Valorie T. Rigby's CU

Japan and the United States: The Atomic Bomb
Meeting of Cultures

Valorie T. Rigby

Academic Setting

I prepared this unit to be used at Sandia High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and I intend to use it in my eleventh grade American literature class. All students at Sandia are required to take eleventh grade English and many of the students choose American literature to fulfill the credit requirement. Class sizes are typically 25 to 30 students.

            The Sandia community is comprised of a solid middle class base, although there are exceptions with some students coming from underprivileged backgrounds and others who are from more affluent homes. The student population is approximately fifty percent Anglo, forty percent Hispanic, and ten percent from other ethnicities. Occasionally, I will have a student who is not fully proficient in English; however, this does not happen often and usually the students who are not fully proficient are exchange students. Most of the students in the regular English 11 classes at Sandia score approximately in the middle range on reading comprehension and vocabulary tests, although there are always a few students who are on the low end and a few who score exceptionally high on the standardized tests in regular English classes. Parents are generally supportive, and the community, as a whole, reinforces educational standards and values.

Context and Background

In my American literature classes, we will examine the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, an event that changed not only American lives forever, but Japanese, as well, and in a wider sense, the world population as a whole. We will read literature written from both sides that reveal cultural behaviors and attitudes of the Americans and the Japanese. Although the Japanese have ceased to be an enemy, they are still remote to the average American student who knows little about the suffering and long-lasting effects of the bomb as the Japanese have experienced it. The Japanese are often portrayed in American pop-culture as the “aggressors” who started the war, the ones who “deserved it,” but perhaps students will gain a new perspective and begin to see the Japanese as a people with emotions and lives, if not fully similar to their own, at least with many shared links to a common humanity. Sandia students are in a unique position to scrutinize this topic since the atomic weapon was designed, built, and first tested in New Mexico.

Rationale

Although American literature classes typically study only literature written by American authors about subjects relevant to American audiences, it is appropriate to investigate an event that has so thoroughly affected American life and to enter into a transactional process of reading, where students participate in a larger community as they negotiate cultural boundaries. This unit intends to demonstrate reciprocity between Japanese literature and American literature, expanding outward to include cross-curricular disciplines such as history, geography, psychology and political science. The students will read accounts of the atomic bomb written by Americans and Japanese, in order to consider the catastrophe from both sides.

            We no longer have the luxury of ignoring and consequently dismissing a culture we don’t understand. While empathy will not cure the ills of the world or eliminate terrorist attacks, it will perhaps generate discussion and at the least create an awareness and then perhaps an interest in countries and peoples outside our own national boundaries. If American students consider their country to be the world leader, and many do, then they need to understand the responsibility and commitment that comes with that role.

Political Implications

Prior to WWII, Western Europe and the United States dominated the world politically and economically, so perhaps it made some sense to study the literature of those cultures exclusively. Those privileges are gone and even though the Allies triumphed in WWII, Japan has significantly entered into world politics and economics. According to Thomas Greene in “Misunderstanding Poetry,” political alliances may shift and be redefined but the “economic interdependence of all nations becomes ever more obvious,” and “people of this nation have many…reasons to think in terms of their common humanity and their common experience as literary animals” (70). Japan has challenged or eclipsed cultures we are accustomed to studying for our vision of the world and the “factor privileging Western Europe [and the United States] is no longer so compelling” (Greene 70). Political prestige cannot be separated from cultural prestige, and he uses the example of the study of American culture as a worldwide undertaking. Japan has achieved political prestige since WWII and perhaps American schools should emulate the world’s example and teach the cultural literature of countries, including Japan, so closely tied to our own and so influential in current political circumstances. Japan’s position as a world power is certainly a viable justification for this unit.

The Atomic Bomb: A Global Act

According to Sarah Lawall, editor of Reading World Literature: Theory, History, Practice, in reading literature about the dropping of the bomb, “the approach to the text” is “closely tied to concepts” that can be used as instruments “of personal enlightenment, of self-definition, and of the transmission of cultural values” (25). The transaction that takes place between the reader and the text is one of personal interpretation and students will filter their analysis through their own experience which adds to their sense of self-definition. Understanding America’s role in developing the atom bomb is a crucial step toward personal enlightenment, as is the understanding of Japanese culture, a culture so closely connected because of the A-bomb.   To transcend and negotiate national boundaries, the transmission of cultural values must take place as students read about and discuss the role of each nation in a global act.

            In his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize, Alexander Solzhenitsyn said that world literature is “the one great heart that beats for the cares and misfortunes of the world” (qtd. in Harrison). The collective literature written by the Japanese and Americans about the aftermath of the atomic bomb could be characterized as “the one great heart that beats for the cares and misfortunes” of those who suffered on those fateful days in August 1945. The writers who responded to the dropping of the atomic bomb transcend nationalities and differences to express the shock, anguish, and other psychological effects of surviving such a devastating experience. Both Japanese and American writers such as John Hersey, Eleanor Coerr and Hiroko Takenishi have expressed wishes and hopes for a better future, a future that promises peace and cooperation and others have articulated hopelessness generated from weapons with the potential to obliterate human existence.

            Japan forced itself upon American consciousness by attacking Pearl Harbor, and America finalized the relationship by responding with horrific force and finality. Whether horizons wanted to be widened or not, they were, through an irrevocable act, and continue to be since the United States has aligned itself politically and economically to Japan.

