptions of a certain character are given. 12
f. Reactions
The author gives a clue to a character’s nature by showing the character’s reactions toward events or situations. The reaction of the character can show the readers about the emotion, the behavior and the mindset of the character. g. Direct Comments
Directly, the author describes or gives comment on the character’s nature.
The difference of direct comment to personal description is the direct comment mostly about the psychological things, not the physical things. h. Thoughts
Here the author uses omniscient narrator. The way the author gives knowledge about the character’s nature is by letting the readers know what the character is thinking about. It is only accepted in the novel. i. Mannerisms
Through the manner of the character, the author describes the character’s nature. The manner of the character is habitual or idiosyncrasy.
Based on the characters’ changing, characters are divided into two. The first is a flat character. A flat character usually only has few qualities described by the narrator. It makes the character scarcely change his or her morality value because the changing of morality value needs support from complex and a lot of qualities of the character, to make the changing acceptable (Colwell, 1968: 10-13). The second is a round character. A round character has many qualities. The complexity of qualities supports the character’s moral change. These qualities are 13
a reason why the character is changed. The change of a character not just happens suddenly without any reason.
In every single story, a conspicuous character is a must. It is needed to lead the story. There can be one or more prominent characters in a story. It is called the protagonist. The protagonist becomes the center of interest and the leading character in the story (p.15). Mostly, there is a character that against the protagonist’s will, it is called the antagonist. An antagonist always stands on the opposite land of protagonist. The antagonist is needed to keep the story runs in balance.
3. Story and Plot
At a glance there is no different between story and plot, both are a narrative of events. E.M. Forster in his analysis “The Story and The Plot” (2000: 44-46) explains there is a different between story and plot. He defines “a story as a narrative of events arranged in their time-sequence”. While he defines plot “also as a narrative of events, the emphasis falling on causality”. It is the emphasis point that differentiates story and plot. Forster gives example to differentiate story and plot; the king died and then the queen died is a story but “the king died and then the queen died of grief is a plot”. Both the story and plot preserving events or actions in series of time, but plot highlighting on causality. Common questions to differentiate story and the plot are ‘And then?’ for story (becomes chronology) and ‘Why?’ for the plot.
Barry (2002: 223) defines story in a novel as “being the events as they happen, has to begin at the beginning, of course, and then move chronologically, 14
with nothing left out”. Furthermore, the plot is “those events as they are edited, ordered, packaged and presented … may well begin somewhere in the middle of the chain of events, and may then backtrack, providing us with a ‘flashback’”
(p.223). The plot is used to get a certain effect by the arrangement of the events.
The plot is an important element in narrative. Even Aristotle recognizes the plot more important than characters Aristotle says that “the plot, then, is the first essential of tragedy, its life-blood, so to speak, and characters take the second place” (Mcquillan, 2000:41).
4. Point of View
In reading a narrative, there must be a point from where the story is told.
“’What is the point of view?’ is virtually the question “From where is the story seen?’” (Colwell, 1968: 20). Colwell compares point of view with watching a television show. What is shown on television is a point where audiences see the scene. On the screen, the point of view is a viewpoint and in written narrative the scene is imagined from the narration. Abrams describes a point of view as “the way a story gets told – the mode (or modes) established by an author by means of which the readers is presented with the characters, dialogue, actions, setting and events …” (1985:165).
A point of view is divided into two; first-person point of view and third- person pint of view (p.166). In the first-person point of view, the narrator acts as the character in the story and refers to the character as “I” (p.167). Whereas the third-person point of view is divided into two; the omniscient point of view and the limited point of view. The omniscient point of view allows the narrator as the 15
third-person to know everything about the characters, including the characters thought, felt and experienced. While the limited point of view, the narrator tells the story from the third-person but limited in the characters thought, felt, and experienced; or the narrator only knows the characters in a surface. There is a narrator that has an omniscient quality but limited, it is called as a selective omniscient narrator (pp.166-167).
In a non-fiction narrative, the common way used as a point of view is a third- person point of view. A third-person point of view is the most objective mode to tell a non-fictional narrative. In non-fictional narrative what is told is a fact, true and not writer-made. “In the non-fictional world, it is true, the normal convention would be to use third-person terms of reference to talk about objective events that can be observed and reported on” (Verdonk, 2002: 41).
There are four tools to write literary journalism. One of it is a third-person point of view (Kurnia, 2002: 67). “In a third-person narrative, the narrator is someone outside the story proper who refers to all the characters in the story as name, or as “he”, “she”, “they’” (Abrams, 1985: 166). Later, Abrams explains an omniscient third-person point of view:
The convention that the narrator knows everything that needs to be known about the agents, action and events, and also has privileged access to the characters’ thoughts, feelings, and motives; and that the narrator is free to move at will in time and place, to shift from character to character, and to report (or conceal) their speech, doings, and states of consciousness (p.166).
In journalism, the writers or journalists must be objective toward what he or she writes about. The objectivity of journalists can be seen from the objectivity of the narrator. Abrams calls an objective narrator as an unintrusive narrator, “for the 16
most part describes reports, or “shows” the action in dramatic scenes without introducing his own comments or judgments” (p.166).
5. Setting
The setting of a novel relate to three dimensional world; when, where, what social context. Abrams defines setting as “a general locale, historical time, and social circumstances in which its action occurs” (p.192). The setting in any kind of literary work is useful to generating the atmosphere (p.193). The setting also helps the readers to understand the story by looking at the social-historical background of the story.
Moreover, in the narrative journalism, the setting is the reality and contains these two aspects, “where” and “when”. It is not a single of time but a series of time. As the result of the series of time, it is arranged in chronology.
6. Conflict
A conflict is a situation of disagreement on ideas, opinions, principles and interest (p.159). A conflict is needed to keep the attention on a long story or narrative (Harsono, 2005: xii). Conflict makes a story interesting and attracting to the readers so it is an important element. A conflict can be between people to people, or inter group. It might happen to people and his or her feeling, and people with social norm. There are two categories of conflict; major conflict and minor conflict.
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7. Motive
A character has a motive in certain action. A motive is a reason why the character does such an action (Abrams, 1985: 23). The actions also include a speech. The reason of action covers temper, desires and moral personality. All the physical action and speech done by the characters are supported by their motive; or in other words there must be a reason behind the characters’ action. Like the character’s changes, the character’s action is not just happened suddenly too, without any motive or reason.
8. Style
Traditionally Abrams defines style as a “manner of linguistic expression”
(p.203). Style can be varied. In standard of rhetoric theories, style is classified into three stages; high or grand, middle or mean, low or plain (p.203). The common rhetorical devices are simile, metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and personification. a. Simile
Simile is a figure of speech that gives comparison of one thing with another different kind of thing (Apple Inc., New Oxford American Dictionary). The comparison is indicated by word “like” or “as”. b. Metaphor
Abrams (1985: 67) defines it as an expression of one kind of thing or action that is applied to another thing or action which it is not applicable literally.
Different from simile, metaphor is not using the word “like” or “as”.
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c. Metonymy
Metonymy is a substitution of the name of attribute to mean another thing that is closely related in common experiences (p.68). d. Synecdoche
Synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part of something to represent the whole thing (vice versa) or the whole thing to represent a part of that thing (p.69). e. Personification
Personification (in Greek Prosopoeia) is a figure of speech of an inanimate or abstract object is represented in human quality form (Apple Inc., New Oxford
American Dictionary).
9. Narrative
Abrams (1985: 123) defines narrative as a story of events involving characters that is told by the narrator. Wales (2001: 264) explains it can be “real” or “imaginary” events. “Real” narratives are newspaper report, confession and historical record. Then, the “imagery” narratives are comic strips, epic poems, ballads, novels and short stories.
Narrative also can be the way of telling the story. In the journalism the narrative using four tools; scene-by-scene construction, dialogue, third person point of view, and tells the details (Kurnia, 2002; 45-88). From the scene-by-scene construction it can create parallel narrative, as Clark calls (http://www.niemwn. harvard.edu/narrative/essay/narrativedigestessayoncraft.html). Parallel narrative is two seemingly different scenes at the end join as one unity and connected to each 19
other. Clark also adds that the dialogue can have a role as subordinate narrator, which is a narration inside the narration.
10. Irony
Irony makes a story strong and powerful. It can attract readers’ attention and emotion. Irony also makes readers involve in the story because readers are invited to think about the events. In literary works, irony is a required need; one way to judge a literary work is good or not is by looking at its irony. Irony involves conflict between what one speaker says and what the author means, what one speaker says and what readers know to be case, or between one speaker says and what speaker means. There are three kinds of irony; verbal irony, situational irony and dramatic irony (Colwell, 1968: 38). Verbal irony is discrepancy of what speaker says and what speaker means. Situational irony is discrepancy between what is expected to be and reality. Dramatic irony is discrepancy between what speaker knows and readers know. In general irony is “a conflict, a contrast, between what is said or thought from one point of view or attitude and what is said or thought from another (p.38).
