Approved by the Department of English, Faculty of Cultural Studies University of Sumatera Utara (USU) Medan as thesis for The Sarjana Sastra Examination.
Head, Secretary,
Accepted by the Board of Examiners in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Sarjana Sastra from the Department of English, Faculty of Cultural Studies University of Sumatera Utara, Medan.
The examination is held in Department of English Faculty of Cultural Studies University of Sumatera Utara on February 14th 2013.
Dean of Faculty of Cultural Studies University of Sumatera Utara
Dr. H. Syahron Lubis, MA NIP. 19511013 197603 1 001
Board of Examiners
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AUTHOR’S DECLARATION
I, SANDRA CATTELYA, DECLARE THAT I AM THE SOLE AUTHOR OF THIS THESIS EXCEPT WHERE REFERENCE IS MADE IN THE TEXT OF THIS THESIS. THIS THESIS CONTAINS NO MATERIAL PUBLISHED ELSEWHERE OR EXTRACTED IN WHOLE OR IN PART FROM A THESIS BY WHICH I HAVE QUALIFIED FOR OR AWARDED ANOTHER DEGREE. NO OTHER PERSON’S WORK HAS BEEN USED WITHOUT DUE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS IN THE MAIN TEXT OF THIS THESIS. THIS THESIS HAS NOT BEEN SUBMITTED FOR THE AWARD OF ANOTHER DEGREE IN ANY TERTIARY EDUCATION.
SIGNED :
COPYRIGHT DECLARATION
NAME : SANDRA CATTELYA
TITLE OF THESIS : THE IMPACT OF NARRATIVE TO LITERARY JOURNALISM AS SEEN THROUGH JOHN HERSEY’S HIROSHIMA
QUALIFICATION : S-1/SARJANA SASTRA DEPARTMENT : ENGLISH
I AM WILLING THAT MY THESIS SHOULD BE AVAILABLE FOR REPRODUCTION AT THE DISCRETION OF THE LIBRARIAN OF DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, FACULTY OF CULTURAL STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF SUMATERA UTARA ON THE UNDERSTANDING THAT USERS ARE MADE AWARE OF THEIR OBLIGATION UNDER THE LAW OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA.
SIGNED :
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Since it seems that this is the only page where I can say anything I want
without going all formal and boring, I am not going to waste my chance. Sure I will
keep it decent and cuss-free.
Thank Lord! I was able to finish my thesis. The road to finally be in this state,
the state where I can actually relax and not losing my hair because stressing out, was
rather bumpy and painfully slow. It was all God’s guidance and blessing so I could
finish this thesis. Thank goodness! I am grateful that I learn to trust in Him.
I love my family. God knows I love them until death. I may not able to see
the glimmering proud in my Mama’s eyes, but I know she would. She had been the
greatest Mama for me. She made me the way I am now, and I could not be more
honored to dedicate this modest thesis to her. I also thank God for giving me my
Papa. His patience and understanding for my slacking-mode during the making of
this thesis are just plain awesome. You are the most awesome, Pa! You support and
trust me, and that has been my source of energy since I could remember. And finally,
I must send bear hugs and thousand kisses to my only sibling, Leon Adelbert
Kendrick. I am still amused with our rare communication. But, each time we texted,
usually at midnight or even dawn, it never came as a dull conversation. And you
never forget to remind me to graduate quickly and look for a job so I can pay for
your living cost. What a brother.
The next gratitude I want to throw is for Johan Christian Tobing. Somehow,
he manages to be my best friend for these… three years? I know I had been silly and
unstable for most of the time and yet you still stick around and care to help me out.
generosity you had given me because that will waste too many papers. But notice
this, I am highly grateful to have you as my best friend. Whatever will happen
between us, I hope we can still acknowledge each other, at the very least, as a friend.
And I also want to throw a bunch of hugs and kisses to my girlfriends! I will
state your names alphabetically so we can prevent any silly jealousy, because we
know we are that silly, girls! Can I add smiley emoticon? Probably I should not. So,
you know your names, Arianna Silaban, Ayu Sugianto, Dewi Meliala, Faiza Balqis,
Juliatma Pamela Silitonga, Marshinta Veronika Napitupulu, Rina Sari Nainggolan,
Siti Utami Firdausy, Yosi Maulana Sitorus, and Yuliza Sembiring. We had great
moments and done crazy things like normal crazy people we actually are. And for all
my classmates in batch 2008, you all had colored my college life. Whether I actually
befriended you or not, whether we talked a lot or never talk at all, whether you are
secularist or pluralist, whether you are hedonist or ascetic, whether you are apathetic
or concerned, whether you are backstabber or sincere, whether you even know my
name or not, I sincerely thank you all for the experiences we had together.
I learned English literature in campus but I practiced journalistic in daily
basis. For these three and a half years, I am devoted to Pers Mahasiswa SUARA
USU. This place made me realize the importance of journalistic so I made this thesis
according to my passion for that. Applied to SUARA USU in that cloudy afternoon
in August 2009 has been one of the best choices I have ever made in my life! No
kidding. It may seem I exaggerate it, but I understand if people outside SUARA
USU cannot comprehend this easily. This is the place where I actually grew up,
where I learned to be tough, confident, sincere, brave, responsible, rational, fair, and
I learned to be stubborn too. Because we know we do not back down easily, we
whole amazing guys in SUARA USU. You are my brothers and sisters from another
mothers and fathers. I cannot put names in here because I seriously thank all of you,
each person who ever be involved in working at SUARA USU. Keep going, guys.
And for the lecturers and staffs and officials, I am not going to thank you for
you doing your job helping me to graduate, that is your job after all. I sincerely thank
Mr. Mahmud Arief Albar for his time and patience for me during the making of this
thesis. You actually listened and gave me great advices. I know it was not your
proportion, but I am glad you helped me anyway. For Mr. Siamir Marulafau, thank
you for always been there and encouraged me to finish this thesis as quick as
possible, you have incredible spirit and I appreciate it so much. I would also like to
thank Mr. Yulianus Harefa because, somehow, you still acknowledge me whenever
we met and always gave warm smile and positive energy. I was glad having you as
my academic supervisor. Last, I would like to acknowledge the late Mr. Perdamen
Perangin-angin. He had been a great lecturer, had been kind and friendly all the time
I knew him. He was one idealist lecturer that I knew and I honored him more than he
ever knew. God bless his soul. And thank you very much for Bang Am! You surely
are a way cooler administration dude than the one worked before you.