Teaching Japanese Literature in an American Literature Class

As American literature teachers it may be difficult to truly explain the Japanese literary experience; to absorb and convey another culture is a daunting task. The alternative, to stay with what is familiar, however, is to not attempt the task at all. Not attempting may have far-reaching consequences, as westerners will never again be able to isolate themselves with their particular version of truth and circumstance. Should that approach be taken, students would be forever destined to a narrow-minded and unsophisticated world-view, totally inappropriate given the tensions and circumstances of recent world events and of international associations. Literature teachers may feel uncomfortable with “interpreting to one’s students” events perceived from a foreign culture. The unease says Greene is attributed to a sense of remoteness “compounded when they [teachers] are striving to reach out to an implacable, ostensibly opaque otherness.” “How do readers and teachers” asks Greene “deal with that inherent resistance?” (71)

Interpretation

The following suggestions will somewhat answer that question, although as Greene suggests, “none of them” are “wholly satisfactory” (71). It is impossible to truly immerse oneself in another culture and emerge with a perception of the world completely influenced by that other culture. One’s life experience prevents total understanding and what usually results is a fractured or incomplete comprehension. In teaching this unit, it is important to keep in mind that total understanding is not the goal, but in the attempt, the purpose is to create self-awareness and expand possibilities and perspectives. A cross-cultural exchange of the meaning of love, death, survival, shame, guilt, isolation, and death may serve to eliminate some of the duplicity humanity has inflicted on the ‘other’ culture or it may not, but we owe it to our students and to the world to try. We can’t deny our children their Western heritage, anymore than we can deny their existence; we can recognize and celebrate the existence of literature far different from our own to enrich our own heritage and place in the world.

            Greene suggests that an approach to teaching any Asian literature is to “rid” oneself of “all . . . Western biases and prejudices and mind-sets, in order to approach the alien text . . . stripped of all . . . ingrained occidental categories and expectations” (71).   Although it seems unsophisticated even to suggest that students try this, the attempt will most likely create some self-awareness of their own biases and prejudices and at the same time give students the invaluable experience and practice of eliminating some ethnocentrism at least temporarily. Greene suggests that Edward Said in Orientalism gives “an interesting and important study of occidental perceptions of the Orient over the last two hundred years” (Greene 71).     Said gives teachers of Western culture a list of biases to examine in preparing a unit on Japanese/American parallel experience.

            Although it is impossible to transcend ethnocentrism, the attempt must be made, keeping in mind the idea that without our own cultural values, we would cease to exist. No one, especially students, should be made to feel their culture is inherently lacking, or that it should be subordinated to another culture simply because ethnocentrism is wrong. The purpose is to generate empathy and experience, to construct meaning and implications, but not to destroy that which is valuable and central to one’s own identity. What we must do, however, is enable students to rethink their positions in the world by examining them from another angle, from a position that is unfamiliar and foreign. True learning only comes from leaving that which is comfortable and recognizable to that which is unknown, indefinite and nameless. Greene says, “we can learn to scrutinize our responses to traditions we are estranged from” knowing “that we cannot escape the horizons of our own place in history even as we try to widen those horizons and recognize their limiting constraints” (71). Greene further elucidates:

Reading texts from remote cultures might be said to train our ethnocentrism, enlighten it, discipline it, broaden it, but never altogether dispel it. And so it must be for our students. Once we have recognized that, we have set useful parameters for teaching world literature (71).

In other words, as students read the Japanese literature in this unit, the teacher should recognize its foreignness, its inaccessibility and its inherent distance from Western culture. Students may be asked to suspend their own cultural identities temporarily or to even alter or adjust their paradigms for cultural distinctiveness as a stepping stone to participation in a larger community and as a means of accessing personal bias through “contact with the alien” (Greene 72).

Objectives and Purpose

The purpose of this unit is to lead students to a dialogue exploring socio-economic conditions that led to the A –bomb. By deliberately reconstructing American perceptions of the A-bomb, it will act as a bridge whereby to access cultures. A final purpose will be to consider the implications for humanity and to acknowledge the global consequences of nuclear weapons.

            The objective is not to answer the questions “was it right?” or “was it wrong?” These questions are far too complex and they are questions that will never be answered. It is reasonable, however, and ultimately more beneficial to explore the social conditions and cultural consciousness of both countries involved, the deliverers and victims of the weapon, and to build what Sarah Lawall calls a “structure of perception” (25) of the human spirit as it copes with survival, a concept made more frightening with the realization that humanity can easily destroy itself.

            This unit is to be a survey of Japanese and American literature surrounding the dropping of the atomic bomb. It is in no way intended to accomplish a deep understanding of complex issues. It is hoped that students will begin to see the world and their place in it with greater profundity and to comprehend their responsibilities in a global community. I realize that this subject is worthy of greater and deeper study depending on interest and need and I hope that the unit will be a springboard to further independent study. The first week of the unit will be spent watching a film Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie, Special Director’s Cut and reading a copy of leaflets dropped on the Japanese warning them of the A-bomb, Truman’s statement to the American people telling them of the bomb, the Potsdam Declaration, and Emperor Hirohito’s surrender. The second week will be spent reading and discussing writings from the Japanese perspective and the third week will be reading and discussing writings from the American perspective. The unit will conclude with a final student paper reflecting on what they have learned and why they have the views that they do concerning the A-bomb. A schedule of lesson plans and which state standards they address is found following the “Choice of Texts” and “Meeting State Standards” sections.