11. Elements of Narrative Journalism: Fact, Access, Emotion, and Fresh
Fact, Fresh, Emotion and Access are elements of narrative journalism that created by Robert Vare (Harsono, 2005: xii-xiv). These four elements are placed in the same section because they are short, simple and one group in journalism.
Additionally, the source of fact, fresh, emotion and access is only one source. The source is New Oxford American Dictionary, a digital software version. The 20
dictionary is used as the source because the term of fact, fresh, emotion and access are common term not special term. Yet, after it is related to narrative journalism, these terms have interrelationship with the text.
In any kind of journalism, including narrative journalism or literary journalism, fact is the most important and the first priority. The fact is sacred in journalism. The fact is defined as “the truth about events as opposed to interpretation” (New Oxford American Dictionary). Every detail of events that was written on narrative journalism is based on fact. The journalist is not allowed to add some information or detail based on s/he imagination.
To get all the fact of the story a journalist must get an access to the character of the story. The access is as close as and as deep as possible to the character.
Access is “a right or opportunity to approach or see someone” (New Oxford
American Dictionary). The access to the character is needed by the journalist to do some deep and intense interview. This kind of interview is needed to get all the detail about the story.
As conditions by Robert Vare (Harsono, 2005:xiii) the next element in writing a narrative journalism is emotion, a story must include emotion to make the character alive. According to the dictionary, “emotion is any of the particular feeling that characterizes such a state of mind, such as joy, love, anger, hate, horror and etc”. Emotion is also needed to get the readers intention and involvement to the story.
To avoid dullness, a narrative should contain new information although it is about old case. Harsono (2005:xiv) says that it is no use to repeat old song. It is 21
easier to report new things from different point of view. A journalist should find something fresh, “not previously known or used; new and different” (New Oxford
American Dictionary).
12. Stylistics
Peter Barry stated that “stylistics is a critical approach which uses the methods and findings of the sciences of linguistic in the analysis of literary text”
(2002: 203). Barry (p.203) also adds that stylistics maintains accumulation of knowledge by empirical investigation of external phenomena. Stylistics always uses empirical investigation on every phenomenon. Stylistics provides “hard” data from literature but it is not conceding literature in a high level. Stylistics concedes literary language as common field; that is why stylistics also can be applied to political speeches, advertisement, newspaper headline and so on (p.
204). Abrams (1985: 283) sees this as a study of style analysis in literary texts.
C. Theoretical Framework
This research has two problems to answer. The first is what the journalistic elements in HIROSHIMA are. The second is what characteristics of HIROSHIMA make it similar to novels. To answer the first problem, it is used the narrative journalism elements by Robert Vare (Harsono, 2005: xii-xiv) and Roy Peter Clark
(http://www.niemwn.harvard.edu/narrative/essay/narrativedigestessayoncraft.ht ml). Vare (pp.xii-xiv) makes condition of seven considerations in writing narrative journalism. They are fact, conflict, character, access, emotion, series of time, and fresh. The next is Clark’s theory; it is an extension of common 22
journalism theory, 5W1H. The new extension of 5W1H element is “who” becomes “character”, “what” becomes “action set in time”, “where” becomes
“setting”, “when” becomes “chronology”, “why” becomes “motive” and “how” becomes “narrative”.
Later, these two categories are unified because there are some elements that are similar. Therefore the elements of journalism are Character, Setting, Conflict,
Motive, Narrative, Fact, Access, Emotion, and Fresh. The Setting group includes
Series of the time, Action set in Time, Chronology, Setting of Time, and Setting of Place.
Step by step, each theory is used to help analyzing HIROSHIMA. First, the theory of character is used to find the characters of HIROSHIMA. Second, the theory of setting is used in finding the setting of HIROSHIMA. It includes the chronology arrangement as the result of the series of the time in the story. The next one is searching the conflict in HIROSHIMA using the theory of conflict.
Forth, the theory of motive is used to find the reason of the action. There are two steps in the motive analysis. The first step is looking at the characters action; and then the second step is looking out the motive or reason of character’s action. The fifth is the theory of narrative. Narrative here tends to the way the author tells the story. It is more like finding out the strategy of Hersey in telling HIROSHIMA.
Next, the theory of fact is used to see the fact of HIROSHIMA. The seventh theory used is theory of access. It is used to help in seeing John Hersey’s access to the characters. Eight, the theory of emotion is used in discovering the emotion brought by HIROSHIMA. The last is finding out if HIROSHIMA covers fresh 23
information; consider that tragedy of Hiroshima had past one year before
HIROSHIMA published.
After analyzing the first problem, the next is to answer the second problem.
The second problem is related with literature, especially a novel. To answer the second problem, it is used the basic characteristics or intrinsic elements of the novel. These basic characteristics are theme, character and characterization, story and plot, point of view, setting, style and irony. These seven intrinsic elements of literature are used as conditions for a work, in this case HIROSHIMA, to be called as novel (Crawford, 1953:279).
The first theory is the theory of theme. Theory of theme is used to find out what the theme of HIROSHIMA is. All literary works including novel have theme.
Theme is the main element of literature work. The second theory is the character and characterization. Character and characterization are used to find out the character in HIROSHIMA and the characterization of that character
The third theory is story and plot. This theory is used to discover what the story and plot of HIROSHIMA is. The fourth is point of view. Theory of point of view is used to find out what kind of point of view is used in telling story of
HIROSHIMA.
The fifth theory is setting. Commonly all literary works especially novel has setting. Setting is needed to generate atmosphere. Once again, theory of setting is used to see what the setting of HIROSHIMA is and its contribution in building the atmosphere. The sixth theory is style. Every author has style in writing, so does
John Hersey, the writer of HIROSHIMA. Using theory of style, style of 24
HIROSHIMA is discovered. The last theory is irony. A good literary work is also judged by its irony. Since irony is an important point to evaluate a literary work, includes novel; this analysis uses the theory of irony to find out the irony in
HIROSHIMA.
The theory of stylistic is used to make a conclusion based on the finding of hard data in the analysis of the first and second problem.
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
This chapter contains three parts. The first part is object of the study. This part explains about HIROSHIMA. It gives information about the kind of work, the printed version, publisher, special record of HIROSHIMA and what the
HIROSHIMA is generally about. The second part is the approach of this study.
This part explains what kind of approach has been used in conducting the analysis. The application procedure of approach is explained in detail. It is explained the reason why the approach has been used in doing the analysis. The last part is method of the study. This part contains three subparts. The first subpart states the kind of this research; which is field research. The second subpart states sources that have been used in the analysis. The sources are classified into primary sources and secondary sources. The last subpart in method of the study is the chronology of the analysis. This subpart explains specifically the steps in doing the analysis.
A. Object of the Study
The object of this study was HIROSHIMA. HIROSHIMA was a reportage about atomic bombing over Hiroshima, Japan on August 6th, 1945. HIROSHIMA was written by John Hersey. There were two impressions of HIROSHIMA. The first are a magazine impression. This impression was published by The New
Yorker, a weekly magazine (Hersey, 1946: 1). This impression was published on
August 31, 1946. This publication was meant as remembrance of one year the
25 26
bombing on Hiroshima. HIROSHIMA was a so special article that was why it took the whole pages of the magazine when it was published.
The second impression was in a book form (Rothman, 1997: http://www. herseyhiroshima.com/hiro.php), later which was called as novel (Crawford, 1953:
279). This impression was published on November 1946 by Alfred A Knopf
(Rothman, 1997: http://www. herseyhiroshima.com/hiro.php). HIROSHIMA was a four-chaptered reportage in 115 pages of book. The chapters were entitled as follow A Noiseless Flash, The Fire, Details Are Being Investigated, and Panic
Grass and Feverfew. Although there were two impressions of HIROSHIMA, only one form was used namely the book form. It was because the book form was easier to be found and there was no revision on a book form, it was stated that
“NOT ONE WORD HAS BEEN OMITTED” (it was stated in a page after the title page, published by Bantam Books, 1975). The revised edition was published later on July 15, 1985 by The New Yorker entitled HIROSHIMA: THE
AFTERMATH (Rothman, 1997: http://www.herseyhiroshima.com/hiro.php).
HIROSHIMA was the best narrative in 20th century in the history of American
Journalism chosen by 37 experts of history, journalism, writing, and academic from 100 best narratives in the United States (Harsono, 2005:xiv). HIROSHIMA got an award from New York Times as New York Times Bestseller in 1946
(http://www. librarything.com/work/45205). HIROSHIMA also got an honor for
New York Public Library Book for Teen Age (http://www.random house.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780679721031&view=awards). In 1950
HIROSHIMA was awarded The National Jewish Book Award by The National 27
Jewish Book (http://www.jewcy.com/tags/john_hersey). In 2006 HIROSHIMA was adapted into radio by The Pasifica Radio Achieves and received a National
Federation of Community Broadcasters Special Merit Award
(http://pasificaradioarchieves.org/browse. recording.php?recid=233&catid=6).
HIROSHIMA was a story about six survivors from the atomic bombing on
Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. There were Miss Toshiko Sasaki, a personnel clerk; Dr. Masakazu Fujii, a physician; Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura, a tailor's widow with three small children; Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge, a German missionary priest; Dr. Terufumi Sasaki, a young surgeon; and the Reverend Mr. Kiyoshi
Tanimoto, a Methodist pastor. HIROSHIMA traced back their experiences, starting from when the six survivors woke up that morning, a moment before the blast, to what they were doing the moment of the blast and the next few hours, what happened to them through the next several days and ended with the conditions of the six survivors several months later after the atomic bombing.
B. Approach of the Study
In the analysis, the stylistic approach has been used. Peter Barry stated that
“stylistics is a critical approach which uses the methods and findings of the sciences of linguistic in the analysis of literary text” (2002: 203). The stylistic approach has been used in analyzing the style of HIROSHIMA as a novel, by serving the “hard data” for the analysis. The hard data was the characteristics of a narrative journalism and the elements of a novel. 28
The stylistic approach has been used in the analysis because it was suitable with the topic and the problems that have to be answered. Additionally, the stylistic approach can deal with journalism and literature issues.
C. Method of the Study
This study was a study with a book as the field of the research. The research used a book as the main source and some books and texts to support and to do the analysis. The primary source was a book entitled HIROSHIMA written by John
Hersey and published by Alfred A Knopf. There were some secondary sources that were used in this research. The secondary sources were books and articles from online sources. The books sources were Jurnalisme Sastra by Septiawan
Santana Kurnia, Jurnalisme Sastrawi: Antologi Liputan Mendalam dan Memikat by Andreas Harsono and Budi Setiyono, Aspect of the Novel by E.M. Foster, A
Glossary of Literary Terms by Abrams, A Student’s Guide to Literature by Carter
Colwell, A Dictionary of Stylistic by Katie Wales and so on. The online sources were The Publication of “Hiroshima” in the New Yorker by Steve Rothman published in www.herseyhiroshima.com and Essays on Craft by Roy Peter Clark published in http://www.niemwn.harvard.edu/narrative/essay/narrativedigestessay oncraft.html.
Mainly there were two big steps in the analysis based on the problems. The first big step was answering the first problem by analyzing HIROSHIMA using the narrative journalism elements. The narrative journalism elements that were used were from Robert Vare (2005) and Roy Peter Clark (2006).
29
The steps that were taken in answering the second problem were stated below.
The first was analyzing the characters in HIROSHIMA. As stated by Vare and
Clark, the character is an important element in narrative journalism. The next step was analyzing the setting of HIROSHIMA. By analyzing the setting it covered four elements in narrative journalism, they were series of time, action set in time, chronology and setting of place. The third step was analyzing the conflict in
HIROSHIMA. It was not only the major conflict but also the internal conflict of the characters that became the minor conflict. The fourth step was analyzing the motive of American to drop the bomb and the motive of characters’ action. The fifth was analyzing the narrative strategy of HIROSHIMA. After analyzing the above elements, the analysis went on analyzing the facts in HIROSHIMA. The analysis of the facts went on main issues in HIROSHIMA. The seventh was analyzing the access. Based on the text of HIROSHIMA, it was analyzed the access of the writer to the characters. The eighth was analyzing the emotion of
HIROSHIMA. It analyzed the emotion that is created in the story. And the last step was analyzing the fresh information told in HIROSHIMA.
The second step was answering the second problem by analyzing
HIROSHIMA using the literature elements. The literature elements were Theme,
Character and Characterization, Story and Plot, Point of View, Setting, Style and
Irony. Based on the elements this first step contained seven specific steps. The first was finding the theme of HIROSHIMA. The second was finding the characters in HIROSHIMA and its characterization. The third was finding the 30
story and plot of HIROSHIMA. The fourth was finding the point of view of
HIROSHIMA. The fifth was finding the setting of HIROSHIMA. The sixth was finding the style of HIROSHIMA. The style that was analyzed was the utilization of the rhetoric devices. The last was finding the irony of HIROSHIMA.
After the analysis on the two problems has been done, the conclusion of the study is presented. CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
This chapter is mainly discussing and analyzing the answer of the problems in this study. The elaboration of the answer will analyzing what the narrative journalism elements of HIROSHIMA are and what the characteristics of
HIROSHIMA make it similar to a novel.
For the beginning, in order to answer the first problem, it will begin with providing the narrative journalism elements. There are two categories of narrative journalism elements used in the analysis. The first is Character, Action Set in
Time, Setting, Chronology, Motive and Narrative by Roy Peter Clark (2002: http
://www.niemwn.harvard.edu/narrative/essay/narrativedigestessayoncraft.html).
The second is Fact, Conflict, Character, Access, Emotion, Series of Time, and
Fresh by Robert Vare (Harsono, 2005: xii-xiv). Later, these two categories are united in one section because there are some elements that are similar. Therefore the elements of journalism are Character, Setting, Conflict, Motive, Narrative,
Fact, Access, Emotion, and Fresh. The Setting above is included Series of the time, Action set in Time, Chronology, Setting of Time, Setting of Place and
Setting of social Circumstances. The text HIROSHIMA is analyzed using the elements of journalism; whether HIROSHIMA has the elements of journalism or not.
Since HIROSHIMA also categorized as a novel, the next analysis is providing the characteristics of a novel to answer the second problem; what characteristics
31 32
of HIROSHIMA make it similar to novels. They are Theme, Character and
Characterization, Story and Plot, Point of View, Setting, Style and Irony. All these seven characteristics of the novel are searched in the HIROSHIMA; whether
HIROSHIMA has these characteristics or not.
The third is concluding based on the finding of analyzing the first and the second problem. The first and the second problem are to provide the supporting material for the conclusion.
A. The Narrative Journalism Elements in HIROSHIMA.
This part presents the narrative journalism elements of HIROSHIMA. The
elements are Character, Setting, Conflict, Motive, Narrative, Facts, Access,
Emotion, and Fresh.
1. Character
In a narrative journalism, character is required. Characters in a narrative
journalism are to tie the story. In In Cold Blood’s Truman Capote, the characters
are Richard Hickcock and Perry Smith (Harsono, 2005: ix). In Cold Blood tells
about the murder of a farmer family by Dick and Perry. Along the story, it tells
about the life of Dick and Perry and their murder investigation. Dick and Perry
become the characters in the story of In Cold Blood.
There are six characters in HIROSHIMA. They are Mr. Kiyoshi Tanimoto, the
Reverend; Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura, the widow of three children; Doctor
Masakazu Fujii, the doctor of private hospital; Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge, a
German Jesuit; Doctor Terufumi Sasaki, a doctor of Red Cross Hospital; Miss 33
Toshiko Sasaki, a clerk in the Tin East Works. HIROSHIMA tells about the life of
those six survivors when the atomic bomb is dropped.
2. Setting
In this section, the analysis of the setting in HIROSHIMA in the context of narrative journalism is about series of time, chronology, action set in time, setting of place. According to Vare, narrative journalism is not a single point of time reportage but a series of time like a movie, not just a single picture of event
(p.xiv). Additional, as the effect of the series of time the arrangement of the story is based on the chronology. The time is not arranged alone in the timeline without any action followed, so that there are actions set in time to go after the timeline.
The general setting of place of HIROSHIMA is in the city of Hiroshima and around; such as Mukaihara, Ushida, Kaitaichi, Inokuchi and Ninoshima. There is only one place located outside Hiroshima; that is the Catholic International
Hospital in Tokyo.
HIROSHIMA is not only a report of single time, but it is story in a series of time. HIROSHIMA takes time from early midnight in August 5th 1945 until
August 1946, a year after the bombing. At that time, Japan is in a World War II.
As the result of the series of time, the story is a long and detail story. The arrangement of times creates a chronology of the event. HIROSHIMA is arranged from the beginning until the end, or goes forward. The series of time is followed by the actions in each of the timeline.
34
3. Conflict
The major conflict in HIROSHIMA is a conflict between the six survivors and the atomic bomb. The six characters have interest in living in peace; they want that the war is ended which is they have to pay for this. The war is ended by the different way from the expectation of the six characters. It is not ended peacefully but by another terror. The “bomb” (the American government) has an opinion that the war could be finished but it has to sacrifice a lot of human being, hard way to defeat the enemy. The differences of the expectation to finish the war have created a conflict between the six characters and the bomb. In addition, the six survivors also have a conflict with the Americans.
