All writers have their own style in order to grasp their readers. They try to find a way to get their attention and keep them interested in what they have to say. This is what could make a writer and what could break his career. Journalists try to get the important stories to the people. Stories people will be interested in and never forget. These two stories I have chosen were written about events that caught my attention. Not for the content or violence involved but the outcome and needless suffering. The style in which they were written was what kept me interested.
Hiroshima, written by John Hersey, is an informative first-hand account of the dropping of the atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Hiroshima first appeared as a magazine article in the New Yorker in 1946. It is a non-fiction story that resulted from Hersey's interviews of six survivors of the blast from the atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. It is written in a journalistic style. Unlike stories which report such devastation, Hersey's was not on the scene and did not attempt to incite, only to report. While it is brutal reporting, there are some elements it shares with a war story marked by realism and the experiences and feelings of individuals overwhelmed by death and destruction. Although the story of the six is nonfiction; it is based on an event that proved to be one of the turning points of history.
This work does illustrate characteristics of literary nonfiction. Hersey appeals to the reader's sensitivity by portraying six real people who suffer greatly. However, he does not make the reader feel uncomfortable by moralizing about the decision to use the atomic bomb. He further utilizes an interesting technique in the story by ending it with each victim in a perilous situation. Hersey made every attempt as the author not to intrude on the story. .
Hersey chose a simple and effective structure to tell the six separate stories.