A Western Act with Cross-Cultural Significance

Lawall questions the usefulness of separating a “’Western’ heritage from its simultaneous global connections” (24). An important objective in this unit is to develop a perception of the Japanese culture itself and relate that to Japanese perception of their role in WWII. To consider only the “Western” body of literature concerning the atom bomb would be to eliminate significant and central judgments coming from the people who directly experienced it. Dropping the atom bomb during WWII was in no way an incident that affected only the United States, and to generate any useful dialogue in the classroom concerning it, a teacher must acknowledge what Lawall calls the “simultaneous global connections” (24). Lawall states it is widely accepted that “the impossibility of absolute distinctions, is “neither useful nor possible (24).” In this case, it is neither useful nor possible to separate the implications for humanity created by the bomb; the “scope of the issue” would be severely limited and distorted if it were examined only from an American viewpoint (Lawall 24). The events are best understood in their relationship to American and Japanese participants and not separately as an American occurrence or a Japanese reaction, hence the inclusion of Japanese and American writings.

            Lawall suggests that two modes of inquiry may be ideal, a “Western” and a “global,” “each of which has implications for the other and both of which pertain to notions of cultural identity and world literature” (24-25). While Lawall is referring to a broader range of literature than what is intended for this unit, the concept can be used to validate the effectiveness of comparing and contrasting writings linked to a parallel experience. If we are to accept Lawall’s assertion of the belief in a “universal humanity that permits human beings to have analogous experiences,” then we must acknowledge the experience of the Japanese and “allow the readers,” students in the classroom, to “inhabit other subjective patterns,” or restated, to vicariously sense the Japanese encounter with the bomb, thus developing “richer personal and social identities” (24-25). In other words, through reading Japanese literature, students will be able to deepen and profoundly shape their view of the atomic bomb.

Self-Understanding

This unit intends for students to consider and assess with the idea of self-understanding and understanding of others. What student growth and development may come to depends on how the readings are presented and discussed and on the frame of reference of the student. According to Lawall “modern survival literacy is…complex.” She explains this by saying that “the study of literature has broadened its base, moving away from memorization and towards processes of understanding” (30). “The processes of understanding” include “choice, challenge and individual self-growth” and literacy, in this case literacy resulting from a reading of Japanese and American literature, “can expand the thoughtfulness of such choices.” (qtd. in Lawall 30) Hopefully, students will begin to inquire and hold discussions concerning the world and their place in it. Thoughtful articulation, as generated and modeled in the classroom, begins a lifelong learning process that contrasts, according to Stephen North “one imaginative university with another…to make both more intelligible” when the student creates meaning based on his or her perception of the world (qtd. in Lawall 30). Literacy exchanges representational or open-ended meaning and it encourages a transactional process of breakthrough and transformation. An indicator of success in a world literacy unit would be the display and discussion of new ways for interpreting and explaining national and international actions, domestic and foreign psychologies and cultural differences and similarities.

Choice of Texts

Rationale

Focusing on Japanese and American literature is perhaps a narrow view of the broader concept of world literature and it naturally suggests an “approved manner of understanding the material” (Lawall 28) merely through the choice of what is read and studied. However, as Lawall suggests “the first item on the list,” in this case the list of readings for the unit, “cannot help but be a reference point for later works, and often this priority becomes the key to a hierarchy of attention and value” (Lawall 28).

            Literature is a key to comprehending social behaviors and attitudes; therefore, reading works by Japanese authors is crucial to appreciating another culture. The magazine articles, works of fiction and non-fiction, and essays written by Japanese writers selected for this unit reflect the cultural values and should be read with the idea in mind of seeking out that which is Japanese. Some of the Japanese selections are about Japanese written by English speaking authors and that element should be taken into consideration.

            The selection of materials for this unit implies an indirect statement of sympathy for those who suffered such great loss when the bomb was dropped; it also requires a look at the psychology of a nation that develops such a weapon. Grouping the texts in a thematic configuration will require the students to exercise thoughtful interpretation through comparison and contrast and will also direct student interest to the social, cultural and economic forces surrounding such an event. When two cultures collide with such magnitude and force, inherent in the act itself is the collapse and permeation of separate and distinct cultural boundaries.

            An exchange of culture is inevitable; the two separate worlds unite and separate, never able to return to the time before the collision, never able to regain the former way of life. What changes? Who is affected? What are the implications for the future and when, if ever, will it happen again? All are questions that beg answers and yet cannot be fully answered or understood, especially in a three-week unit in a literature class. The idea of complete or even partial understanding is preposterous, however, the reading list for the unit in no way attempts to cover all that can be said or written about the bomb and resulting consequences.   As Lawall points out it can be a starting place for additional consideration and assessment.

A Starting Place

Harry Truman

A starting place for understanding the A-bomb must begin with American experience because, although the concept did not originate in the United States, the development and final completion that led to the use of the first atomic bomb took place here. On August 9,1945, President Harry S. Truman delivered a radio speech to the nation in which he mentioned the bomb. The speech was long and dealt mostly with Germany; only one paragraph was devoted to what happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Truman mistakenly called Hiroshima a “military base” “Dannen International Law-Bombing of Civilians” that has led to endless debate regarding the killing of innocent civilians. Few Americans questioned the decision at the time and few question it now, however, it is important to read Truman’s announcement and consider it in retrospect. Hiroshima was not a military installation, nor was Nagasaki.

International Laws

The international laws on the bombing of civilians illustrate the general principles involved, especially in relation to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Dannen “International Law – Bombing of Civilians”). Reading the international law on the bombing of civilians can be used as a springboard for discussion on civilian populations as targets of aggression (Dannen “International Law – Bombing of Civilivans”).