Each character also has conflicts and its conflicts are the minor conflict in the story. Mr. Tanimoto has a conflict with his humanity when the doctor of the Army hospital rejected his request to help the wounded. In other side, Mr. Tanimoto has a promise to the wounded that he would get them an aid. In the limited condition,
Mr. Tanimoto has confused about the action he should take to help the lives of the wounded people.
Father Kleinsorge has a conflict when he was asked to save a woman’s husband under the ruin of their house. Father Kleinsorge is described, “Already growing apathetic and dazed in the presence of the cumulative distress …
(Hersey, 1946: 36)”. In other side he has to go and save the woman’s husband,
“Father Kleinsorge must come and save him (p.36)”. At this point he has a 35
conflict with himself. As a human, Father Kleinsorge has to help him, but in other side, he felt tired and lazy to help.
Father Kleinsorge also has a conflict when he tried to save Mr. Fukai, the secretary of the diocese. Father Kleinsorge wants to save him but in other hand,
Mr. Fukai refuses it. For a moment, they have uncompromised. The difference between Father Kleinsorge’s idea and Mr. Fukai’s idea has created a conflict among both of them.
Dr. Sasaki has a conflict with medical regulation and internal conflicts. Dr.
Sasaki has an internal conflict in the morning before the bomb exploded. He felt sluggish and feverish that morning but he had to go to the hospital. The situation in which he had to choose whether stayed in the house or went to the hospital had created internal conflict.
The other internal conflict of Dr. Sasaki is when he was asked by casualties to take care of the victims. It happens when Dr. Sasaki took a rest after nineteen straight hours working. Dr. Sasaki feels so tired and incapable of wrapping the wound. In this situation Dr. Sasaki has an internal conflict whether he take a rest after nineteen hours of dressing the wound or continue to dressing the wound.
Then his decision is to continue dressing the wound.
Another conflict of Dr. Sasaki is when his idealism met with the medical regulation. The medical regulation requires a permit for practicing. In Dr. Sasaki idealism, helping sick people is more important than arrange a permit. The 36
difference of the idealism and the regulation has created a conflict between Dr.
Sasaki and the formality.
Mrs. Nakamura has an internal conflict about the way she will get money for living. The choices are she works as the domestic in the Allied occupation forces,
Japan allied, or borrowing some enough money from her relatives to repair the sewing machine and works as a seamstress. The conflict is not resolve, until the end of the story she still does not make a decision yet.
4. Motive
Motive is the developing of “why” element in the basic journalism elements
(Clark, http://www.niemwn.harvard.edu/narrative/essay/narrativedigestessayoncra ft.html). Motive, in the case of narrative journalism, is a reason from the action.
The action can be from the main action of the story or the minor action. The motive also can be a reason of the character action.
In HIROSHIMA, the main motive is why Americans drop the atomic bomb over Hiroshima and Nagasaki – to defeat Japan and end the war and to show to the world especially Russia that U.S. is the superpower country (Gosling,
1999:45).
Each character action has a motive behind it. Sometime the motive is stated but it is also possible not stated. In the characters action in HIROSHIMA, it has reason. Dr. Sasaki helps the wounded people; Dr. Sasaki’s motive is his idealism to serve people. Father Kleinsorge and Mr. Tanimoto help the wounded people because of their humanity sense. Dr. Fujii has a reason not to help people as soon 37
as the bomb exploded Dr. Sasaki does because he is injured badly enough and have no power to help.
5. Narrative
Narrative in this case is the act or process of telling the story – how things happened. The narrative journalism reports a news by storytelling. The narrative is used to put the readers to the place in the story and allow the readers to inhabit in that place, not just point the place and the action (Clark, http://www.niemwn. harvard.edu/narrative/essay/narrativedigestessayoncraft.html).
The narrative, in the report, uses scene-by-scene construction, dialogue, third person point of view and tells the details (Kurnia, 2002; 45-88). Scene-by-scene construction is used to create the chronology of the story and invites the readers to go along with the story. Clark (http://www.niemwn.harvard.edu/narrative
/essay/narrativedigestessayoncraft.html) adds that the scene-by-scene construction can be used as the parallel narrative – two different stories that run into unity at the end. The using of dialogue is to strengthen the scene and give a reality feeling on the news story (Kurnia, 2002: 57). Clark calls the dialogue as subordinate narrator strategy. It means that the source is given a space to tell the story. The third person point of view in the narrative of a report is duplicated from the style of biography writing. The third person point of view is to keep the objectivity of the report. And the last is details. In a narrative report, the narration tells the details of the story such the characters’ behavior, the buildings, the clothes, the 38
habits and soon. It is to give the readers a view of the social statue of the characters.
In reporting the effect of atomic bomb in Hiroshima, Hersey uses narrative strategy. The narrative of HIROSHIMA is built scene by scene. For example in the chapter I – A Noiseless Flash – the narrative is telling the scene of Mr. Tanimoto and then Mrs. Nakamura, Dr. Fujii, Father Kleinsorge, Dr. Sasaki and ends by Ms.
Sasaki. At first, in the narrative the six survivors are narrated in different scene. At the end, the six survivors are narrated as a unity and they are connected to each other – the parallel narrative, as Clark calls it. In HIROSHIMA there are some dialogues. From one of the dialogues there is a subordinate narrator, as Clark calls it. It is Mr. Tanimoto’s letter to Americans.
What a heartbreaking scene this was the first night! About midnight I landed on the riverbank. So many injured people lied on the ground that I made my way by striding over them. Repeating “excuse me”, I forwarded and carried a tub of water with me and gave a cup of water to each one of them. They raised their upper bodies slowly and accepted a cup of water with a bow and drunk quietly and, spilling any remnant … (Hersey, 1946:114)
A narrative is told by the narrator as well as the HIROSHIMA. The narrator using the third-person point of view narrates all the events in HIROSHIMA. The indication of the third person narrator is the narrator calls the character as he, she or they or with the name; “Mr. Tanimoto found about twenty men and women on the sandspit. He drove away the boat onto the bank and urged them to get abroad
(p.60)”.
The description of the detail is also specifying. Hersey is able to catch the detail of the characters, as seen in the description of Father Kleinsorge. 39
Father Kleinsorge had, at thirty-eight, the look of a boy growing so fast – thin in the face, with a prominent Adams apple, a hollow chest, dangling hands, big feet. He walked clumsily, leaning toward a little. He was tired all the time. To make matters worse, he had suffered for two days, along with Father Cieslik, a fellow priest, from a rather painful and urgent diarrhea, which they blamed on the beans and black ration bread they were obliged to eat. (p. 16)
6. Facts
The definition of fact refers to the general definition. That the fact, according to Hornby (2000:472), is “things that are true rather than things that have been invented”, so all the events includes the characters’ name, the place’s name in which the action occurs, and the time of action are true, as truth as the reality, not just based on the true story. Journalism is about fact and journalism does not have a little space for fantasy. Harsono says the narrative journalism is in the domain of fact, fact, and fact (2005: xxiv). If it so, HIROSHIMA must be a fact.
HIROSHIMA is a true story and it tells the facts. The bombing of Hiroshima is true, “At exactly fifteen minutes past eight in the morning, on August, 1945,
Japanese time, at the moment, when the atomic bomb flashed above Hiroshima,
(Hersey, 1946:3)”. This fact is supported by the United States Department of
Energy in the book The Manhattan Project Making the Atomic Bomb (1999:51).
All the places in HIROSHIMA are true; it is really exist. Hiroshima, the Mission house, the Mission Chapel, the Novitiate, the Red Cross Hospital, the Asano Park etc. are the real place. The characters’ names are also the real name; Mr.
Tanimoto, Dr. Fujii, Dr. Sasaki, Ms. Sasaki, Father Kleinsorge and Mrs.
Nakamura are the real person and the real name. 40
Basically the facts of HIROSHIMA are undoubted because The New Yorker, in which HIROSHIMA is published, has the fact checker (Harsono, 2002:xxiv).
The fact checker has responsibility to verify every fact in the edited report. They believe that the fact must be true and precise; starting from year, name’s spelling, number, book, argumentation, quotation etc. (p.xxiv).
7. Access
In the process of writing a narrative report, an author must have an access to the character to get as much as information. As much as and as detail as the information collected, the narrative will be precise and accurate as the fact. As seen through the detail information in the text HIROSHIMA, Hersey as the writer has an access to the six survivors; Mr. Tanimoto, Father Kleinsorge, Dr. Fujii,
Mrs. Nakamura, Ms. Sasaki and Dr. Sasaki. Hersey has interviewed some civilians and then he focused on the six survivors since the six survivors are the good interview subjects (Rothman, 1997: http://www.herseyhiroshima.com/ hiro.php).
