Kenzaburo Oe
The essay is one of the lessons prescribed for the students of degree programmes. Following is a plan for the face-to-face teaching of the essay within three hours in three days in a week. In addition to this, another two hour home assignment is also necessary.
Objectives of teaching the essay:
a) Students read and comprehend how the bombing survivors faced the aftermath of nuclear war in Hiroshima.
b) They appreciate the determination of the victims of nuclear war to rebuild their lives and cities.
c) They develop solidarity towards the generation born with deformities as the impact of nuclear war.
Materials required:
Computer, LCD projector, photographs of Hiroshima and online reference facilities.
Day 1 (one hour)
Though not a witness, the picture of August 6, 1945 Hiroshima is in your mind.
The lessons you learned in previous classes and the Hiroshima Days you commemorated have given you an imprint of the city in your mind.
Teacher shows the following two images.
Images credit to:
https://www.google.co.in/search?q=images+of+destruction+of+hiroshima&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=PtiyH1nyag
Shall I read out a description of that manmade catastrophe on August 6, 1945?
Teacher reads out the following description. (10 mts)
Less than a minute later, the bomb exploded 600 metres above Shima Hospital, creating a wave of heat that momentarily reached 3,000-4,000 degrees centigrade on the ground. Winds of up to 440 metres per second roared through the entire city. Within half an hour, almost every building within a two-kilometre radius of the hypocentre was in flames. About 90% of the city’s 76,000 buildings were partially or totally incinerated, or reduced to rubble. Of the 33m square metres of land considered usable before the attack, 40% was reduced to ashes.
The bombed city was barely recognisable. What a day earlier had been a sprawling military city and transportation hub, wedged between mountain ranges to the north and the Seto inland sea to the south, was now a nuclear wasteland. Wooden homes had been burnt to the ground by firestorms; the city’s rivers were filled with the corpses of people desperately seeking water before they died. With the exception of a handful of concrete buildings, Hiroshima had ceased to exist.
Description credit to:
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/18/story-of-cities-hiroshima-japan-nuclear-destruction
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Shall I show you the pictures of present Hiroshima? (20 mts)
Images credit to:
https://www.google.co.in/search?q=images+of+Hiroshima&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=nn90Ly9xof5l3M%253A%252CDdwebdhvg0NJnM%252C_&usg=__p0cxYAerqOkHmrzDJgtPVJWu_HA%3D&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjAz6SF8-vZAhVHfbwKHT5tD6kQ9QEIKjAA#imgrc=y2tzMKdOTZZTgM:
These are the scenes of present Hiroshima.
Those who survived the catastrophe rebuilt their lives and their city.
That is Japan.
But the survivors would have lived a pitiful life of recovery and restoration.
What would have been the reactions and thoughts of the survivors?
Especially, when the survivor critically evaluates the nuclear aftermath.
Can you write those stray thoughts of a survivor?
That survivor has a concern on the present possession of nuclear weapons by certain nations.
Try to write.
They write the thoughts of the survivor.
Two or three students present their attempts.
There is an essay of Kenzaburo Oe in your book.
The theme of the essay is the same thing.
That is, the thought of a survivor.
Try to read that.
If they want more time to read let them take time.
Let them read the essay as a home task. (30 mts)
Day 2 (one hour)
Yesterday you made an attempt to read the essay, didn’t you?
What do you understand from each paragraph of the essay?
As this is a well-structured essay, we can expect that a central idea is there with each paragraph.
Please count the paragraphs.
Now you mark the paragraphs serially, 1.2.3…
Altogether there are ten paragraphs.
Look at the format, draw in your notebook.
Paragraph
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Central idea in the paragraph
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1.
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2.
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3.
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4.
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5.
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6.
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7.
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8.
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9.
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10.
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This task takes time. (30 mts)
Let them do the task at their own pace.
After completing the attempt they interchange their filled in formats.
They work in pairs.
Pair agrees or disagrees.
Teacher shows teacher’s version with a comment;
I have also done the same task.
Look at my list which shows the central idea of each paragraph of the essay. (10 mts)
Paragraph
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Central idea in the paragraph
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1.
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Atomic war is an absolute evil to victims and survivors
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2.
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Harmony of doctors to fight demonic aftermath
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3.
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Writer’s nightmare and aversion towards atomic war
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4.
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What would be the aftermath if the atom bomb would have been used in some other places in the world?
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5.
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The consequences of atomic war continue
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6.
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The scientists couldn’t foresee the intensity of havoc
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7.
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Scapegoat’s inability before the attacker is a nightmare, that is also unbalancing
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8.
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The patience of A-bomb victims
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9.
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Comparison with Noah’s will and ability
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10.
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Atomic war was a universal deluge that was frozen, not receded. 20th century has been afflicted with a cancer.
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Teacher gives them chance to agree or disagree with the list shown above. (20 mts)
Day 3 (one hour)
The essay poses certain issues related to international peace and nuclear disarmament.
The first question is the paradox about the humanism of the intellectuals.
What is the paradox?
What was so paradoxical about the humanism of American intellectuals?
Read the end of paragraph 3. (10 mts)
They try to read the end part of the paragraph.
Yes, the consequences of atom bomb were unpredictable.
The planners of atom bomb thought that the victim would cope with the attack.
What would be the consequences if an atom bomb had been dropped in Leopoldville in Congo?
Leopoldville is presently known Kinshasa.
Kinshasa is the capital of Congo, with the present population of
11, 855000.
(Data credit to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinshasa)
What would be the consequences there?
They try to present their guess on the consequences.
They read beginning of paragraph 4.
Yes, heavy death toll than Hiroshima.
Epidemics would have spread.
Leopoldville will become a wasteland.
Next issue the essayist poses is about the people of Hiroshima.
They go for recovery and reconstruction.
(Unbalance between the armed and unarmed)
How relevant is Noah’s comparison to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima?
Kazumi Matsui is the present Mayor of Hiroshima;
His father is a survivor of the atom bomb.
(Information credit to) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazumi_Matsui
Kazumi Matsui told once;
Humans destroyed Hiroshima, but humans also rebuilt it.
Can you expand the quote of Kazumi Matsui?
Yes, the inhuman damage in Hiroshima was mitigated by human effort.
Whose efforts were valuable in mitigating the devastation?
Look at the title The unsuppressed people
How suitable is the title?
Who are the unsuppressed people?
Why are they known as the unsuppressed people? (20 mts)
The essay is concluded with the reference of the Biblical event of Great deluge and role of Noah.
How far is this comparison relevant with Hiroshima? Examine.
You are doing it as an assignment.
Write a short essay on the comparison of nuclear war with the great deluge.
The class plans to write the essay.
The first paragraph is the summary of the Bible story.
Then we want second and third paragraphs.
Those two paragraphs are the analysis of the story.
According to the Bible, there is a reason for the deluge.
Explain that reason.
The deluge was first and last of its kind.
But is Hiroshima the last of its kind?
Hiroshima was the deluge of the 20th century.
After 150 days the flood in the Bible receded.
But in Hiroshima, everything was frozen.
The Bible says that the present generations are the descendants of Noah.
Likewise, the present world population is the souls of the people who were sacrificed in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.
These are the points to be elaborated in the essay.
They read the last two paragraphs more closely. (30 mts)