As typical as it is, there are still many people I want to thank to for helping
me in the process of the making of this thesis, but sadly I cannot mention all of them.
So I just thank God for giving me all of them and I will beg Him to bless you all.
Medan, February 2013
The Writer,
Sandra Cattelya
ABSTRACT
Sastra lekat dengan imajinasi sedangkan jurnalisme menyucikan fakta. Dua bidang ilmu yang bertolak belakang ini ternyata bukan tidak mungkin bisa berjalan beriringan. Pada 1973, seorang jurnalis sekaligus novelis dari Amerika, Tom Wolfe, menerbitkan buku The New Journalism, sebuah aliran jurnalisme baru yang termasuk di dalamnya adalah jurnalisme sastrawi. Jurnalisme sastrawi mengadopsi penulisan sastra, yaitu narasi, dalam penyampaian laporannya. Hasilnya tetap menjunjung tinggi fakta, tapi estetika penyampaian ceritanya juga menjadi senjata utama. Ada karakter, dialog, emosi, detail yang tidak ditemukan pada laporan jurnalisme konvensional. Terdapat empat pengaruh dari penggunaan narasi pada jurnalisme sastrawi seperti dilihat dari Hiroshima karya John Hersey. Pertama, narasi membuat laporan jurnalistik menjadi seperti novel. Kedua, narasi membuat laporan jurnalistik menjadi lebih panjang daripada laporan jurnalistik biasanya. Ketiga, narasi dapat mengelaborasi kepribadian karakternya. Keempat, narasi menajamkan emosi.
Penelitian ini memakai teori narasi dari Gorys Keraf dan memakai metode penelitian deskriptif kualitatif. Untuk membuktikan bahwa Hiroshima karya John Hersey ini adalah juga sebuah karya narasi, selain karya jurnalistik, pertama dipaparkan dahulu unsur-unsur narasi yang ada di dalamnya. Kemudian, dipaparkan pengaruh gaya penulisan narasi terhadap jurnalisme sastrawi sesuai analisis dari penulis. Penelitian ini dimaksudkan menjadi bahan bacaan informatif dan inspiratif, baik bagi pembaca dari kalangan sastrawan, jurnalis, maupun mahasiswa.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
AUTHOR’S DECLARATION COPYRIGHT DECLARATION ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABSTRACT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of The Study
1.2 Problems of The Study
1.3 Objectives of The Study
1.4 Scope of The Study
1.5 Significances of The Study
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.1 Narrative
2.1.1 Plot
2.1.2 Action
2.1.2.1Motivation
2.1.2.2Causality
2.1.3 Character
2.1.4 Setting
2.1.5 Point of View
2.2 Literary Journalism
2.3 Review of Related Literature
3.1 Research Design
3.2 Data Collection
3.3 Data Analysis
CHAPTER IV THE IMPACT OF NARRATIVE TO LITERARY
JOURNALISM AS SEEN THROUGH JOHN HERSEY’S HIROSHIMA
4.1 Narrative in John Hersey’s Hiroshima
4.1.1 Plot
4.1.2 Action
4.1.2.1 Motivation
4.1.2.2 Causality
4.1.3 Character
4.1.3.1 Dr. Masakazu Fujii
4.1.3.2 Dr. Terufumi Sasaki
4.1.3.3 Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge (Father Makoto Takakura)
4.1.3.4 Miss Toshiko Sasaki (Sister Dominique Sasaki)
4.1.3.5 Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura
4.1.3.6 The Reverend Mr. Kiyoshi Tanimoto
4.1.4 Setting
4.1.5 Point of View
4.2 The Impact of Narrative to Literary Journalism as Seen
through John Hersey’s Hiroshima
4.2.1 Narrative Makes the Story is Like a Novel
4.2.1.1 Characters
4.2.1.3 Structure
4.2.1.4 Setting
4.2.1.5 Theme
4.2.1.6 Dialogue
4.2.1.7 Narrator
4.2.1.8 Image
4.2.2 Narrative Makes The Story Longer
4.2.3 Narrative Elaborates The Character’s Personality
4.2.3.1 Dr. Masakazu Fujii
4.2.3.2 Dr. Terufumi Sasaki
4.2.3.3 Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge (Father Makoto Takakura)
4.2.3.4 Miss Toshiko Sasaki (Sister Dominique Sasaki)
4.2.3.5 Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura
4.2.3.6 The Reverend Mr. Kiyoshi Tanimoto
4.2.4 Narative Sharpens Emotion
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
5.1 Conclusion
5.2 Suggestion
REFERENCES APPENDICES
i. John Hersey’s Biography and His Works
ABSTRACT
Sastra lekat dengan imajinasi sedangkan jurnalisme menyucikan fakta. Dua bidang ilmu yang bertolak belakang ini ternyata bukan tidak mungkin bisa berjalan beriringan. Pada 1973, seorang jurnalis sekaligus novelis dari Amerika, Tom Wolfe, menerbitkan buku The New Journalism, sebuah aliran jurnalisme baru yang termasuk di dalamnya adalah jurnalisme sastrawi. Jurnalisme sastrawi mengadopsi penulisan sastra, yaitu narasi, dalam penyampaian laporannya. Hasilnya tetap menjunjung tinggi fakta, tapi estetika penyampaian ceritanya juga menjadi senjata utama. Ada karakter, dialog, emosi, detail yang tidak ditemukan pada laporan jurnalisme konvensional. Terdapat empat pengaruh dari penggunaan narasi pada jurnalisme sastrawi seperti dilihat dari Hiroshima karya John Hersey. Pertama, narasi membuat laporan jurnalistik menjadi seperti novel. Kedua, narasi membuat laporan jurnalistik menjadi lebih panjang daripada laporan jurnalistik biasanya. Ketiga, narasi dapat mengelaborasi kepribadian karakternya. Keempat, narasi menajamkan emosi.