8. Emotion
The emotion makes the story alive (Harsono, 2005: xiii). The emotion, in general meaning, is “a strong feeling such as love, fear or anger: the part of the person’s character that consists of feelings (Hornby, 2000:430)”. The emotion in the HIROSHIMA mostly is hatred to the Americans. This hatred feeling is caused by the decision of Americans to drop the atomic bomb over Hiroshima and causes a massive damage. In the one paragraph, Hersey writes the hatred feeling of citizens of Hiroshima. 41
Many citizens of Hiroshima, however, continued to feel a hatred for Americans which nothing could possibly erase. “I see,” Dr. Sasaki once said, “that they are holding a trial for war criminals in Tokyo just now. I think they ought to try the men who decided to use the bomb and they should hang them all.” (Hersey, 1946: 117)
Another emotion is fidelity to the Emperor. The fidelity is described clearly by Hersey that it is so great feeling of fidelity. The description of the fidelity is shown in three times. All the description is in the Mr. Tanimoto’s letter to his
Americans friend. The first is Mr. Tanimoto’s own fidelity to the country “but now I have gotted my mind to dedicate what I have and to complete the war for our country’s sake (p.115); the second is Dr. Y. Hiraiwa and his son fidelity to the
Emperor “‘Father, we can do nothing except make our mind up to consecrate our lives for the country. Let us give Banzai to our Emperor.’ Then the father followed after his son (p.115) and the last is Ms. Kayoko Nobutoki, a student of girl’s high school “One of the girls begun to sing Kimi ga yo, national anthem, and others followed in chorus and died (p.116)”. The four of them are willing to die for the sake of the country and the Emperor.
The emotion of HIROSHIMA is also terror and horror. Before the bombing, people in Hiroshima live in anxiety and uncertainty. Every second is a terror because air-raid warning can sound unpredictable and air attack can happen anytime in their life. Moreover there is a rumor of something special prepared for
Hiroshima, “The frequency of the warnings and the continued abstinence of Mr. B with respect to Hiroshima had made its citizens jittery; a rumor was going around that the Americans were saving something special for the city (p.5).”
9. Fresh 42
The element of fresh is about the new information about certain news or a report that is different from any report in case of point of view. HIROSHIMA tells about the effect of the atomic bomb to the civilians in Hiroshima. HIROSHIMA is different and it contains something new. It is more simple compare with others report at that time in the U.S.
Shawn was “astonished that in all the millions of words being written about the bomb -- how and why the decision was made, how the bomb came to be built, whether it should have been dropped at all -- what had actually happened in Hiroshima itself... was being ignored." In March 1946, Shawn sent a cable to Hersey (who was in Shanghai at the time) encouraging the idea: "The more time that passes, the more convinced we are that piece has wonderful possibilities. No one has even touched it. (Rothman, 1997: http://www.herseyhiroshima.com/hiro.php)
As the result is a report of an atomic bomb effect to the six survivors which civilians of Hiroshima – Mr. Kiyoshi Tanimoto, the Reverend; Mrs. Hatsuyo
Nakamura, the widow of three children; Doctor Masakazu Fujii, the doctor of private hospital; Father Wilhem Kleinsorge, a German Jesuits; Doctor Terufumi
Sasaki, a doctor of Red Cross Hospital; Miss Toshiko Sasaki, a clerk of the Tin
East Works. Hersey concerns on the life of the six survivors before the bombing until a year after the bombing. In general HIROSHIMA tells about the condition of
Hiroshima after the atomic bomb explosion.
B. The Characteristics of HIROSHIMA That Make it Similar to a Novel.
These are some intrinsic elements of novel that tried to discover through the text of HIROSHIMA. The analysis will be conducted one by one of the intrinsic elements of the novel. 43
1. Theme
The first is a theme. A theme can be found in every kind of literary works includes a novel. As defined by Abrams (1985: 121), the theme is a concept made by the author of the story to convince the reader about a certain belief. From that definition, the theme of HIROSHIMA can be concluded as the effect of atomic bomb to human life. From the beginning of the story until the end of it,
HIROSHIMA tells about the life of civilians after the atomic bombing in
Hiroshima. It tells about the destruction and the effect caused by the atomic bomb.
A hundred thousand people, mostly civilians, are killed; thousands are suffering.
Even the suffer of the casualties is still felt a year after.
From the story it can be seen that Hersey wants to say that atomic bomb has killed a hundred thousand people. They are not only soldiers but mostly they are civilians. Among the dead are woman, baby, kid, old man and others innocent people. The effect of the bomb is so inhuman.
2. Characters and Characterization
The second is characters and characterization. In a novel character is needed to shape the story. In a novel, referring to a character’s changing, characters are divided into two (Abrams, 1985: 23). Those are round character and flat character.
Round character is a character which experiences a shifting of quality; and flat character is a character that is not experiencing a shifting of quality. In a novel there is a prominent character that leads a story (Colwell, 1968:15). This prominent character is called protagonist. Moreover the opposite of protagonist is antagonist. The antagonist is needed to balance the story. In case of 44
characterization there are nine ways of characterization by Murphy (1972: 161); they are personal description, character as seen by another, speech, past life, conversation, reactions, direct comment, thought, mannerism.
Similar to a novel element, HIROSHIMA also has characters. There are six characters in HIROSHIMA. They are Reverend Kiyoshi Tanimoto, a Methodist pastor; Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura, a tailor's widow with three small children; Dr.
Masakazu Fujii, a physician; Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge, a German missionary priest; Dr. Terufumi Sasaki, a young surgeon; and Miss Toshiko Sasaki, a personnel clerk. These six characters are the protagonist characters. These six characters lead the story so the story becomes alive. Along the story the attention is on the six characters.
Opposite, the antagonist character is the atomic bomb. The bomb has interrupted the willing of the six characters to live in peace. The bomb has changed the life of the six characters badly.
Hersey uses the personal description to explain the nature of the six characters. Hersey describes directly Mr. Tanimoto as:
Mr. Tanimoto is a small man, quick to talk, laugh, and cry. He wears his black hair parted in the middle and rather long; the prominence of the frontal bones just above his eyebrows and the smallness of his mustache, mouth and chin give him a strange, old-young look, boyish and yet wise, weak, and yet fiery. He moves nervously and fast, but with a restraint which suggests that he is cautious, thoughtful man. (Hersey, 1946; 5)
For the background knowledge of Mr. Tanimoto, Hersey also uses a personal description, “There was another thing, too: Mr. Tanimoto had studied theology at
Emory College, in Atlanta, Georgia, United States; he had graduated in 1940
…(p. 6)”. 45
The personal description is also used to describe Father Kleinsorge. Hersey describes the appearance of Father Kleinsorge directly. Hersey describes Father
Kleinsorge as an old boy and gentle, “Father Kleinsorge had, at thirty-eight, the look of a boy growing so fast – thin in the face, with a prominent Adam’s apple, a hollow chest, dangling hands, big feet (p.16).”
In describing Dr. Fujii Hersey uses direct comment. Dr. Fujii is described,
“being prosperous, hedonistic and … not too busy (p.13)”. Then Hersey continues to describe the prosperity of Dr. Fujii. Hersey explains about the private hospital of Dr. Fujii and his hedonistic attitude (pp.14-15). The private hospital has modern equipment, has thirty rooms and located in the downtown of Hiroshima.
Dr. Fujii is also described as a person who likes to drink whiskey imported from
Scotland and America.
Hersey uses the direct comment as well to show the mental nature of Dr.
Sasaki. Hersey describes Dr. Sasaki as such an idealist and rebel of medical procedure. For Dr. Sasaki, helping sick people is more important than managing the permit to help them. Hersey states it explicitly “He was something of an idealist and … without a permit, he had begun visiting a few sick people out there in the evening (p.19)”.
… attached himself sympathetically to an old lady who was walking along in a daze, holding her head with her left hand, supporting a small boy of three or four on her back with her right, and crying, ‘I’m hurt! I’m hurt! I’m hurt!’ Mr. Tanimoto transferred the child on his own back and led the woman by the hand down the street … (p.24) From the quotation above, it can be seen that Mr. Tanimoto reacts to the old lady. Quickly Mr. Tanimoto helps the old lady by holding on the child and leading them to the emergency hospital. This is showing the nature of Mr. Tanimoto as a 46
kind-hearted person. The way showing the nature of Mr. Tanimoto, Hersey uses reaction.
Basically there are three way of characterization that used by Hersey to show the nature of the six characters in HIROSHIMA. They are personal description, direct comments and reaction.
3. Story and Plot
The third intrinsic element of a novel is story and plot. Both story and plot in a novel are defined as a narrative of events. Forster (2000; 44-46) gives emphasis of the story on the chronology and plot on the causality. The story emphasizes on the time sequence of the story; and the plot emphasizes on the causality in the narrative. In HIROSHIMA, the main story is the suffering of the six characters.