Emperor Hirohito

Truman was president of the United States; Emperor Hirohito was the Japanese leader at the time. Hirohito’s speech accepting the Potsdam Declaration, the demand to the Japanese for surrender, should be read in conjunction with Truman’s speech and both should be examined for cultural differences similarities and purposes. The Japanese reverence for their emperor is an important concept to understand in order to comprehend a desire to keep fighting even though they knew defeat was imminent. It was said that all descendents of the Imperial family were directly descended from Amaterasu, the sun goddess; therefore, their emperor was a god. The Japanese people did not question his command to not surrender and the Japanese peace advocates feared destruction of their emperor; therefore, to surrender was unthinkable. Several books and readings listed in the bibliography for this unit give information on the Japanese idea of considering their emperor a god. The concept of deifying a leader is unfamiliar to American students and appropriate time should be given to this topic.

American Literature

Doug Long

“Hiroshima: Was it Necessary?” by Doug Long summarizes the events that led to Japan’s surrender in World War II. Long gives an historical account on his Internet site and lists an extensive bibliography for further study. He questions the necessity of the use of the A-bomb and “considers the means of achieving Japan’s surrender” (Long 1 of 2). For many students and teachers who may be accustomed to the popular beliefs about this matter, Long’s article may be upsetting, although, as he states that is not his intent. The purpose for including his writing is to give students an opportunity to rethink the issue, to approach the matter from another angle, and to impact their future decision-making abilities by looking at an event from all sides. Part 2 of Long’s article examines in-depth the absolutely crucial problem facing American leaders at the time: Would Japan be allowed to keep their emperor? It was the belief of Secretary of War Henry Stimson in a 1948 publication of his memoirs that “a clearer and earlier exposition of American willingness to retain the Emperor would have produced an earlier ending to the war” (Stimson and Bundy 628-629). Any understanding of the Emperor’s influence of his subjects must be considered in relation to the Japanese social structure; a system that demanded complete obedience and support from his subjects.

The Enola Gay

The Japanese may have obeyed their emperor without question, but Americans didn’t have the opportunity to question the atomic bomb. It was dropped without public knowledge or debate. Even the pilots of the Enola Gay, one of the planes used to drop the bomb, were not entirely cognizant of the power of the weapon they carried. On July 31, 1995 a group of American historians wrote a letter to I. Michael Heyman, who was then Secretary of The Smithsonian Institution when the Enola Gay (the bomber that dropped the atomic bomb) was unveiled at the museum. The letter details some historical inaccuracies and misconceptions that “go far beyond the facts” that Secretary Heyman promised he would adhere to when the exhibit was opened. This letter is important to read in class because it will open up for discussion some controversial issues surrounding the bomb that are not generally known to the American public. An important question to be considered here is, if The Smithsonian, an institution that is the documenter of American history, presents a biased version of an event, then what version is real? Or at least, which version should be accepted, if any?

Japanese/American Citizens in Internment Camps

Biases abound concerning the Japanese-American citizens living in the United States during WWII. Their versions of events during WWII are often overlooked or ignored, but the Japanese-American experience during WWII involves the many thousands of Japanese who were American citizens living in the United States. U.S. officials questioned their allegiance and placed all Japanese living in the United States in internment camps. During WWII, a community called Manzanar was hastily created; its purpose was to house thousands of Japanese-American internees. One of the first families to arrive was the Wakatusukis, who were ordered to leave their fishing business in Long Beach and take with them only the belongings they could carry. For Jeanne Wakatsuki, a seven-year-old child, Manzanar became a way of life in which she struggled, adapted, observed and grew. For her father it was essentially the end of his life. Wakatusuki recalls life at Manzanar through the eyes of the child she was. She tells of her fear, confusion, and bewilderment as well as the dignity and great resourcefulness of people in oppressive and demeaning circumstances.

            The U.S. government’s internment of 120,000 Asian-Americans in the wake of the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 is a thorny era that many Americans have chosen to ignore. Through outspoken affirmation, the racial degradation then experienced by the Japanese Americans is slowly being told in stories and literature published 50 years later.

Revenge: Pearl Harbor

This unit cannot ignore the feelings of the American public when Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941. “They (meaning the Japanese) struck first” deserves credit and is not said without reason. Two magazine articles that deal with justifying the need to retaliate and with the need to end the war are “Opinion: The Enola Gay Saved Lives”(Van de Velde) and “Why America Dropped the Bomb” (Kagan).

Japanese Literature

Takeharu Terao: A Survivor

In “A Personal Record of Hiroshima A-bomb Survival,” Takeharu Terao records the horror he experienced and wonders why he is still alive. Survivor’s guilt was a common reaction from those who were left alive, and the guilt is often a theme in survivor writing. Hiroko Takenishi’s “The Rite” deals with her feelings of guilt. Although he has no answer as to why he survived and others didn’t, rather than expressing bitterness at the outcome, he offers a powerful expression of the heart and a philosophy for living (awkward syntax is most likely due to translation).

Let me say the last word: it is now the peaceful world. We live in affluent material and freedom of speech. I often feel strange why I am still alive? I may be probably “made alive.” I only have the sense of gratitude, no complaint or dissatisfaction. I always appreciate the society. I wish I could give something back to the society (1).

            Takeharu begins his narrative by saying he wishes to “erase this unpleasant, disgusting memory from” his “brain.” Erasing the effects of the atomic bomb is impossible and while Takeharu has direct experience, children in an American classroom may vicariously know of the bomb by reading his and others’ accounts. Although it is painful to reveal and recreates the hell on earth carved into survivors’ memories, the incident must be told to those who don’t understand the repercussions of nuclear warfare. The messages from those who actually experienced the atomic bomb have the power to affect the heart, while the writings of those who are merely recording or reflecting on the dropping of the A-bomb have the power to keep alive terrible, difficult, and sad memories.