Penelitian ini memakai teori narasi dari Gorys Keraf dan memakai metode penelitian deskriptif kualitatif. Untuk membuktikan bahwa Hiroshima karya John Hersey ini adalah juga sebuah karya narasi, selain karya jurnalistik, pertama dipaparkan dahulu unsur-unsur narasi yang ada di dalamnya. Kemudian, dipaparkan pengaruh gaya penulisan narasi terhadap jurnalisme sastrawi sesuai analisis dari penulis. Penelitian ini dimaksudkan menjadi bahan bacaan informatif dan inspiratif, baik bagi pembaca dari kalangan sastrawan, jurnalis, maupun mahasiswa.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of The Study
The mixture between literature with any other field of studies can easily be
found, for example with phsycology, history, sociology, politics, and many other
field of studies. For this thesis, the analysis will be literature studies that is connected
with journalistic studies. What makes it really interesting to be researched for is these
two fields are completely different. The only basic similarity is, both literature and
journalism use words as their raw material.
Susanto (2011: 32) says that literary work is written in order to entertain
readers and to express the author’s mind. While in the other hand, what journalism
offers is essentially useful for the society and covering the public needs that could be
entertaining or not.
Wellek and Warren (1989: 14) explain that literature is frequently used to
refer to imaginative works. It has been generally considered that literature comes up
from the imaginative minds of people who had talent to create stories. It is definitely
upside-down from journalistic paradigm, which main responsibility is to the truth, as
said by Kovach and Rosenstiel (2006: 38).
However, both literature and journalism are in the business of giving meaning
to this world.
The explanation above is to emphasize how different literature and
journalism is, but it is not impossible these two can go well together. Literary
journalism is a result of the mixture between those two opposite study fields.
information-gathering methods of journalistic reporting with the narrative techniques
or realistic fiction. For that reason, it also known as ‘narrative reporting’ because it
adopts narrative writing style in reporting the news.
With the development of technology and massive needs to be up-dated, the
public is capable to get information as quick as possible. It makes the mass media
becomes an industry that competes with each other in delivering the fastest news.
Live report from television or radio and accessing news from online media become
the first choices compare to printed media that still need time to get published and
distributed to the hands of the readers. Automatically, printed media these days
almost cannot deliver the breaking news. Narrative becomes one form of solution as
Kramer (October 2001) states that newspapers might both improve coverage and
retain more readers by employing storytelling techniques to convey news. That is the
whole point in literary journalism; employ storytelling techniques to convey news.
Kurnia (2002: 3) tells that American journalists at mid 1960s commonly used
literature approach because of two things. First, the form and style of novel writing
was being a trendsetter at those times. Then, the ambition to compete with electronic
media, which is more attractive and obviously faster in delivering whatever the
media wants.
In Harsono and Setiyono (2008: viii), Roy Peter Clark, a writing teacher from
Poynter Institute, Florida, explains that in conventional journalism we get used to
5W1H, that stands for ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘when’, ‘where’, ‘why’, and ‘how’. Literary
journalism just expands the idea. ‘Who’ becomes characters, ‘what’ becomes the
plot, ‘when’ becomes the chronology, ‘where’ becomes the setting, ‘why’ becomes
Kurnia (2002: 32) states that journalistic work in 1960s had indeed become like a
novel.
Rogers and Kaswanti (2005: 30) state that a narrative is simply a story.
Wellek and Warren (1989: 280) also say that narrative is a story, which linked to
sequence of times. The generic structures of narrative according to Rogers and
Kaswanti are orientation, complication, and resolution. Narrative deals with
problematic events which lead to a crisis or turning point of some kind which in turn
finds a resolution where the crisis is resolved for better or worse. Hiroshima as a
literary journalism work which written in narrative style is expected to represent all
said above.
Harsono and Setiyono (2008: ix) inform that Hiroshima by John Hersey was
first published as an article in The New Yorker magazine, 31st August 1946. The
article consisted of 31.000 words and took all pages in that magazine and in the same
year, the article was published in book form. It is clear from its title that John
Hersey’s Hiroshima tells readers something about the atomic bombing happened in
Hiroshima, Japan in August 6th, 1945.
It is a masterpiece in journalistic world since it is awarded as ‘The Best
Works of Journalismin the United States in the 20th Century’. The award was given
in March 1999 at New York University as selected by 37 capable historians,
journalists, writers, and academicians, as stated by Harsono and Setiyono (2008:
xiv).
For Hiroshima, Hersey interviewed a clerk, a physician, a tailor’s widow, a
German priest, a surgeon, and a pastor. A hundred thousand people were killed by
Hersey tells readers their stories by reconstructing the bombing in Hiroshima through
their eyes.
Rothman (January 1997) states that John Hersey studied at Yale University
and Cambridge University. He worked several years as a journalist and in the
beginning of 1947 he devoted his time mainly to writing fiction. He won the Pulitzer
Prize for his novel A Bell for Adano, taught for twenty years at Yale University, was
president of the Authors League of America, and as chancellor of the American
Academy of Arts and Letters. He died in 1993.
One thing that becomes an inspiration to create a literature thesis as also a
learning about journalistic is because Kovach and Rosenstiel (2006: 2) tell that the
development and the quality of society is dependent to the mass media they have,
read, watch, and produce. The quality of journalism in a country is equal to the
quality of its civilization. Therefore, by producing a good act of journalism, people
are also producing a good kind of civilization.
There is another one strong reason why this thesis is narrowing its research to
literary journalism. The article by Mark Kramer in January 1995 has triggered the
author of this thesis to dig deeper about literary journalism:
narratives of the felt lives of everyday people test idealizations against actualities. Truth is in the details of real lives.
(Kramer, January 1995)
Kramer modifies literary journalism as a product of emotion that is able to
hold the reader’s attention. Kramer even says that from literary journalism, both the
writer and the reader are able to find wisdom because it tells story of everyday
people.
1.2Problems of The Study
Based on the background of the study above, the problems of the study are:
1.What narrative indicators found in John Hersey’s Hiroshima?
2.How is the impact of narrative to literary journalism as seen through John Hersey’s
Hiroshima?
1.3Objectives of the Study
The purposes in analyzing this topic are:
1.To show the indicators in John Hersey’s Hiroshima that makes it be categorized as
narrative.
2.To describe the impact of narrative to literary journalism as seen through John
Hersey’s Hiroshima.
1.4Scope of the Study
John Hersey’s Hiroshima is chosen for this thesis as one of the example of
literary journalism works to comprehend the impact of narrative to literary
journalism. The result of this thesis is not intended to be the parameter for all other
more focus to modify its main topic and is able to help readers to understand its
content thoroughly. The scope of the study in this thesis is narrowed to identify the
narrative structure in John Hersey’s Hiroshima and to explore the impact of narrative
to John Hersey’s Hiroshima.