The story started with the activities of the six characters a moment before the bomb blasted. At around fifteen past eight, the bomb is dropped and exploded.
Then the story goes on to the action of the six characters a moment after the bombing and a year of the bombing. The arrangement of the events is starting from the beginning – hours before the bomb blast – until the end, a year after the atomic bomb.
Differently, the plot of HIROSHIMA started with the six characters suffers because of the atomic bomb. The suffering is caused by the exploded atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. In general HIROSHIMA tells about the suffering of the six characters as the effect of the atomic bomb. The suffering is told from a 47
moment after the bomb blasted until almost a year after the bomb. The condition of the six characters a moment after the bomb is told in detail and depth. There is burned skin, peeled off skin, fallen hair, the smell of meat, the printed pattern of kimono on skin and so on.
Barry (2002: 223) defines story in a novel as “being the events as they happen, has to begin at the beginning, of course, and then move chronologically, with nothing left out”. Furthermore, the plot is “those events as they are edited, ordered, packaged and presented … may well begin somewhere in the middle of the chain of events, and may then backtrack, providing us with a ‘flashback’”
(p.223). The plot is used to get a certain effect by the arrangement of the events.
Based on the definition of the story and the plot by Barry (p.223) the plot and the story in HIROSHIMA are almost similar. The plot begins on the action of the six characters a seconds before the bombing and the story begins on a moments before the bombing and then goes to a moment after the bombing and then a condition of the six characters a year after the bombing.
For the plot, Hersey at the beginning tells the time and the date of the bombing. Then it moves to Ms. Sasaki’s action toward the girl at the next desk;
Dr. Fujii is reading the Osaka Asahi newspaper; Mrs. Nakamura is watching her neighbor tearing down his house; Father Kleinsorge is reading German magazine
Stimmen der Zeit; Dr. Sasaki is walking along the hospital corridor with a blood specimen in his hand; and Mr. Tanimoto pauses at the door of the rich men and prepares to unload the handcart. Then it goes to the wonder feeling; “A hundred thousand people were killed by the atomic bomb, and these six were among the 48
survivors. They still wonder why they still alive when so many others died”
(Hersey, 1946:4). It show the feeling of thank to God that they still alive because a little changes of their activity at that time can kill them.
In the following paragraphs Hersey tells about the complete moment of the six characters before the atomic bomb explodes. The explanation begins on Mr.
Tanimoto, and then moves to Mrs. Nakamura, Dr. Fujii, Father Kleinsorge, Dr.
Sasaki and then Ms. Sasaki. Afterward it tells about the action and the condition of the six characters after the bombing.
4. Point of View
In a novel a point of view is divided into two; the first-person point of view and the third-person point of view. In the first-person point of view, the narrator uses “I” to tell the story. In here the narrator get involved in the story as a character. Whereas the third-person point of view, the narrator tells the story from the outside of the story. The third-person point of view itself is divided into two; the omniscient and the limited. The limited point of view limits the narrator to know about the characters thought, felt, and experienced. In other hand, in the omniscient point of view the narrator has the access to the characters mind, feeling, and experiences.
The narrator’s point of view of HIROSHIMA uses third person point of view.
The quality of the narrator is omniscient but it is limited to the conscious level only. The narrator uses the pronoun “he”, “she”, and “they” to refer the character;
“He had slept badly the night before, because there had been several air-raid 49
warning (p.5)”, or “The priest decided that they should take Father Schiffer first
(p.63)”.
The narrator in the first chapter (pp.3-23) A Noiseless Flash explains the activities of the six characters at the same time in the different place. In the page
31, the narrator also says “At about this time … “. It means that the narrator tries to explain two different situations that happened in a single of time. Then the narrator also comes into the character’s mind, “Then a thought which came to him
– that soon the tide would be running … (p.31)”. The way that narrator uses to tell the story indicates that the narrator is omniscient third narrator.
5. Setting
The setting of a novel generally is about time, place, and social condition
(Abrams, 1985: 192). The social circumstances deals with the condition of social life in which the action occurs. The situation of social life can create an atmosphere toward the story (p.193). The atmosphere helps the readers to create a certain image about the happening told in the story. Meanwhile, the setting of time and place of a story is about when the action happens and where the action occurs.
The setting of time in a novel is categorized into four. They are present time, past time, future time and no specific time. Moreover, the setting of place is divided into three; familiar place, unfamiliar place and imaginary place (Murphy, 1972:
143-146). Compare it with HIROSHIMA, the setting of HIIROSHIMA merely is the same categories of a novel.
The situation in HIROSHIMA is a war situation. On August 1945 Japan has involved in War. As a country that has a war, the situation in Japan is in terror, 50
suspense and horror. There is no warranty of safe for the civilians. 24 hours a day the civilians worries about the enemy’s raid; they have no moment to feel convenience. Hersey description about the situation is explicit. The atmosphere of war is clearly built. Hersey describes the anxiety of the civilians to the air-raid warning that sound in anytime and the uncertainty of live. Hersey explains when the air-raid warning sounded people have to move to the safe place in a hurry.
Either Father Kleinsorge has to stop the mass or Mrs. Nakamura has to bring her children to the safe area. After the bomb explodes most civilians are busy with their own businesses and their wound or even unable to take cares their selves. .
Only a few unhurt people can help the wounded.
All places in HIROSHIMA are located in Hiroshima; the only place that is not located in Hiroshima is the Catholic International Hospital in Tokyo. The places here are familiar toward Japanese readers or readers who ever come to Hiroshima.
At the same case, the places in HIROSHIMA are unfamiliar toward readers in
U.S.; the HIROSHIMA is published for the first time in U.S.
The time of HIROSHIMA is the time of war in 1945. The time is the present time in a case of the writer time. It is not categorized in the past time because the time of HIROSHIMA is the same time with the time of the author when he writes it.
These are the details of the time and the place of HIROSHIMA and the action occur. Early midnight of August 5th, 1945 at Mrs. Nakamura’s house and East
Parade Ground: it is when Mrs. Nakamura evacuates her three children from their house because of the air-raid warning. 51
The next time setting is on August 6th, 1945 from 02.00 a.m. until nightfall.
The actions take place at parsonage of Mr. Tanimoto, Mr. Matsuo’s house, City
Street, shopping center, 2 rivers, and the sloping street of Koi, outskirt of
Hiroshima, foothills, and rayon man’s house. The action is Mr. Tanimoto wakes up in the morning and then help Mr. Matsuo evacuates the stuff from Mr.
Matsuo’s house to the rayon house and a moment the bomb blasted. Other places are East Parade Ground, Mrs. Nakamura’s house where Mrs. Nakamura evacuates the three children and then go back to the house in the morning to cook for breakfast. Afterward the bomb blasts when Mrs. Nakamura is in the kitchen. At the Dr. Fujii’s house and hospital, station, Kyo River; it is when Dr. Fujii such as goes to the station and reads a newspaper and relaxes at the moment before the bomb blasted and at the moment after the bomb blasted. At the Mission chapel and Mission house; it is when Father Kleinsorge reads for a mass in the chapel and then stop by the siren. Afterward he goes to her room and reads a magazine at the moment the bomb exploded.
At the trail way and Red Cross Hospital; it is when Dr. Sasaki on his way to the hospital; and while he was carrying a blood for a test in the hospital, the bomb exploded. At the Ms. Sasaki’s house and the East Tin Works; it is when Ms.
Sasaki doing her activity in her house, cooking for the family. Then in her workplace, East Tin Works, she was talking to her friend when the bomb hit the ground. At the Asano Park, people come together, included Father Kleinsorge,
Mr. Tanimoto, and Mrs. Nakamura. At the Shinto Shrine Mr. Tanimoto meets his wife and the baby. At the Novitiate Father Kleinsorge sends the Theological 52
student for asking help. Misasa Bridge and Dr. Fujii’s family house are the place where Dr. Fujii goes to the bridge to see his hospital in a panoramic view and then he goes to his family’s house for a rest and cure.
On August 7th, 1945 from early day until noon at Red Cross Hospital; in here
Dr. Sasaki helps the people in the hospital. At the East Tin Works Ms. Sasaki is still buried under the ruin before saved by men. Asano Park, East Parade Ground, riverbank, and river are the place where Mr. Tanimoto and Father Kleinsorge help the wounded people and give them water. At the Novitiate, Father Kleinsorge and some casualties that saved by the Jesuits take a rest and get a treatment.
On August 8th 1945 from early day until nightfall at Inokuchi, military hospital nearly island of Ninoshima are when Ms. Sasaki is sent to the hospital. At the East Parade Ground, Father Cieslik is looking for Mr. Fukai at the Ground but he does not find him. Father Cieslik go back to the Novitiate; at Novitiate the theological student tells him that Mr. Fukai ever said “Japan is dying – if there is a real air raid here in Hiroshima, I want to die with our country (Hersey, 1946: 73)”.