John Hersey

Although John Hersey is an American and did not directly suffer through the detonation of the A-bomb, he narrates the accounts of six survivors in his book Hiroshima. He recreates the terror and confusion produced in an instant, an instant easily duplicated and magnified when world nuclear capabilities are considered. This book gives more complete survivor versions than those given in the Voice of Hibakusha which is also part of this unit.

Hibakusha: Survivor

Those who survived the A-bomb give other accounts and they are rapidly aging now after struggling for many years. The Voice of Hibakusha (Hibakusha means survivor) gives detailed accounts of the experience, each one evoking a sense of bewilderment, shock, and devastation, although stories vary because of distance and position to the hypocenter. Hiroshi Sawachika said he was about to approach his desk when outside it suddenly turned bright red. He describes hotness on his cheek and a feeling of weightlessness as if he were an astronaut (Voice of Hibakusha). Yosaku Mikami saw a blue flash from the window of a streetcar, and he says that at the same time the car filled with smoke so that he could not even see the person in front of him. Yosaku was 1.9 km from the hypocenter (Voice of Hibakusha). Isao Kita who was 3.7 km from the hypocenter noticed a flashing light but said that it was not really a big flash. He immediately felt the resulting heat wave and said that he couldn’t bear the resulting heat wave. Following the heat wave he heard the air crack and to him the city turned into yellow sand, the color of the yellow desert (Voice of Hibakusha). The Hiroshima Peace and Culture Foundation compiled the testimonies of 100 A-bomb victims to commemorate the International Year of Peace 1986. The accounts are found on the internet (Voice of Hibakusha) and can be ordered on video titled Hiroshima Witness produced by the Hiroshima Peace Cultural Center and NHK. Reading some or all of these stories will personalize and dramatize the experience for American students. The descriptions of the many thousands who were wounded and the lack of medical treatment or even information as to what had happened to them; the search for water and the devastating search for loved ones emphasize the destructive power of such a weapon.

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes

The after effects of the A-bomb continued for many years. Those who were children and survived the bomb often developed diseases later on in life related to the radioactive fallout. Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr details Sadako Sasaki’s battle with leukemia. She was two years old when the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, and dizzy spells began when she was twelve. She faced the disease by folding 1,000 paper cranes, which Japanese legend held would prompt the gods to make her well again. Although the book is written for an elementary level, I have found that high schoolers enjoy this book when I read it out loud to them. The story speaks directly to young readers of the tragedy of Sadako’s death and, in its simplicity, makes a universal statement for peace in the world.   Today Sadako is a heroine to the children of Japan, who visit her memorial in Hiroshima Peace Park to leave the paper cranes they make in her honor.

The Rite: Universal Themes

An essential step, according to Greene, is to find a universal humanity, an element in the foreign pieces that transcends all cultures and links the student to a writer foreign and unknown, yet who is speaking to the world at large when s/he writes of universal themes. In “The Rite” by Hiroko Takenishi the author explores death and the rites of death, and the emotions appropriate to death and suffering. Takenishi was immediately plunged into the horrors of losing loved ones and the people who were part of her everyday life when she experienced the first nuclear device ever detonated on a civilian population. While American students may not have been through a nuclear explosion, many have lost loved ones either through death or other circumstances. How to cope with the bereavement and the isolation and unreality of loss is a universal theme common to all, yet Takenishi explores the subject from a uniquely Japanese perspective. In teaching “The Rite” as part of this unit, students will come to understand the nature and scope of an enormous catastrophe by exploring the elements that alarm them or bewilder them and that cross the borders from Eastern thought to Western interpretation.

“The Stick”: The Wasteland of a Modern World

Students will read a piece of Japanese literature written by Kobo Abe titled “The Stick.” This is a short story that deals with the wasteland of a modern world created through the destructiveness of war, imperialism, state governments and social institutions. Kobo’s work is often obscure and difficult to read but his exposure to Japanese militarism influences his work and leads him to question cultural nationalism and history that pervade so much of Japanese contemporary literature. This is a shifting perception of culture that seemed to escalate after the A-bomb. The Japanese no longer saw their emperor as god and no longer blindly followed his orders; they transferred their unrelenting devotion to him to the newer gods of consumerism and capitalism. Kobo also wrote a play based on the short story titled The Man Who Turned into a Stick (death) which should be read in conjunction with the story to help students understand the significance of Kobo’s meaning. Reading “The Stick” may be too difficult for some classes and this short story and play could be eliminated or replaced with another account of the actual bombing. Other accounts are listed in the Teacher Curriculum Guides Bibliography.

          Thomas M. Greene identifies the complexity of teaching such difficult conceptual material when he states that “one realizes that teaching it [world literature, and by extension Japanese/American literature] is literally impossible, and that all one can hope is to reduce that impossibility to the merely very difficult”(69). Reading all the Japanese and American literature written in response to the atomic bomb is virtually impossible in a limited time period, perhaps in a lifetime, and it can’t begin to be taught in this unit, so it is important to recognize that the unit, by virtue of selection, presents a biased and incomplete version of truth. All literature, to some extent, however, presents only a partial version of the truth as all authors write about their view of the world as only they can see it. The key is, through thoughtful selection, to foster growth and self-awareness in the student by bringing other visions of the world into the classroom.

Meeting State Standards

This unit includes areas that address cross-curricular subject areas; however, the unit was developed for a New Mexico eleventh grade language arts class. I have fashioned the unit around five of the six strands for English/Language Arts developed for Albuquerque Public Schools, which reflect New Mexico State standards and benchmarks. In my implementation of lesson plans I will reference each activity with specific benchmarks and performance standards as outlined by Albuquerque Public Schools. The five major strands and content standards are listed below:

Strand I: Reading Process

Content Standard: The student employs appropriate reading strategies to read and interpret increasingly complex texts for a variety of purposes.