1.5Significances of the Study
By analyzing this topic, these significances below are expected to be
acquired. The significances of the study are:
1.Theoretically, this thesis will enrich the knowledge of literature and journalistic,
especially about the impact of narrative in literary journalism.
2.Academically, this thesis will be given to English Department, Faculty of Cultural
Studies, University of Sumatera Utara, to enrich the collection of object of
research and object of reading.
3.Practically, this thesis will be useful for readers as a learning about journalistic
with literature concept in it. Readers are expected to get useful information,
comprehension, and inspiration, about the using of narrative in journalistic work.
Readers also are expected to be able to criticize and smartly filter the information
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.1 Narrative
Rogers and Kaswanti (2005: 30) state that a narrative is simply a story.
Wellek and Warren (1989: 280) also say that narrative is a story, which is linked to
series of times. Narrative deals with problematic events which lead to a crisis or
turning point of some kind which in turn finds a resolution.
Narrative is a way to deliver deeper information by describing emotions and
feelings. Therefore, narrative is considered as a contradiction to science like David
Herman says in his book, Basic Elements of Narrative. Herman (2009: 2) states that
narrative is a basic human strategy for coming to terms with time, process, and
change. He elaborates that narrative is a strategy that contrast with, but is in no way
inferior to, scientific modes of explanation that characterize phenomena as instances
of general laws. Further, he gives example that shows how science could explains the
atmospheric processes of snow, but it takes a story, a narrative, to convey what is it
like to walk along a park trail in fresh-fallen snow.
Wellek and Warren (1989: 282) state that the main pattern of narrative fiction
is its characteristic which covers the whole elements in the story. In English,
narrative fiction itself is separated in two major kinds, they are romance and novel.
In 1785, Clara Reeve in Wellek and Warren (1989: 282) explains the difference
between both. Novel is a picture of real life and manners, and of the time in which it
is written. While according to her, romance, in lofty and elevated language, describes
Tarigan (2011: 167) says that the word ‘novel’ comes from Latin word
‘novellus’ which means ‘new’. Wellek and Warren (1989: 283) elaborate that novel
is realistic and to pressure to details is important. In fact, the word ‘narrate’ in
Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary is elaborated as ‘to tell (as a story) in detail’.
People may find that narrative and novel are quite the same although they have some
different structures. Generally, in analyzing a novel, there are three elements
according to Wellek and Warren, they are plot, character, and setting. Further, Aziez
and Hasim (2010: viii) show that novel contains of character, plot, structure, setting,
theme, dialogue, narrator, and image.
Gorys Keraf (2004: 135) explains that there are two kinds of narrative. They
are expositional narrative and suggestive narrative. Expositional narrative aims for
expanding reader’s knowledge by giving information about an event. This kind of
narrative bases on logic to deal with rationality and usually uses simple diction.
While suggestive narrative aims for giving an implicit meaning of something and
occurring imaginative sight into reader’s mind. Suggestive narrative does not strict to
deal with logic and it inclines to use figurative diction. Keraf (2004: 145) says that
narrative structure can be seen from the components that shape it. There are plot,
action, characterization, setting, and point of view.
For this thesis, to prove that John Hersey’s Hiroshima has adopted narrative
writing in its content, the analysis shows reader the narrative structure in Hersey’s
Hiroshima and analyzes further to the impact of it to literary journalism. By showing
the narrative structure that is found in John Hersey’s Hiroshima, reader is able to
comprehend that Hiroshima indeed adopts literary writing style in its content
although it is all fact all the way. Gay Talese in Kurnia (2002: 17) says that literary
Keraf’s theory that said that the narrative structure contains of plot, action, character,
setting, and point of view. Keraf’s theory of narrative is used because it has wider
elaboration than Wellek and Warren’s theory. It gives reader opportunity to
understand the concept of the narrative clearer.
2.1.1 Plot
Keraf (2004: 145) says that every narration has a plot that bases on the
coherence of events. Plot is an important basic need of a story. It arranges how one
act must connects to another one, how one incident must connects to another one,
how the character’s feeling involves to the event that is attached in a series of times,
and how to picture the character to act in an event. A good plot is measured by its
coherence during the story.
There are part that begins the story, part that is the development of the
beginning, and part that ends the story. Reader may recognize where the beginning is
or where the end is, because there is a plot in the story. Plot is marked by the climax
during the narration. The ending of the story could be anything, whether the crisis is
resolved for better or worse.
2.1.2 Action
Action distinguishes description from narration. Without action in a narrative,
that story might as well become a descriptive passage. Keraf (2004: 157) explains
that any action in narrative, also in descriptive, must be written in detail, so readers
can feel like they witness the events all by themselves.
2.1.2.1 Motivation
Any action that is done in narrative is supposedly based on a motivation of
the character in it. Although, as Keraf (2004: 160) says, expositional narrative might
narrative is based on true events that explain experience which mostly is just
happened. If expositional narrative has motivation in it, Keraf (2004:161) thinks that
it will be just a bit. The element of implicit motivation can be concluded after
reading thoroughly the whole story.
2.1.2.2 Causality
Keraf (2004: 161) elaborates that an action must lead into a causality state.
There is always something that caused an event, just like there is always something
that effected because of an event. Reader may figures out causality that is happened
in a narrative by observing the story because it is said explicitly. Causality always
exists in a logical order and serves rational series of events.
2.1.3 Character
Character, according to Keraf (2004: 164), is a person in the story.
Characterization is how the author describes the character. Character’s image in a
story can be shaped by physical description, character’s analysis, and other things
that relate to the said character. In forming character in a story, whether it is fictional
or not, the author does not rely only on details of the character. The author also needs
to stitch the details into a comprehensive unity that can describe the individual’s
personality properly.
2.1.4 Setting
According to Aziez and Hasim (2010: 74), setting consists of the description
of time and place in the story. Further, Stanton (2007: 35) says that setting is the
environment that covers event in the story. He adds that setting is a universe that
relates to the on-going event in the story. It could be, time, place, whether, or a
as setting. It is because a narrative presents a series of time instead of a fragment of
time.
2.1.5 Point of View
Keraf (2007: 191) says that a point of view in a narrative story is about the
connection between the storyteller and the events in the story. The storyteller is also
called as the narrator. Point of view of the narrator is based on the function of the
narrator itself, whether the narrator actually participates in the story or just observes
without being involved. There are two main point of view of narrative according to
Keraf, they are first person point of view and third person point of view.
2.1.5.1 First Person Point of View
The characteristic of using the first person point of view is the usage of the
words ‘we’ and ‘I’ as the subject in the story. It indicates that the story is the
experiences, whether it is fiction or real, of the narrator. This point of view is also
called as the limited point of view because the author limits himself or herself to the
event that the narrator hears or sees only.
First person point of view can be specified in three patterns. They are narrator
as the main character, narrator as an observer, and narrator as a direct observer when
the narrator involves in the story but is not the main character.
2.1.5.2 Third Person Point of View
The characteristic of using the third person point of view is the usage of the
words ‘he’, ‘she’, or ‘they’ as the subject in the story. The narrator in third person
point of view acts as an audience who does not involve in the story events. This point
of view is specified in three patterns. They are omniscient point of view, sharp focus
Omniscient point of view is also known as panoramic point of view. The
narrator in this point of view knows everything that is happened in the story, even in
all the character’s mind. Sharp focus point of view only tells the story from one
character side. The narrator focuses on one character that is related to the story. The
mix point of view is simply the mixture between omniscient and sharp focus point of
view. For example in one story, the narrator describes the background of the World
War II and the war itself at the beginning of the story, then the narrator focuses on
one character’s side of story.
2.2 Literary Journalism
Focusing on time, mass media now just delivers shallow news that just gives
the surface of the information. People can see the example from most daily
newspapers, it contains straight news which barely reaches 500 words for each news.
Let alone online media which writes news in less than 300 words. In television,
bunch of news are delivered within minutes. While in literary journalism, properly
the content is 10.000 words and up.
In this era, electronic media becomes the first choice to get the breaking
news. However, printed media still exist although some are struggling, some are
already moved onto electronic media. Many different actions are taken to hold out
the existence of printed media. One of those, according to an American journalist,
Mark Kramer, is by putting narrative in news report. Kramer (October 2001) says
that narrative engages readers. In the age of mega-corporate media saturation, web
sites, and “workaholism”, readers still are attracted to stories in which people’s lives
Kurnia (2002: 2) states that the pioneer for literary journalism is Tom Wolfe,
a journalist-cum-novelist who worked at New York Herald Tribune newspaper in
1960s as daily reporter. His point of view of journalistic writing changed when he
read an article in Esquire magazine in 1962 by Gay Talese. It struck him how
someone could manage to compose such a close report. It felt like he himself could
actually witness what was written in that report. Therefore, he started to do an
observation on that and in 1973 Wolfe published a book entitled ‘The New
Journalism’.
As stated by Kurnia (2002: 6), activists of the new journalism are began their
exploration in writing because of the pressure on conventional journalism’s work
ethic was becoming stronger. They felt tired, exhausted, and bored with the old
fashion way which in turn they felt no chance to develop to be better. Kurnia (2002:
33) also says that in mid 1960s, it was the novel fever which triggered the emerge of
innovations in journalistic writing.
In actual consideration, this ‘new’ journalism is really not so new itself,
because the use of narrative in news had been started long time ago according to one
of Harvard’s Nieman Foundation’s contributors, Mark Kramer. In his article, Kramer
(January 1995) says that this kind of journalism in fact has proper pedigree. Daniel
Defoe, writing just after 1700, is the earliest cited by Norman Sims, one of the few
historians of the form. The roster also includes Mark Twain in the 19th century and
Stephen Crane at the start of the 20th. Before and just after the Second World War,
James Agee, Ernest Hemingway, A.J. Leibling, Joseph Mitchell, Lillian Ross, and
John Steinbeck tried out narrative essay forms. Norman Mailer, Truman Capote,
Tom Wolfe, and Joan Didion followed, and somewhere in there, the genre came into
the movement began to take on conventions and to attract writers. Public
consciousness of a distinct genre has risen, slowly.
The application of narrative writing in printed media is portrayed in The New
Yorker magazine, National Geographic magazine, and many other media, mostly in
United States of America. While in Indonesia, the usage of narrative for delivering
news is rarely found. Intisari may be the only one which is closed enough, according
to Harsono and Setiyono (2008: ix).
What separates literary journalism from conventional journalism is how it is
written. Harsono and Setiyono (2008: viii) states that new journalism consists of
scene by scene constructions, meaningful dialogues that describe the characters, third
person point of view, and full of details like how someone dressed, moved, and so
on. With such development, the new journalism had been perfected and be known as
the literary journalism nowadays.
The first step in preparing a literary journalism work according to Kurnia
(2002: 24) is diligently doing the research along with “crazily” paying attention to
details. When journalists hunt down their news in order to accomplish a literary
journalism work, they must use all their senses to catch everything that is going on
around them. They must see whatever their eyes could manage to see, feel the
temperature and material’s surface, smell the scent, hear any sounds, and if relevant,
taste something to exactly know how it tastes. All the data that is relevant and
potential to support the story will become descriptions in narrative, which helps to
lengthen the story and build the interest of the reader.
Kurnia (2002: 5) states that the writing technique of literary journalism needs
deeper information compared to conventional journalism, which is exactly becoming
covers any information that were left behind by conventional journalists, that is
emotion.
Robert Vare, a journalist who worked for The New Yorker magazine and The
Rolling Stones magazine, is now lecturing literary journalism in Nieman Foundation
in Harvard University, Cambridge. Vare in Harsono and Setiyono (2008: xi) states
that there seven important things to be considered if someone is about to create a
narrative in journalistic work.
First and the most important is fact. Journalism purifies fact. The term
‘literary’ in literary journalism is not a license to put fiction, even an iota of it, in the
report. Names, places, times, events, words, basically everything mentioned in the
literary journalism work, are real.
Second, conflict. Any story needs conflict to be interesting. In narrative, the
part where conflict arises is called complication. Conflict in literary journalism is not
made up or fake or anything imaginative. Journalist must able to find and see conflict
surround them to build the story. Tarigan (2011: 135) says that there are external
conflict such as between man and man, man and people, and man and environment.
There are also internal conflict such as between an idea and another idea, and man
and his own mind.
Third, characters. The more interesting the characters, the more interesting
story the journalist can get. Characters help tie up the story. In conventional
journalism, readers do not find the characters as closely as in literary journalism.
Narrative provides enough space for journalist to explore the characters personalities
Fourth, literary journalist needs a very good access. Access could be in a
form of interview, document, correspondence, photograph, journal, picture, friend,
enemy, and things like that to lead journalist in getting the information.
Fifth, emotion. This point also one that rarely is found in conventional
journalism work. Literary journalist is able to dig deeper into characters’ emotion,
whether it is love, hatred, glutton, loyalty, happiness, any other kind. Emotion creates
the story.
Sixth, as Vare put it, “series of time”. Vare analogized the conventional
journalism like a picture, a snap shot. While narrative is more like a video. The series
of time matters, whether the journalist wants to put it chronologically, flashback,
back and forth, or anything the journalist can comes up as long it is not make the
reader confused. In literature, this is categorized as plot.
Seventh, novelty. As a journalistic work, it is normal to consider the most
recent events. Although literary journalist needs way more time than conventional
journalist in creating the story, however the element of novelty still needs to be
considered.
2.3 Review of Related Literature
This thesis uses a number of appropriate and supportive reading resources in
the analysis. Some of them that are highly helpful are reviewed below, beside John
Hersey’s Hiroshima as the main data of this thesis.
1. Jurnalisme Sastra by Septiawan Santana Kurnia, a book published in
2002. This book is really helpful because its author explains literary
journalism from its root and the development until today. The explanation
journalism, precision journalism, and alternative journalism. Kurnia
works as journalistic lecturer in Faculty of Communication University of
Islam Bandung from 1997 until now. Since he is a journalist himself, this
book is written in a very neat concept. He explained his idea from general
to specific and managed to keep an interesting way of writing. Kurnia
publishes some literary journalism works, one of them tells about how
Tom Wolfe started the idea of the new journalism.
2. Argumentasi dan Narasi by Gorys Keraf, a book that was published in
2004. This book contains of two major field of discussion, they are
argumentation and narration. This book is the third from the Rhetoric
Series by Keraf himself. The first two are Diksi dan Gaya Bahasa and
Eksposisi dan Deskripsi. This book is obviously very helpful because it
has half of the book that focus on solely narrative. The explanation is
understandable along with simple examples. Since 1963, Keraf has been a
lecturer in Faculty of Letters, University of Indonesia.
3. Jurnalisme Sastrawi: Antologi Liputan Mendalam dan Memikat, a book
edited by Andreas Harsono and Budi Setiyono in 2008. It is an anthology
of eight literary journalistic works by eight Indonesian journalists. The
introduction by Andreas Harsono is really helpful, where he explained the
background in publishing the book, including his opinions and
experiences when he studied journalistic in Harvard University,
Cambridge. Reading all the stories in it also acknowledges about the form
of literary journalism and how literature studies so much contributed to
4. The Publication of “Hiroshima” in The New Yorker, an essay by Steve
Rothman in January 1997. Steve Rothman was a student in Harvard
University when he made this as an assignment in his class, Science and
Society in 20th Century. This essay starts with an overview and historical
background of John Hersey and The New Yorker magazine, where John
Hersey’s Hiroshima was first published. Then, the analysis afterward is
related to effect and reaction from the publication of John Hersey’s
Hiroshima. This essay by Rothman has quite complete and proper
references and it is really helpful in the making of this thesis because such
references are hard to find in Indonesia and do not available or accessible
in the internet.
5. Menganalisis Fiksi: Sebuah Pengantar by Furqonul Aziez and Abdul
Hasim. The book was published in 2010. In this book, Aziez and Hasim
focus their concern in analyzing novel. It helps because this thesis
considers narrative also is like a novel. This book serves quite simple
explanation yet very complete information. Reader can find the
explanation about the history of novel, kinds of novel, until some
approaches to criticize a fiction. The two authors of this book regularly
write for The Jakarta Post, Pikiran Rakyat, Kompas, Media Indonesia,
and other mass media.
6. Teori Kesusastraan, a book written by Rene Wellek and Austin Warren.
It was translated from the original title Theory of Literature. This book
helps a lot because the authors explain their theory of literature by
describing it in quite simple words. The content is also arranged from
about the topic. Practically, this book is more like a guidance book among
men of letters since many other literary books uses it as additional
reading, for example A Companion to Narrative Theory, edited by Phelan
CHAPTER III
METHOD OF RESEARCH
3.1 Research Design
The primary data of this thesis is a literary journalistic work by John Hersey,
Hiroshima. This book was first published in 1946 and remains in prints until today.
The secondary data of this research conducted through library research. For library
research, it concerns on finding appropriate yet supporting reading sources and
getting reading resources by internet surfing. This is necessary because literary
journalism can still be categorized as a new field of studies and develops
dynamically. Therefore, the internet surfing is to find more recent resources or
information which may not be available in library or book form.
In the making of this thesis, the analysis is categorized as qualitative
descriptive methodology. It is qualitative descriptive because the result of this thesis
is the form of words, not numbers as in quantitative, and this thesis is intended to
describe the impact of narrative to literary journalism as seen through John Hersey’s
Hiroshima. A research is also called qualitative when the question format is
open-ended and the data format is textual. Stokes (2003: xi) explains that this method is
commonly used in cultural studies research, and many of them, like narrative
analysis and genre analysis, had been developed for literature studies.
3.2 Data Collection
The data is collected by carefully reading on John Hersey’s Hiroshima first,
then finding other appropriate datas from other objects of reading to broaden the
3.3 Data Analysis
To support the main goal of this thesis, that is to describe and understand the
impact of narrative to literary journalism, there are two major steps to be
accomplished. First, this thesis shows reader the elements of narrative and novel in
Hersey’s Hiroshima through careful reading and selection. This is to prove that
Hiroshima, as one of literary journalism works, really adopts literary writing style in
its content because of the using of those elements in it. After that, this thesis
describes its impact to literary journalism as seen through John Hersey’s Hiroshima
CHAPTER IV
THE IMPACT OF NARRATIVE TO LITERARY JOURNALISM AS SEEN THROUGH JOHN HERSEY’S HIROSHIMA
4.1Narrative in John Hersey’s Hiroshima
Based on the theory of narrative by Gorys Keraf, Hersey’s Hiroshima is
categorized as expositional narrative. It is because Hersey’s Hiroshima expands the
reader’s knowledge about the history of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima, Japan,
and the story of hibakusha, the people who suffer from the atomic bomb. Hersey’s
Hiroshima is written based on rational and logical order. Hersey uses plain and
simple diction in Hiroshima.
