For my second project I wanted to do the bombings on Japan by America, during WWII (Firebombing of Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki). When I found out the skill was perspective, the one theme that stuck out to me was revenge and regret. I know that many times in my life, I have done some actions out of how I had felt at the moment, and later on, I would regret my decision, or action. This made me think about the bombings that American had done on Japan, and wonder if America had ever regreted bombing Japan, or if we had apologized, which we have not. This project has thought me that before you act, you have to think and evaluate your decision, because they could have huge impacts on people lives. The could be very good, but on the other-hand, it might threatening to someone. The bombings of Japan, done by America during WWII had terrifying affects on the people of Japan. Many of the effects were even passed on to later generations.
ELA
For Language Arts, I annotated two poems, and then compared them. After that, I printed them, and pulled out specific lines from the text that showed something in both poems; using yarn I "drew" lines to a phrase that explained the line(s). Each of the yarn colors represent a different topic.
Japanese Poem Analyasis
August 6 By: TŌGE Sankichi, translated by Karen Thornber
can we forget that flash? The explosion caused by the bombing of Hiroshima suddenly 30,000 in the streets disappeared 30,000 people on the street had died as soon as the bomb exploded in the crushed depths of darkness the shrieks of 50,000 died out The voices of people stopped, no one was talking when the swirling yellow smoke thinned The smoke started to died down buildings split, bridges collapsed packed trains rested singed and a shoreless accumulation of rubble and embers - Hiroshima Examples what Hiroshima looked like after the explosion Singed: something that was burned before long, a line of naked bodies walking in groups, crying People's clothes came off (burned) from the heat of the explosion with skin hanging down like rags The skin of people was sagging, and looked like cloth rags hands on chests stamping on crumbled brain matter People had to walk over shattered brain matter, since it had covered the ground burnt clothing covering hips corpses lie on the parade ground like stone images of Jizo, dispersed in all Directions Corpses of dead people were everywhere, in every which direction Jizo: and allusion to a Buddhist monk, the name is translated to “Earth Stone” on the banks of the river, lying one on top of another, a group that had crawled to a tethered raft Examples of where you could have found corpses Tethered: something that is tied up, so that it is immovable also gradually transformed into corpses beneath the sun's scorching rays and in the light of the flames that pierced the evening sky The flames from the bomb covered the evening sky the place where mother and younger brother were pinned under alive Alive people were caught under the explosion also was engulfed in flames And were covered in the flames and when the morning sun shone on a group of high-school girls who had fled and were lying A group of high school girls that had ran away lying on the floor, the girls had done nothing wrong, but yet here they are on the floor, dead on the floor of the armory, in excrement Where the girls were lying, the description is very dark, shows the author’s feelings on this event Excrement: waste matter discharged from bowels their bellies swollen, one eye crushed, half their bodies raw flesh with skin ripped off, hairless, impossible to tell who was who Tells a description of what the people looked like, and it was hard to tell who was who because their skin and hair was ripped off all had stopped moving They were not moving in a stagnant, offensive smell Stagnant: not showing any movement; dull Environment of place they were lying in the only sound the wings of flies buzzing around metal basins city of 300,000 Number of people in the city can we forget that silence? The way it sounded after the blast, how it is not only being used literally, but also figuratively, most people's minds might not have yet recovered from the blast in that stillness the powerful appeal The way the city looked like shows an example of how cruel human nature could be of the white eye sockets of the wives and children who did not return home that tore apart our hearts How some of the survivors felt after the incident can it be forgotten?! Should/can an event like this (the bombing) be forgotten?
American Poem Analysis
Aerial Photograph Before the Atomic Bomb By: Toi Derricotte
Why did such terrible events catch my eye? After Hiroshima, I turned the picture in Life around Life: reference to Life magazines in circles, trying to figure out this huge The author is saying that she was looking very closely at the pictures of Hiroshima, after the atomic bomb explosion, from the Life magazine article wheel in the middle of the air, how it turned, like a ferris wheel, its lights burning like eyes. Simile~ comparing the life cycle to a ferris wheel The atom spinning on course over the sleeping vulnerable planet (1). I turned it the way one might (2) The author might be referring to the atomic bombs, Little Boy and Fat Man, that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki without a warning, on innocent people (1) turn a kaleidoscope or prism (2). Even then I She was curious, but also cautious, not know what outcome would come from her decisions (2) knew about the town lying under, like a child sleeping under the watchful gaze of a rapist, before the spasm of Shows the innocence and cluelessness of the citizens in the cities stopped breath, the closure at the scream of the throat, before the body is awakened along its shocked spine to bursting light, the legs closing, the arms, like a chilled flower. That eye, that spinning eye seeking the combustible. Describes the moments leading up to the evet, what people can start to tell something is wrong, but don’t really know what it is that is off Combustible: something that is easily set aflame;talks about a watchful eye, ready to warn, as soon as it know what the situation is This was a heat I had felt already in our house on Norwood. Norwood: reference to the street she grew on, Norwood St., Hamtramck, Michigan Everything looked green, placid as a green field, Placid: calm and peaceful with little movement or activity predictable as machinery — an antique clock. The author is comparing a green field to the destroyed city, says that the sight everywhere was practically the same, and was very predictable This was the instant before destruction, Refers to right before the bombs go off (explode) the fiery atom stuck as if under the control of the artist before it spilled and became irretrievable. Refers to the moment when the paint does what it wants, and doesn't listen to the artist, so they end up having to adjust to the paints’ will Could it be sucked back in its lead bag, the doors of the underbelly slammed, Underbelly: a hidden unpleasant or criminal part of the society; talks about how even the lower parts of the society had their backs to the truth, and how everyone eventually follows someone else and those men who would go on to suicide and madness, go on instead to become lovers, priests, Buddhist smilers and scholars, gardeners in the small plots of contained passion? Refers to the suicide bombers, and soldiers that have fought in the war, asking them if there was another was around the problem, other than the war, a way of peace
Explanation
Both "August 6" and "Aerial Photograph Before the Atomic Bomb" are narrative poems about the bombing of Hiroshima. "August 6" was by a survivor, from Hiroshima, where-as "Aerial Photograph Before the Atomic Bomb" was by a professor from Pittsburg University. Both of their poems are very descriptive on the bombing and explain their feelings about the bombs being dropped. Overall, the poems are mostly about the bomb being exported, what it was like right after the explosion, the heat of the explosion, with descriptions of the people that were killed, the destruction caused by the bomb. In both poems, the authors ask if the bomb was really necessary. In "August 6" the main idea of the poem was to show how much destruction and how cruel humans could be; where-as "Aerial Photograph Before the Atomic Bomb" shows the perspective of some of the Americans on the dropping of the bombs. Both of the poems show that war isn't only about the army and each country, but also the citizens, who could be in more peril then the army itself.