Strand II: Reading Analysis

Content Standard: The student responds to, examines, and critiques historically and culturally significant issues and events portrayed in literature that both illustrate and affect people, society, and individuals.

Strand III: Expressive Language Writing

Content Standard: The student writes effectively for different audiences and purposes (e.g., to describe, narrate, express, explain, persuade, and analyze) using appropriate writing strategies and conventions.

Strand IV: Expressive Language Speaking

Content Standard: The student speaks effectively for different audiences and purposes (e.g., to describe, narrate, express, explain, persuade, and analyze) using appropriate speaking strategies and conventions.

Strand V: Receptive Language: Listening and Viewing

Content Standard: The student demonstrates, analyzes, evaluates, and reflects upon the skills and processes used to communicate by listening to and viewing a variety of auditory and visual works.

Implementation

Lesson Plans for a Three-Week Unit

Week One

Day One

Lesson: Survey of Prior Knowledge about the Atomic Bomb

Main APS standards addressed: STRAND IV: Expressive Language Speaking; Speaking Applications (Class Discussion)

This lesson is to introduce the unit and to assess what students know about the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Most students in New Mexico will know about the bombs but they may not have specific knowledge such as the names of the Japanese cities or who the American President was at the time, etc. I will make some sort of chart either on the board or as a handout specifically divided into columns titled: “What you know” and “What you have learned from today’s discussion.” Use the chart as a springboard for a general class discussion. Associated activities: Instruct the class to keep notes on discussion for later use on a test, presentation, or future research topics; Direct instruction by clarifying and adding to student knowledge; Group work where groups list knowledge of each group and present to the class.   Assessment: There are several ways to assess this activity: (1) Participation of each individual student possibly rewarded through points (2) Presentation of group discussion (3) mini-quiz asking students to list three (or any number) things they already knew and three things they learned. They may or may not use their notes for this quiz depending on teacher discretion.

Days two through four

Lesson: The Atomic Bomb: Information

Main APS Standards Addressed: STRAND V: Receptive Language: Listening and Viewing; Listening/Viewing Applications #5 (Analyzes and evaluates how visual media reflect the events and thinking of an historical time period; Listening/Viewing Strategies #2 (Analyzes differences in responses from group discussions in an organized and systematic way)

Students need to understand what the atomic bomb is and how and why it was developed within its historical context. I will show the movie Trinity and Beyond/ The Atomic Bomb Movie. This movie (120 minutes in length, narrated by William Shatner) chronicles the history, design, production, and testing of atomic and hydrogen bombs by the United States. I will give students a handout with the main topics of the movie or any concepts I consider important for them to pay particular attention to and instruct them to take notes on these topics to be used for a class discussion once the movie is finished. I also will tell them to write down three questions they formulate while watching the movie. Assessment: Following the discussion where I emphasize key points and where students are required to ask their three questions (we may or may not be able to answer them as a class) I will instruct students to get into their groups from day one and ask them to write a group editorial concerning the atomic bomb. Teachers will have to figure out the logistics of a ‘group’ editorial (i.e., who does the actual writing, how to assign a group grade if one is given), or teachers may want to make it an individual writing assignment. (My students will have received previous instruction on writing editorials, so teachers may want to adapt the writing assignment to class skills). Groups will be asked to read editorials aloud.

Day Five

Lesson:    Examining Political Literature for Tone and Purpose

Main APS Standards Addressed: STRAND I: Reading Process. Reading Strategies, Vocabulary Development, and Reading Applications are all addressed

This lesson is to examine political literature surrounding the A-bomb that includes the Potsdam Declaration, Emperor Hirhohito’s surrender speech, Truman’s announcement of the bomb, and leaflets dropped on the Japanese warning them of a “terrible new weapon.” The text of each is rather short and should be read to assess the author’s tone and purpose. They may also be discussed in terms of historical and political context. Students must know definitions of tone and purpose before they can participate in this lesson.   For any teachers wanting to include cross-curricular disciplines, this would be a good place to include a study of maps so students can see locations of Japan, the United States and Pearl Harbor. Assessment: Divide into groups and have each group read one handout, discuss tone and purpose as a group, and then present their interpretations to the class or have students read each piece individually and write a sentence for tone and purpose for each reading. Class discussion should follow which is also a tool for assessment.

Week Two

Day One

(At the beginning of this week assign students to read Farewell to Manzanar as homework in preparation for next week’s activities.)

Lesson: Was Dropping Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki Necessary?

Main APS Standards Addressed: STRAND I: Reading Process: Reading Strategies #2 (Reorganizes the concepts and details in informational texts in new ways and describes the advantages and disadvantages for the new organization)

Students will read “Hiroshima: Was it necessary?” by Doug Long. The purpose of this lesson is to encourage students to think about alternate interpretations to history. Long gives evidence and provides documentation supporting the belief that it may not have been necessary to drop the bombs in order to stop WWII. This lesson is not intended to convince anyone the bomb should not have been dropped; rather, it is an attempt to encourage students to look at an event or problem from all sides. Assessment: After class has completed reading Long’s article, either in groups or as a class, list reasons for and against dropping the bomb. Ask students to base their reasons on evidence from the text.

