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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the news that was heard on the radio August 15 convey?

2. What happens to Dr. Sasaki about seven months after the bombing?

3. What does one of the two girls who Mr. Tanimoto rescues keep complaining about?

4. In Chapter 3, what gesture makes Father Kleinsorge a little hysterical and want to cry suddenly?

5. What concern is there about giving Father Kliensorge a blood transfusion?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Mr. Tanimoto see when he awakes in the first light of dawn, the first morning after the bombing?

2. What are the Japanese physicists' concern about the bomb and what do they do about it?

3. What does Miss Sasaki think about while at the hospital and why?

4. What makes Father Kleinsorge a little hysterical, wanting to cry after feeling thirsty in the dreadful heat?

5. What in particular makes Miss Sasaki uneasy when she sees the ruins of Hiroshima for the first time?

6. After he feels better, why is Father Kleinsorge able to enjoy himself at the hospital in Tokyo?

7. How does Miss Sasaki spend the first night of the bombing?

8. By midsummer, Mrs. Nakamura's savings are gone. How then does she survive?

9. How do the Japanese react to their Emperor's radio broadcast?

10. How does President Truman describe the atomic bomb during his radio announcement?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

John Hersey describes the characters as having "good" or "bad" luck.

1. Does this attitude of having "good" or "bad" luck belong to the particular characters' views or is it the author's description? Cite three examples that support your theory.

2. Which characters in the book may, or are likely to, accept the concept of you make your own luck, and why?

Essay Topic 2

The six characters of Hiroshima witness horrific deaths after the bombing.

1. How do the characters in the book view death, particularly of those who die as a result of the bombing? Cite three examples that supports your theory.

2. Is the book ever really far from the subject of death? Are there parts that deal with only life and vitality? Give three examples that supports your theory.

Essay Topic 3

The aftermath of the bombing and how it affects the government and future of Japan's science.

1. What is the message behind the Japanese government quickly rebuilding Hiroshima?

2. How does the dropping of the atomic bomb affect the Japanese government's pride and outlook upon itself and its future with regards to war? Cite three examples from the book.

3. What affects does the bomb have on the future of Japan's science?

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