The narrative structure that is based on Gorys Keraf’s theory contains of plot,
action, character, setting, and point of view. Below is the elaboration and analysis of
narrative structure in Hersey’s Hiroshima. By showing the narrative structure in
Hersey’s Hiroshima, it is proven that Hersey’s Hiroshima adopts narrative writing
style although it is actually a journalistic piece of work.
4.1.1 Plot
The plot in Hersey’s Hiroshima is written chronologically. First, the story
starts by telling readers what the six main characters were doing at the moment when
the atomic bomb flashed above Hiroshima. Hersey describes the characters’
backgrounds and their activities, then the bomb is dropped. The climax in this story
is when Hersey describes the agony and the suffering of the victims of the bomb,
focusing on the six main characters situations. At last, Hersey describes how the
Keraf (2004: 148) says that plot organizes how every action is supposed to be
related, how every incident has relation with another, and how the situation of the
characters in the story. In Hersey’s Hiroshima, the six main characters are related by
the same experiences of great event of torment and turmoil.
The passage in Hersey’s Hiroshima on page 15 tells the story of Miss Sasaki,
one of six main characters in Hersey’s Hiroshima. The passage contains of 501
words. Keraf (2004: 146) mentions that there are small climaxes in a bigger climax
in a plot. The passage is one example where a small climax is occurred, complete
with the beginning, middle, and ending parts. The story begins very slowly with the
introduction of Miss Sasaki’s family background and her activity in the morning at
the day when the bomb fell. The tension to the climax starts to occur when the
narrator mentions the former worker from the factory who committed suicide the day
before. It reaches its climax when Miss Sasaki ‘paralyzed by fear, fixed still in her
chair for a long moment’ because of the blinding light that was filled the room. The
ending is when the narrator tells reader that Miss Sasaki was crushed by books from
the bookcases that were right behind her. The elements of action, characterization,
and mood are coherent. The quotation above is just a bit from a much longer story.
But it still has elements that make it considerably as a plot. The small plot like the
one above is needed to build the big plot.
4.1.2 Action
According to Keraf (2004: 160), action consists of motivation and causality.
Below is the elaboration of motivation and causality in Hersey’s Hiroshima.
4.1.2.1 Motivation
Hersey’s Hiroshima is a journalistic piece of work that is demanded to
Hersey’s Hiroshima are real. Based on Keraf (2004: 160), expositional narrative
might not contain the character’s motivation in the story. It is because expositional
narrative is based on true events that explain experience which mostly is just
happened without motivation or planning. The six main characters in Hersey’s
Hiroshima are all victims from the atomic bomb that is dropped in Hiroshima. The
story is about how they were struggling during and after the bomb incident.
4.1.2.2 Causality
Characters in Hersey’s Hiroshima might not have motivations in doing their
actions as said in the story, but it does not imply that they do nothing. Since the six
main characters were victims of the atomic bomb, they did what they could do at the
moment, that is to survive. Although Hersey’s Hiroshima has six main characters
with different experiences, reader is still able to comprehend it well without being
confused. It indicates that the causality in Hersey’s Hiroshima is neatly arranged.
Through the story, the narrator tells the events after events and considers the
series of time. Hersey wrote his story chronologically so reader can find the causality
straight away. Automatically, reader can see the reason of the occurred events and
what is happened after that. This quotation below is one example to show the
causality in Hersey’s writing.
A year after the bomb was dropped, Miss Sasaki was a cripple; Mrs. Nakamura was destitute; Father Kleinsorge was back in the hospital; Dr. Sasaki was not capable of the work he once could do; Dr. Fujii had lost the thirty-room hospital it took him many years to acquire, and had no prospects of rebuilding it; Mr Tanimoto’s church had been ruined and he no longer had his exceptional vitality. The lives of these six people, who were among the luckiest in Hiroshima, would never be the same. […]
(Hersey, 1989: 87)
The quotation above shows the condition of the six main characters a year
the reason of those results. Keraf (2004: 163) states that an author of narrative story
must consider causality in a story so reader can answer the question of ‘why’.
4.1.3 Character
There are six main characters in Hersey’s Hiroshima. Approximately, a
hundred thousand people were killed by the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, Japan. These
six were among the survivors, later the Japanese called them as ‘hibakusha’, literally,
‘explosion-affected persons’. They tended to shy away from the term ‘survivors’,
because in its focus on being alive it might suggest some slight to the sacred dead
(Hersey, 1989: 92).
The six characters in Hersey’s Hiroshima are real people, not fiction
characters. In some parts in the book, these six runs past another but there is not any
parts where the six of them are in one act.
The six main characters in Hersey’s Hiroshima and all of them have equal
parts in the story. No one is more stands out or more important. The characterization
below is based on their physical description, family background, and their
occupations. The analysis that is based on personality and dialogue is done later on
some next points to prove more coherent purpose.
4.1.3.1 Dr. Masakazu Fujii
Dr. Fujii was fifty years old. There is no further description about his outer
look in John Hersey’s Hiroshima. Hersey characterizes this character by showing his
personality more. He explains Dr. Fujii’s way of thinking and behavior.
Dr. Fujii was a specialist doctor in medical and venereal when the bomb is
dropped. Later in 1948, he did not go with any specialties. Besides medical and
venereal cases, he performed operations on keloids, did appendectomies, and treated
4.1.3.2 Dr. Terufumi Sasaki
When the bomb is dropped, Dr. Sasaki was twenty-five years old and lived
with his mother. He had a very small figure and he wore glasses to help his errors of
vision. Again, Hersey did not elaborate the character’s physical image into details.
Nevertheless, Hersey still put down tiny detail that helps reader to know the
character more. For example, Hersey states that Dr. Sasaki mastered German well
and he was a heavy smoker.
He completed his training at the Japanese Eastern Medical University, in
Tsinftao, China. Then, he backed to Japan and became the Red Cross Hospital junior
surgeon. Ten years later, he got his actual doctoral degree from University of
Hiroshima. He got married on March 1946. Eventually, he owned a private clinic in
Mukaihara, where his mother was lived. His late father was a doctor. His older
brother was killed in the war. His wife is died of breast cancer in 1972. He has two
sons, Yoshihisa and Ryuji, by now both are doctors.
4.1.3.3 Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge (Father Makoto Takakura)
Father Kleinsorge was a German. He was thirty-eight years old when the
incident is happened. He had thin face, prominent Adam’s apple, a hollow chest,
dangling hands, big feet, and leaned forward a little when he walked. Hersey
describes Father Kleinsorge’s feature in detail because in the story, Father
Kleinsorge had been uneasy for being a foreigner in Japan.