Day two

Lesson: Survivors of the A-bomb

Main APS Standards Addressed: STRAND II: Reading Analysis: Literary Analysis #1 and #2 (Analyzes and evaluates how American literature reflects the historical periods and cultures that shaped it and analyzes how American literature records, communicates, and influences human events, including . . . ethical and/or social ideas)

Students will read excerpts from John Hersey’s Hiroshima, a book written by an American chronicling the lives of six survivors of the A-bomb. Because of time constraints I will have students divide into six groups, each group taking a survivor. Assessment: The group may read aloud or independently and then must present to the class how their section of the book (1) reflects the historical and cultural period in America (2) what in American culture caused an American to write about Hiroshima survivors (3) how this book records Hiroshima (4) the effectiveness of communicating Hiroshima to the world (5) how Hiroshima influenced human events and (6) ethical concerns concerning Hiroshima. All analysis must be documented with evidence from the text.

Day Three through Four

Lesson: Surviving the A-bomb; accounts written by Japanese survivors

Main APS Standards Addressed: STRAND III: Expressive Language Writing: Writing Applications #5 (Demonstrates increased competence and fluency in applying appropriate types of writing)

Students will read “The Rite” and “Voice of Hibakusha” both pieces written by survivors of the A-bomb. The class will discuss universal themes such as guilt, shame, death and alienation, all emotions and feelings experienced by the survivors, but also emotions experienced by American students as well in different contexts. “The Rite” is fiction and deals with a survivor’s mental instability after the bomb, although it does not directly discuss the actual event. “Voice of Hibakusha” is a compilation of survivors detailing the experience itself and the emotional adjustment they required for the rest of their lives. Assessment: After discussing the survivor literature students will write an analytical paper addressing the particular literature of survivors and their experience and interpreting the information effectively, responding respectfully to the viewpoints and biases expressed by the Japanese in this particular literature.

Day Five

Lesson: Read Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes

Main APS Standards Addressed: STRAND V: Receptive Language: Listening and Viewing; Listening and Viewing Strategies #1 (reflects on and formulates judgments about the issues)

I have found that juniors enjoy listening as I read this short book aloud. It is written for an elementary level and usually takes a class period or less. This lesson is to help students understand the effects of the A-bomb years after it was dropped. Many children developed diseases directly related to the radiation exposure, although as in Sadako’s case, the disease did not manifest itself until ten years later. This book is the true story of a girl who was two when the bomb was dropped and who because of radiation exposure developed leukemia and died. Assessment: Students will write a letter to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial that I will mail. They may say anything they want in the letter as long as it is respectful and the letter must demonstrate some judgment they have made about children as victims in war. (Note: teachers may want to explain about the World Peace Memorial at Hiroshima if students do not know what it is)

Week Three

Day One

Remind students to be reading Farewell to Manzanar to be completed by the end of the week.

Lesson: The Enola Gay and The Smithsonian

Main APS Standards Addressed: STRAND II: Reading Analysis Performance Standards 1, 2, 7

The Enola Gay, exhibited at The Smithsonian, was one of the planes that flew the atomic bombing missions. Notable American historians who have viewed the exhibit wrote a letter to the Secretary of the Smithsonian detailing and providing evidence for the historical inaccuracies of the exhibit. In this lesson, the class will read the letter and then analyze it in terms of content and impact. The class will reflect on and formulate judgments about the letter and in relation to its historical significance. This would also be a good time to read statements written by the pilots who flew the Enola Gay and consider what they have to say concerning their mission. Assessment: Students will be asked to analyze the discussion in a paragraph or two at the end of class.

Day Two

Lesson: Revenge: Pearl Harbor

Main APS Standards Addressed: STRAND II: Reading Analysis: Literary Analysis and Literary Applications #’s 1,2,8

This lesson addresses the feelings of the American public after Pearl Harbor was bombed. Students will read two magazine articles that deal with justifying the need to retaliate and with the need to end the war. The articles are “The Perils and Politics of Surrender: Ending the War with Japan and Avoiding the Third Atomic Bomb” and “Pearl Harbor Brought Peace.” Assessment: Student understanding will be assessed through responses in class discussion.

Days three and four

Lesson: The Japanese-Americans Sent to Internment Camps

Main APS Standards Addressed: STRAND V: Receptive Language: Listening and Viewing; Listening/Viewing Applications #5 (Analyzes and evaluates how visual media reflect the events and thinking of an historical time period; Listening/Viewing Strategies #2 (Analyzes differences in responses from group discussions in an organized and systematic way)

This lesson touches on the Japanese who were American citizens during WWII. The American government rounded up Americans of Japanese descent and put them in internment camps. Students should be finished or nearly finished with Farewell to Manzanar at this point. Students will discuss the reasons for and against placing Japanese-American citizens in internment camps. Either before or after the discussion I will show the movie I’ll Remember April, a film that explores the relationship between a Japanese-American family and an American family during WWII. I’ll Remember April explores some of the social issues surrounding the internment camps.

Day five

Lesson: A Final Expression of Opinion about the A-bomb

Main APS Standards Addressed: STRAND IV: Expressive Language: Speaking: The student speaks effectively for different audiences and purposes

This lesson is all about assessment and it gives the students a chance to organize their thoughts and perceptions regarding the content material of the last three weeks. The students will arrange their desks in a circle so that they can all see each other. I will hand out a list of numbered statements, all having something to do with the unit we have been studying. Students will read the statements and then respond to the statements for a grade. Some of the statements may be rather inflammatory to generate discussion. The following rules apply to the activity:

1. The teacher may not speak. If s/he does each student gets a predetermined number of extra credit points (optional). (This prevents the teacher from taking over the discussion and places the responsibility on the students for class discussion.)
2. A student is appointed facilitator and he calls on students who wish to respond.
3. If a student responds once, she receives a B, twice an A, and not at all an F. (Teachers may adjust grades and number of responses to suit class needs)
4. The teacher records the number of times a student responds for grade purposes.
5. Students must start each response with “I would like to address #______________ on the list” so that everyone knows what she is talking about or student may say “I would like to respond to what ________said.”
6. No interrupting or shouting.
7. Students may be removed or receive failing grades for not observing the rules.

