Death in life; survivors of Hiroshima by Lifton Robert Jay 1926-

Death in life; survivors of Hiroshima by Lifton Robert Jay 1926-

Author:Lifton, Robert Jay, 1926-
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nuclear warfare
Publisher: New York, Random House
Published: 1968-10-25T16:00:00+00:00


tliemr or “Damn it!”) expressed the sense of being suddenly jolted

from a safe, predietable, and functional world, and thrust into one of

chaos and annihilation. In contrast, the joyous “rising of the dead”

described bv Dr. ITachiva in response to the rumor of Japan’s having

dropped atomic bombs on American cities, suggests (in addition to

identification with the weapon and retaliation in kind) the restoration

of an ordcrlv svmbolic world in which old authorities were still in« *

control, enemies could be dealt with, and structure and meaning stillexisted. But these early epithets and wishful rumors of retaliation wereonly preliminary responses. More specific focus of hate required time,along with strength to formulate an object of hatred and a style ofhating. Resentment and hate, moreover, varied in their psychologicalfunction: they could greatly enhance mastery by bringing togetheremotion and idea in a wav that passed judgment on the experience; orin their static persistence they could be a formidable barrier to mastery.

Descriptions of past resentments had a great deal to do with the wayin which a hibakiisha felt at the tune of the interview toward Americaand Americans, and toward me as an American investigator. I generallyavoided questions about resentment until I felt that a particular hiba-kusha had become sufficiently relaxed with me to answer them freely. Insome cases, however, such feelings emerged quickly and spontaneously,whether in the form of direct statement or general emotional tone. Norwere resentful feelings by any means the only emotions important toexamine. Recognizing that any emotions expressed related to everythinga particular hibakiisha had felt from the moment of the bomb (andbefore that) to the time of our talks in the spring and summer of 1962,I nevertheless found it useful to divide reactions to America into fivegeneral categories of relationship: between victims and instigators of anuclear disaster; between the militarily defeated and occupied and thevictorious occupiers; between early nuclear victims of, and later spokes-men for, a dominant nuclear power; between those who had becomeobjects of medical investigation as nuclear victims and those who cameto study them as representatives of the country which used the weapon;and between the specific people I interviewed and myself.

VICTIMS AND INSTIGATORS

d’hese categories could, of course, greatly overlap, and resentmentsassociated with original exposure to the bomb could become inseparable

from those stimulated by later forms of bomb-related victimization—asthe bargirl reveals:

After all, what good could have come from killing so many people?. . . And those who gave the order to drop the bomb, I wonder whatkind of feeling they had at that time. I also wonder what feeling thosewho dropped the bomb had as thev did it. ... I think they musthave been crazy. . . . [ I oward them I feel] nothing but liatrcd.. . . Until recently ... I didn’t like Americans in general. ... Igot over this feeling, but wdien a company refused to employ mebecause I had been exposed to the bomb ... I felt that hatredagain. . . .

Having lost her mother in the bomb and been forced to grow up underborderline conditions, often missing school because of



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