Red Cross Hospital, Mukaihara is the place of Dr. Sasaki action. After three straight days worked in the hospital without sleep, Dr. Sasaki goes to Mukaihara to see his mother and then he has a rest in there.
On August 9th 1945 the certain time in Hiroshima is unknown but at 11.02 am in Nagasaki another atomic bomb is dropped. Ushida, Asano Park; Mr. Tanimoto goes to Ushida to take a tent and then build it in Asano Park. At the Chapel of
Novitiate the priest took about fifty refugees into the chapel and gave them medical treatment. 53
On August 10th 1945 the certain time is unknown at Novitiate, Okuma’s house. Father Kleinsorge heard that Dr. Fujii injured then he asked Father Cieslik to see Dr. Fujii at the Okuma’s house.
On August 11th 1945 the certain time is unknown at parsonage, Mr. Tanaka’s house; when Mr. Tanimoto is at the parsonage, Mr. Tanimoto is asked by Ms.
Tanaka to read psalm to her father, Mr. Tanaka. At the Ninoshima military hospital, large ship, Hatsukaichi, and the Goddess of Mercy Primary, Ms. Sasaki is sent by the large ship to the different hospital to get the right treatment. At the
Novitiate, Father Cieslik riddles with the Kataoka children.
On August 12th 1945 at the Mrs. Nakamura’s sister’s house, Hiroshima City,
Mrs. Nakamura goes to Hiroshima from her sister’s house alone and then she realizes that her family is dead. She feels depressed. At the Red Cross Hospital,
Dr. Sasaki starts to classify the patients.
On August 15th 1945 at Kabe: Toshio shouts, “There goes Mr. B” when he see a plane and his relative answers “Haven’t you had enough of Mr. B?” (p.84). at this moment, Mrs. Nakamura’s sister tells her that the war is over.
On August 18th 1945 at Novitiate and Bank of Hiroshima, Father Kleinsorge brings the Jesuits money to the bank and deposits it in there.
On August 20th 1945 at Kabe, Mrs. Nakamura combs her hair and her hairs are fallen off as the effect of the radiation.
On August 26th 1945 at Kabe: Mrs. Nakamura and her daughter, Myeko feel tired and weak. At the Okuma’s house, Dr. Fujii gets progress and starts to receive refugee that come to him. At the Novitiate, Father Kleinsorge feels weak and 54
tired. At the Goddess of Mercy Primary, Ms. Sasaki lays in steady pain and cannot have concentration even only for four or five minutes. At the Red Cross hospital, Ms. Sasaki is under control of Dr. Sasaki and Dr. Sasaki gives her special treatment because they have the same name.
On September 17th 1945 at Hiroshima: there is a storm and flood over
Hiroshima.
At the end of first week in September at Catholic International Hospital
Tokyo, Father Kleinsorge is sent to hospital due to his disease get worse.
On September 27th 1945 at Kaitaichi above Ota River, Dr. Fujii buys a clinic and starts to begin his business again in there.
At Early October at Catholic International Hospital, Father Kleinsorge’s health has rise and fall.
At the Red Cross Hospital, Dr. Sasaki decides three stages of the disease. Dr.
Sasaki makes an incision on Ms. Sasaki’s leg.
On December 19th 1945 in the train from Yokogawa to Hiroshima, after discharged from the hospital, Father Kleinsorge goes to Hiroshima. On his way home Father Kleinsorge meets Dr. Fujii.
At late in February 1946 in the Red Cross Hospital, Father Kleinsorge visits
Ms. Sasaki in the hospital and gives her support. She is so depressed and morbid.
On June 1946, at the Novitiate, Mrs. Nakamura visits Father Kleinsorge and asks him some advice in getting money for living.
At Early August 1946, Ms. Sasaki is a cripple; Mrs. Nakamura is destitute;
Father Kleinsorge goes back to the hospital again for another month of rest; Dr. 55
Sasaki is not able to work as before; Dr. Fujii loses his private hospital and has no prospect to rebuild it; Mr. Tanimoto loses his church and his vitality.
6. Style
To analyze the style of HIROSHIMA, the characteristic of the language is discovered through the common rhetorical devices that used in a novel; Simile,
Metaphor, Metonymy, Synecdoche, and Personification (Abrams, 1985:67-69).
The language style of HIROSHIMA is seen from literary style because
HIROSHIMA is categorized as a novel.
In HIROSHIMA, Hersey only uses four rhetorical devices; that are Simile,
Metonymy, Synecdoche and Personification. Seen from its emerging, there is no significant number of rhetorical devices and significant point of emerging. The four rhetoric devices are basically not utilized in the text of HIROSHIMA. So that stylistically the language of HIROSHIMA is plain.
7. Irony
In a novel, there is an elements called as irony. The irony is included in rhetorical devices that used to get art effect of literary work such as a novel
(Abrams, 1985; 97). In the irony there is a contrary condition between the normal condition or the expectation and the fact of condition (Colwell, 1968:38). There are five ironies can be found in HIROSHIMA. a. Human beings are crushed by books at the first moment of atomic age
“There, in the tin factory, in the first moment of the atomic age, a human being was crushed by books” (Hersey, 1946:23), Hersey expresses the irony of 56
situation of Ms. Sasaki with books. Hersey uses three steps to create an irony. The first is tin, then atomic age, and the last is books. The words “tin” and “atomic age” indicates the modern era. If a human being should be crushed, it is supposed to be crushed by modern things; tin, bronze or others metal things. Yet in fact, books crush Ms. Sasaki. Books are considered as conventional, simple and not dangerous thing.
In fact, the books have hurt Ms. Sasaki. Hersey explains three times that Ms.
Sasaki is buried under massive amount of books; “Ms. Sasaki lay doubled over, unconscious, under the tremendous pile of books …(p.35)”, “it was so black under the books … (p.36)”, “He pulled away a great number of books, until he had made a tunnel to her (p.43)”. b. Let the dying die, save who can be saved
In the moment of Mr. Tanimoto asks the Army doctor to help the wounded in the Asano Park, the doctor said:
The first duty is to take care of the slightly wounded. In emergency like this the first task is to help as many as possible – to save as many lives as possible. There is no hope for heavily wounded. They will die. We can’t bother with them. (p.67)
The normal expected reaction toward the wounded people is helping them, in any condition. In fact, the rescue of the wounded people considers the level condition of the wounded people. The lightly wounded people are helped and the heavily wounded people are left to die; in case of few number of rescue team. The consideration of the rescue is that the lightly wounded have more a chance to live than the heavily wounded so if the doctor saves the lightly wounded it would not 57
waste time and effort. In other hand, if the doctor saves the heavily wounded it would waste time and effort because they have no chance of life and die however.
In consideration, the time is running out.
Hersey states the irony directly through the doctor dialog; “there is no hope for heavily wounded. They will die. We can’t bother with them (p.67)”. It is so clear that the irony is delivered through the last sentences, let the rest of the heavily wounded to die. c. The bomb had killed many people but it stimulated the plant to grow.
The bomb has killed many people and destroyed the city of Hiroshima. The demolition effect is so huge. Ironically, at the same time and at the certain place, the atomic bomb has stimulated the plants. At one side the bomb has killed many lives and at the other side it has stirred new lives.
Over everything – up through the wreckage of the city, in gutters, along the riverbanks, tangled among tile and tin roofing, climbing on charred tree trunks – was s a blanket of fresh, vivid, lush, optimistic green; the verdancy rose from the foundation of the ruin houses. Weeds already hid the ashes, and wild flowers were in bloom among the city’s bones. … Everywhere were bluets and Spanish bayonets, goosefoot, morning glories and day lilies, the hairy-fruited bean, purslane, and clotbur and sesame and panic grass and feverfew. (p.91)
Here the irony is presented by showing the contrast condition after the bombing over the city. First, Hersey presents some places in which a plant possible to grow after the bombing; the wreckage, among the tile and the tin, the charred tree trunks. Then Hersey compares the contrast condition of the unfertile place with blooming plants – on the unfertile place is blanket of fresh, vivid, lush, optimistic green, the verdancy rose; the drawing about the new life is so 58
convinced. Among the ruin is growing the verdancy rose; it is so contrast condition between the place in which the plant grew and the fertile plant that grew among the place.
Again Hersey continues to compare the contrast condition; “weeds already hid the ashes, and wild flowers were in bloom among the city’s bones (p.91)”.
Here, it is explained that even the weeds has hidden the ashes and starting new life
– weeds symbolize the new life and the ashes symbolized the end of life.
The images that created through the drawing of the contrast situation are merely like among the “black-and-white” images, there are some emerging
“color” images that attract the attention. Then the color images are presented colorfully and beautifully; “bluets and Spanish bayonets, goosefoot, morning glories and day lilies, the hairy-fruited bean, purslane, and clotbur and sesame and panic grass and feverfew (p.91)”. d. Civilians fidelity to the Emperor is so great
Hersey writes about the irony of the fidelity to the Emperor through a story inside Mr. Tanimoto’s letter to an American friend. Inside the letter it is stated
“Dr. Hiraiwa said ‘Strange to say, I felt calm and bright and peaceful spirit in my heart, when I chanted Banzai to Tenno. What a fortunate that we are Japanese! It was my first time I ever tasted such a beautiful spirit when I decided to die for our
Emperor’”. Tenno is the Emperor Hirohito. Although Dr. Hiraiwa has a willing to die but in result he can run from death. Dr. Hiraiwa is Mr. Tanimoto’s church’s member. 59
The other fidelity to the Emperor is a dying girl sings Kimi ga yo, national anthem, and then followed by the others. In his letter Mr. Tanimoto writes “Yes, people of Hiroshima died manly in the atomic bombing, believing that it was for
Emperor’s Sake.”
In a war, the battle was between soldiers or governments, but not civilians.
Civilians have no “sins” of war, but they will always take the consequences of a war. People in Hiroshima have suffered because of the war; and the war is in the
Emperor’s hand of responsibility. Voluntarily, they accept the responsibility although the war is not theirs. e. Mr. Tanimoto had saved many lives but they were drowned.
They did not move and he realized that they were too weak to lift themselves … On the other side, at the higher spit, he lifted the slimy living bodies out and carried the up the slope away from the tide (p.60).
When he awoke, in the first light of dawn, he looked across the river and saw that he had not carried the festered, limp bodies high enough on the sandpit the night before. The tide had risen above where he had put them; they had not had the strength to move; they must have drowned. He saw a number of bodies floating on the river. (p.65)
Mr. Tanimoto has saved many lives using his boat. He drives people to the safer place, the sandpit. The expectation is he could save as many as lives. At the explanation of Mr. Tanimoto’s effort to save the wounded onto the sandpit in the page 60, it is explained that the rescuing looks well. There is no failure on that action. From the explanation, there is a hope for the heavily wounded people to live because Mr. Tanimoto already saves them; it is reducing the possibility to die drowned by the tide. 60
After the following narration, in the page 65, Hersey shows the irony of the rescue the night before. That the rescue of wounded people is not perfect so, the casualties are dead of drowned. The expectation of Mr. Tanimoto to save lives is failed because the fact is the wounded are dead drowned by the tide although Mr.
Tanimoto has lifted them up to the higher and safer place. The victims do not have enough strength to move to the higher place by themselves. As Mr. Tanimoto looks at the sandpit, there are some bodies floating on the river. f. All-clear sound results a bombing.
In the morning at around eight o’clock the all-clear signal sounds. The six characters feel less worried after heard the signal. A few moments after the all- clear sounds, the atomic bomb is dropped and exploded on the city of Hiroshima.
It is so ironic since the all-clear signal announces that the situation is safe but in fact there is an atomic bomb dropped and exploded; and it has killed a thousand people in Hiroshima.
Hersey presents the irony of the all-clear signal in the narrative of the three characters; Mr. Tanimoto, Mrs. Nakamura and Father Kleinsorge. In the three narratives, the all-clear signal is presented as a relieved signal. Since the all-clear sounds the three characters are doing normal activity, not in a worry of air raid.
After fifteen minutes of the all-clear signal, suddenly there is a tremendous flash of light, and then everything are throwing and falling in disorder.
The expectation of the sounded all-clear signal is the situation will be all right for a moment of time until another warning signal sounds. Ironically only fifteen minutes of it, there is a huge bomb blasted and has destroyed everything and 61
killed a huge number of people. Definitely the fact of the situation is in the contrary with the expectation of people when heard the relieving signal.
HIROSHIMA is published for the first time in August 31, 1946 in a weekly magazine The New Yorker as a journalistic article (Rothman, 1997: http:// www.herseyhiroshima.com/hiro.php). In October 1946, Alfred A Knopf republishes HIROSHIMA in a book form, later on in the American literature history HIROSHIMA is recognized as a novel (Crawford, 1953: 279). Journalism and novel are different genre, but it can be united in HIROSHIMA.
HIROSHIMA, based on the analysis of the problem number one and two, has the characteristic of a novel and narrative journalism elements. HIROSHIMA as a novel has the elements of a novel; theme, character and characterization, story and plot, point of view, setting, style and irony. All the elements are utilized in the text
HIROSHIMA. As the journalistic work, HIROSHIMA also fulfilled the journalistic elements; character, setting, series of time, action set in time, chronology, conflict, motive, narrative, facts, access, emotion, and fresh. CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
Based on the analysis in the chapter IV, there are some important notes. The general important notes of the study are presented as below.
The study has two problems to answer. The first is committed to find the narrative journalism elements of HIROSHIMA. The second is dealt with the finding of the characteristics of HIROSHIMA that make it similar to a novel. From the analysis, the conclusion is derived.
In the analysis of the first problem, HIROSHIMA has fulfilled the elements of narrative journalism; character, setting, conflict, motive, narrative, facts, access emotion and fresh. In the analysis of the second problem, HIROSHIMA has characteristics of a novel; they are theme, character and characterization, story and plot, point of view, setting, style and irony. The seven elements of the novel are used as the standard to see whether a work is a novel.
The theme of HIROSHIMA is the effect of atomic bomb to human life.
HIROSHIMA tells about the story of six survivors of the atomic bomb attack. The story begins with a moment before the bomb exploded, a moment after the bomb exploded, and ends with a year after the bomb. The characters in the HIROSHIMA are Kiyoshi Tanimoto, Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura, Dr. Masakazu Fujii, Father
Wilhelm Kleinsorge, Dr. Terufumi Sasaki, and Miss Toshiko Sasaki. These six characters are the protagonist characters. Meanwhile, the antagonist character is the atomic bomb. Hersey uses three way of characterization to describe the nature
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of the six survivors; personal description, direct comment and reaction. The story of HIROSHIMA is the suffering of the six characters. The story begins with a moment before the atomic bomb exploded and ends with a year after the bomb.
The plot of HIROSHIMA is the six characters are suffering because of the atomic bomb. The arrangement of the plot started with when the moment of the atomic bomb exploded. Then it continues to go back in hours before the bombing. Then it flows chronologically until a year after the bombing.
The point of view in HIROSHIMA is third person point of view narrator.
The quality of the narrator is omniscient. The setting of place is in the city of
HIROSHIMA and around, with a place located in Tokyo. The time is on August 5
1945 at 22.00 pm until a year after – early August 1946. The situation in
HIROSHIMA is a war situation in which uncertainty, anxiety, horror and terror are dominated. The style of HIROSHIMA is plain style because it is only utilizing a small number of rhetoric features; simile, personification, synecdoche, metaphor and metonymy. There are five ironies in the HIROSHIMA. They are human beings is crushed by books at the first moment of atomic age; let the dying die, save who can be saved; the bomb had killed many people but it stimulated the plant to grow; civilians fidelity to the Emperor is so great; Mr. Tanimoto had saved many lives but they were drowned; all-clear sound results a bombing.
The major conflict in HIROSHIMA is a conflict between the atomic bomb and the six survivors. The conflict is about the way to ends the war; in a good way or in a bad way. The minor conflicts are the internal conflict of each character. The main motive in the HIROSHIMA is the reason of Americans to drop the atomic 64
bomb over Hiroshima city. The reason is to defeat Japan and end the war, and to show to the world especially Russia that U.S. is the superpower country.
HIROSHIMA is told by the narrative strategy. There are four strategies used; scene-by-scene construction, dialogue, third person point of view, and tells the details.
All the events in HIROSHIMA are fact because it is a true story of the six survivors of the atomic bomb. The first publisher of HIROSHIMA, The New
Yorker, has a fact checker to verify all the details of events that they are a fact. In the process of getting the information, Hersey has an access to the all six survivors. The emotions in HIROSHIMA are hatred, horror and terror. It is the hatred of the Japanese toward Americans. Before the bombing, civilians experience terror, anytime they worried about air-raid. After the bomb, civilians feel the horror. Dead bodies lay in any place, the dying people in a terrible condition and the possibility to die is so big. The story of HIROSHIMA about the atomic bombing over Hiroshima is new because it sees the atomic bombing on its effect toward the citizens of Hiroshima.
HIROSHIMA has the characteristic of a novel and also has the narrative journalism elements. Since HIROSHIMA has both characteristics of a novel and a narrative journalism, HIROSHIMA can be categorized as a narrative journalistic work and a novel at the same time. BIBLIOGRAPHY
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