After I use this activity in the classroom, students always ask to do it again and again. It gives them a chance to speak out and to say something without teacher approval or disapproval. It is an excellent assessment without all the paperwork of a test or written paper. Some helpful hints: If the students have a hard time getting started, do not give up. Teachers may even want to call on a few kids to get the discussion going. I also wait until later in the year to do this so that kids are more relaxed with their peers and with me. If towards the end of the period some students have not responded at all (usually the shy ones) I ask them if they have anything to say (when I do this the class always lets me know that I have spoken, therefore, they get extra credit.) Teachers may decide when and if it is ok for them to speak. I encourage teachers to use some sort of no-speaking rule, however, as this allows students to eliminate the fear of ‘getting it wrong’ and it adds an element of fun to the activity.

     A final assessment will be a paper where the student reflects on what they have learned and what opinions they have concerning the A-bomb and their perceptions of the Japanese people.

Supplementary Material

Much has been written about Japanese-American relations during and after WWII and it is not difficult to find material for this unit. I have included some sources in the “Choice of Texts” section that I did not use in the final lesson plans such as the International Law-Bombing of Civilians Articles XXII – XXVII and Takeharu’s personal account of the bomb experience. Mostly, this was because of time. Teachers may wish to substitute documents and writings for selections in the actual unit.   If you choose to use the International Laws it would work well to hold a mock trial and use the laws as a basis for the trial. Many personal accounts, including Takeharu’s can be used to help students understand the devastation of nuclear warfare. I found an interesting list of quotes by government officials, including President Eisenhower, who all advised Truman not to drop the bomb that could generate an interesting class discussion. I included the section on the Japanese internment camps because the internment camps were very much a part of the entire WWII Japanese experience, even though the internment camps are not directly related to the Atomic bomb.

Documentation

Bibliography

Coerr, Eleanor. Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. New York: Putnam, 1977.

A short story about a child’s battle with leukemia caused from radiation fallout.

Dannen, Gene. “International Law – Bombing of Civilians.” Atomic Bomb: Decision Documents              on the Decision to Use Atomic Bombs on the Cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.            Articles XXII – XXVII.   29 May 1995. 1996 World Court. 8 July 2002
           http://www.dannen.com/decision/

Greene, Thomas M. “Misunderstanding Poetry: Teaching outside the Western Canon.” Sarah Lawall, ed. Reading World Literature: Theory,History, Practice. Austin: University of Texas Print, 1994.

Harrison, Gary. “What is World Literature?” Department of English. University of New Mexico.             April 1, 2002.

Hersey, John. Hiroshima. New York: Vintage Books, 1989.

            Chronicles six survivors following the A-bomb.

Hiroko, Takenishi. Paul Davis, et al., eds. Western Literature in a World Context.    Volume 2. The Enlightenment Through the Present. New York: St. Martin’s Press., 1995.

Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki; Houston, James D. Farewell to Manzanar. New York: Bantam               Books, 1995.

I’ll Remember April. Pioneer Videos. Videocassette. 93 minutes.

            A video that explores the relationships among Japanese-American citizens and their
            neighbors during WWII. Also deals with Japanese internment camps in America.

Kagan, Donald. “Why America Dropped the Bomb.” Commentary. V. 100 Sept. 1995: 17-23.

Kobo, Abe. “The Stick.” A Late Chrysanthemum: Twenty-One Stories From the Japanese.             Trans. Lane Dunlop. San Francisco: North Point Press,1986.

Lawall, Sarah, ed. Reading World Literature: Theory, History, Practice. Austin: University of              Texas Print, 1994.

Long, Doug. “Enola Gay Exhibit. The Historians’ Letter to the Smithsonian.” Hiroshima: Was It              Necessary? 28. Jan. 2002. 21 June 2002 < http://www.doug-long.com/letter.htm>.

Long, Doug. “Hiroshima: the Article.” Hiroshima: Was It Necessary? 28 Jan.2002. 21 June              2002 < http://www.doug-long.com/hiroshim.htm>.

Moving Memories. Karen L. Ishizuka, Producer. Robert A. Nakamura, Director/Ed.
            Videocassette. Japanese American Museum, 1995. 31 minutes.

            These are home movies of Japanese families in the early twentieth century.

Something Strong Within. Karen L. Ishizuka, Producer/Writer. Robert A.Nakamura, Director/Ed. Videocassette. Japanese-American Museum, 1994. 40 minutes.

These are home movies of Japanese families in the internment camps during WWII.

Stimson, Henry; Bundy, McGeorge. On Active Service in Peace and War. New York: Harper, 1948.

            Stimson was Secretary of War during Truman’s term during WWII.

Takeharu, Terao. “A Personal Record of Hiroshima A-bomb Survival. 03 August 1991. 26 June 2002 < http://www.coara.or.jp/~ryoji/abomb/a-bomb1.html>.

Trinity and Beyond The Atomic Bomb Movie. Peter Kuran, Director. Visual Concept Entertainment. Videocassette. Goldhill Video, 1997. 120 minutes.

            This is an excellent documentary for background information.

Van De Velde, James R. “Opinion:The Enola Gay Saved Lives.” Political Science Quarterly.             v110. Fall 1995: 453-9.

Voice of Hibakusha. Hiroshima Peace Cultural Center. Public Broadcasting Company of Japan.             Hiroshima Witness. 8 Aug. 1990. 21 June 2002
            < http://www.konrad.ws/jp/history/hibakusha/>.