History
For history, I wrote two poems. One is from the perspective of a building in Japan during the bombings. The second is from the perspective of an American bomber plane that was going to bomb Japan.
Japanese perspective
1945 It was almost, almost a regular day, people were coming in and walking out of me. Out of nowhere, the sky darkened the world had come to an end. Vibrations from the sky hit me, my spine crumbled into a million pieces, I would never smell fresh paint again, or feel its coolness against my walls nor would people ever walk into me, only on me from now on. Under me, millions of people were dead, Their skin had melted right off, On'na ka otoko*, that I can't say. Corpses were as far as a block could go, nothing but shadows of the past, The wind blew their ashes through my pieces. They are nothing more than a memory now.
*On'na ka otoko: means female or male
This is a personification poem of a building in Nagasaki during the bombing. It describes how a person could have felt during the bombing, and how survivors felt after the moment. It shows how this incident could happen in any country, no matter the country or state/provinces, the devastation will always be great, and the people who live there will have it's after effects with them forever.
American perspective
My Nightmare And once again they were loading me, it was going to be a long fly, they said. They wanted to drop the instrument death, my senses told me otherwise. We took off, something bad was to happen, I could feel it in my engines and throughout my wiring, they didn’t tell me what was going on, classified they said, I was going to be a part of this madness, this was an unthinkable mission, inside me was a bomb, weighing more than a million pounds, like the bomb itself fought being moved. The wind begged me to turn around, like nature was against us, as if it knew the outcome. The officers aboard had fire running in their bones, the want for a good kill. The thought of revenge was a constant on their minds, the thirst of blood pulsing in their veins. They were using me as if I had no thoughts, no feelings, Only I didn’t want to be an instrument used to execute hundreds.
This is another personification poem of one of the bomber jets that were flown to Japan to drop Little Boy and Fat Man (the atomic bombs). This poem shows how some Americans were against the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, whereas others were with it. My research has shown that some of the scientists and crew members regretted their action, right after the fact. For the most part, the crew members were fine with bombing Japan, they even said that they would do it again, if needed. The represents the little of the American population that regret bombing Japan, whereas everything else everything/everyone else was with the decision.
Art
For the art portion I did a mixed-media. It shows the perspective of a Japanese citizen that had seen the explosion from a distance. It shows how the first thing that people might have saw was a fleet airplanes.
Works Cited:
Books: Bender, David L., and Bruno Leone. World War II: Opposing Viewpoints. Greenhaven, 1997. Vonnegut, Kurt. Cats Cradle. Alberta Education, Learning Resources Centre, Specialized Services for Students with Visual Impairement, 2013.
Images: Atomic Bomb 3d Model. 15 May 2015. Fat Man First Atomic Bomb - Money Box. 31 Jan. 2018. Mushroom Cloud over Nagasaki. Nagasaki, 9 Aug. 1945. Tokyo, 1945, www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0310-08.htm. THE SECOND WORLD WAR 1939 - 1945: THE STRATEGIC AIR OFFENSIVE 1939 -1945. Europe, 1943.
Videos: “Hiroshima Atomic Bomb: Survivor Recalls Horrors.” BBC News, 5 Aug. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=-07xiaBl2vk. “Hiroshima: Dropping The Bomb - Hiroshima.” BBC Worldwide, BBC, 14 Mar. 2017. “Hiroshima, Nagasaki Survivors 70 Years Later.” Euronews, 30 Oct. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcD0E6IuOO4. “'I'd Drop Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima Again If Needed' - Enola Gay Last Living Member.” RT, 2010, www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDaiQ9n5wEM. Jennings, Peter, director. Hiroshima: Why The Bomb Was Dropped. ABC News, 2002. “Was It Wrong to Drop the Atom Bomb on Japan?” PragerU, 8 Sept. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmIBbcxseXM.