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Ryan Collins
Professor Padgett
ENGL 101
October 14, 2015
The Necessities of War
December 7th, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the beginning of the end for the
nation of Japan in World War II. In what seems like such an abstract happening becomes a reality
in the viewers mind when seeing the the aftermath of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki challenges the ethical mindset of the United States
Military in judging what is deemed necessary to win a war.
The first picture shown in A Photo-Essay on the Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
depicts a ginormous mushroom cloud believed to have climbed sixty thousand feet into the air in
about ten minutes. The horizon in the background gives a sense of depth where the earth seems
to drop off into a dark abyss of nothingness. The distance of the picture being taken eighty
kilometers away gives a great sense of the pure destruction caused by such a lethal weapon. The
sense of hopelessness that comes along with the mushroom cloud makes it seem as if in this
moment nothing else matters. The realization that this ginormous cloud occurred not because of
condensation but by explosives and lethal gases. The black and white color of the photograph
adds to the dreariness of the photo giving a sense of awe due to the gigantic size of the
mushroom cloud. The black and white coloring adds to the texture of the photography enhancing
the old age appearance of the photograph. The pure shape of the mushroom cloud adds the effect
of terror throughout the photograph do to the understanding of the destruction caused by the
atomic bombs. The viewer gets a sense of how beautiful of a day August 6, 1945 started out due

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to the fact of there being hardly a cloud in the sky. Theres a bit of irony due to it being such a
beautiful sunny day without a cloud in the sky and in minutes it has changed into a dreadful
dreary day cloud covered with ashes and gasses instead of beautiful white clouds. Understanding
what happened and looking at the picture makes one think how could anyone survive such an
attack with such brutal force.
The two proceeding pictures show the shear devastation caused by the atomic bombs
dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The alignment of the barren trees gives a sense of utter
hopelessness for all life living within the area. In both pictures the mountains in the distance
gives the viewer a sense of how much catastrophic destruction occurred. Do to the angle of the
pictures one can assume it would most likely be improbable to see the mountain range in the
background so fully. The viewer may notice the color of the debris that once used to be part of a
human society brought apart by the cruel human nature of wartime. Mangled pieces of debris
such as: metal, bricks, columns, every day housing supplies spread throughout the once vibrant
living streets. The vast sense of space created and left behind leaves one feeling empty on the
inside. Seeing the destruction first hand makes one question the morality of the situation and
furthermore the necessity of such an attack on innocent people.
The picture of the mangled little girl caught my eye as the most striking and meaningful
picture of the entire photo essay due to her shear innocence. Most Americans see this attack as a
way to win the war against Japan, but when truly looking at the situation no Japanese soldiers are
being targeted instead the ones being killed are innocent women and children. This picture of her
mangled body with skin peeling of her body like one would with an orange. This picture strikes
home even with its lack of color because of the sense of shear pain that this young girl must be
experiencing. This picture brings one to think what did such an innocent young girl do to deserve

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such a brutal suffering. Looking at this picture there gives the sense of an invisible line between
human and unhuman. When looking at this picture it forces one to think about what truly
happened at the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the moral standpoint behind it. The
viewer must understand who truly became harmed by these attacks, young children like this girl
who did nothing to deserve such a cruel treatment.
When looking further down at the tenth and eleventh photo one gets the sense that a
major battle taken place upon this land. The shape and texture of this photo gives the sense of a
desolate waste land uninhabited for years by the looks of it. The cruel reality of the situation
remains the same, innocent lives were taken from powerful political and military figures. The
men standing in the picture give the pictures a sense of proximity and perception of how
catastrophic the atomic blast truly stood. The black and gray adds that sense of dreariness and
hopelessness to the picture as well. With the dark black areas representing the smoke thats rising
from the ashes of where innocent people used to live. One may understand that people died from
the dropping of the atomic bombs, but for one to see the horrific manner in which their death
took place leaves an impression. The thought of what morale person could think of such an awful
and barbaric device to cause so much devastation is unbearable. War time leaves no time for
morality with the amount of people dying one begins to see these less as deaths and more as a
pure numbers game. One might hear about the amount of people killed, but in an unconscious
way one looks at the bombing as almost just a numbers and do not put a face to each number.
This picture shows the contrary because the horrific destruction that has taken place does not just
wipe out buildings, statues, and roads it takes out young women and children as well, all
civilians.

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Going along with the thought process of civilians being injured in the finally three
pictures one can see men, women, and children all torn to pieces. It can be assumed the body on
the bottom all charred from the explosion most likely never got identified. One because unhuman
in a way when no face can be identified with the body. The viewer gets the sense of uncertainty
and confusion when forced to look at such a horrific picture when fully understanding the
background of the situation and that one day that limp inhuman body was once alive. This image
forces the viewer to put themselves in the shoes of these victims and one cannot fathom the
horrific scene that took place at sights of the atomic bombs. We also know now that not only was
there destruction during 1945 but there still continues to be problems due to the radiation that
caused many birth defects and mutations throughout generations. This leads one to question the
morality of the situation if the dropping of the bombs saved millions of lives for both sides in the
future. Looking at this question through a present day mindset takes away from how someone
would view the situation back then during such a tragic time of war. War time is never a time for
logical reasoning and moral decision to be made, but for decision making based on inflicting the
most damage that may one day end the war.
The overall morality of the situation becomes evident after viewing all of the pictures
throughout the photo essay. The destruction and devastation caused by the atomic bombs no
longer remains at numbers game, but a harsh reality. A face can be put to a number impacted by
the blasts and it makes one realize the pure inhumanness that took place. The photographs make
one question the ethical mindset of military leaders of the United States. One thinks to
themselves why such actions had to be taken place in order to win the war. At the end of the day
nothing can be done about the situation taken place, the United States must live with the actions
and suffer the consequences of taking so many innocent lives.

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