He was a Jesuit priest of the Society of Jesus. He registered himself as a
Japanese citizen under the name Father Makoto Takakura. There is no family history
background of Father Kleinsorge in Hersey’s Hiroshima.
Miss Sasaki was about twenty years old when the bomb was dropped. She is
not related to Dr. Terufumi Sasaki, one of the six main characters in Hersey’s
Hiroshima. Miss Sasaki was a medium-sized female. Her left leg was crushed by
some heavy objects when the bomb fell and made her a cripple ever since. She had a
low-spirited life because of the agony in her leg and talked to Father Kleinsorge for
moral support. Then, she prepared herself for conversion to Catholicism and by
September 1946 she was baptized.
Miss Sasaki was a clerk in East Asia Tin Works and she was in charge of the
personal records in the factory. In 1957, she became a nun under the name Sister
Dominique Sasaki. In the age of thirty-three years old, she became the first Japanese
director that was in charge in the Garden of St. Joseph until twenty years ahead. Miss
Sasaki had younger siblings, two brothers and a sister. One of her brother was killed
by the atomic bomb, along with her parents.
4.1.3.5 Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura
There is no Mrs. Nakamura’s physical description in Hersey’s Hiroshima.
Hersey only tells one habit of Mrs. Nakamura, that is she always does as she was
told. No more personal description of Mrs. Nakamura. In describing Mrs. Nakamura,
the narrator focuses on her actions and background.
She is a tailor’s widow. Her husband, Isawa, died in war. They had three
children, Toshio who was ten years old when the bomb fell, Yaeko who was eight
years old, and Myeko who was five years old. Mrs. Nakamura was a housewife but
since the death of her husband, she supported the family by sewing. After the
bombing, she lived check after check. Once, she did cleaning and laudry and washed
dishes. Then, she became a bread deliverer. Also, she owned a small street shop for
Hiroshima paper, the Chugoku Shimbun. Finally, the last job she had until she was
retired, she helped wrapping the product of Paragen in its packages in Suyama
Chemical for thirteen years.
4.1.3.6 The Reverend Mr. Kiyoshi Tanimoto
Mr. Tanimoto was a small man, his black hair parted in the middle and rather
long, he had prominence frontal bones just above his eyebrows, and he had a small
mustache. He was quick to talk, laugh, and cry. He moved nervously and fast. He
spoke excellent English and dressed in American clothes.
He was a pastor of the Hiroshima Methodist Church and took on the
chairmanship of his local Neighborhood Association. He had studied theology and
graduated in 1940 from Emory College, in Atlanta, Georgia. By 1955, Mr.
Tanimoto’s family is consisted of his wife, Chisa, his ten years old daughter, Koko,
seven years old son, Ken, four years old daughter, Jun, and two years old son, Shin.
4.1.4 Setting
John Hersey’s Hiroshima is written in a chronological order. The story starts
on August 6, 1945, when the atomic bomb is dropped in Hiroshima, Japan. The
atomic bomb flashed above Hiroshima at exactly fifteen minutes past eight in the
morning on August 6, 1945. Then, the series of event in Hersey’s Hiroshima is
chronologically written until forty years after that. The story takes place in
Hiroshima, Japan, when the World War II is at the highest peak of confrontation. It
makes the story has typical war background, like planes, fire, and soldiers.
4.1.5 Point of View
There are six main characters in John Hersey’s Hiroshima and reader gets to
know each character’s actions and minds. Hersey also gives elaboration about things
not involving either the six main characters. Instead, it is the dialogue between Father
Kleinsorge’s colleague and a theological student.
[…] Father LaSalle lay down and went right to sleep. The theological student, who was wearing slippers, had carried with him a bundle of clothes, in which he had packed two pairs of leather shoes. When he sat down with the others, he found that the bundle had broken open and a couple of retraced his steps and found one right. When he rejoined the priests, he said, “It’s funny, but things don’t matter possessions. Today, I don’t care. One pair is enough.”
Father Cieslik said, “I know. I started to bring my books along, and then I thought, ‘This is no time for books.’”
(Hersey: 36)
It indicates that Hersey’s Hiroshima uses the third person point of view and
specifically Hersey acts as omniscient narrator who know all the things that are
happened in Hiroshima.
4.2The Impact of Narrative to Journalistic Works as Seen through John Hersey’s Hiroshima
Beside as a journalistic work, John Hersey’s Hiroshima is also a narrative
because it has every narrative structure in it. Below is the analysis of the impact of
narrative to journalistic works as seen through John Hersey’s Hiroshima.
4.2.1 Narrative Makes the Story is Like a Novel
Reading a literary journalistic work, in this case is John Hersey’s Hiroshima,
is more like reading a novel instead of plain old news on newspaper. Kurnia (2002:
32) says that Tom Wolfe in his book, The New Journalism, entitles the second part of
his introduction by ‘Like a Novel’. In early 1960s, novel got its high place in the
society and it influenced journalistic works to adopt literature writing style. Aziez
and Hasim (2010: viii) show that novel contains of character, plot, structure, setting,
novel according to Aziez and Hasim. There are no elaboration on character, plot,
setting, and narrator because those elements have been explained in the previous
point.
4.2.1.1 Structure
In its first publication in 1946, Hersey’s Hiroshima is divided in four
chapters. Every chapter is consists of six different focuses according to the six main
characters. Almost four decades later, thirty-nine years later to be exact, Hersey came
back to the city of Hiroshima and wrote ‘The Aftermath’, the last chapter in the new
publication of Hersey’s Hiroshima. It is still divided in six parts, describes the recent
conditions of the six main characters.
Structure in Hiroshima is obvious from the five chapters they are divided.
The story is written chronologically like A-B-C-D, instead of D-C-B-A or even
D-A-B-C.
Chapter one is entitled ‘A Noiseless Flash’. The narrator describes the
moment of the blast. There are six characters’ sides of story which are told in
separate parts. Each of them has their own story before and during the bomb is
dropped. Chapter two is entitled ‘The Fire’. The narrator describes the devastation
that is experienced by the city immediately after the blast. Chapter three is entitled
‘Details are Being Investigated’. The narrator describes the rampant rumors
throughout the city about what had happened, while the hibakusha provide help and
comfort to one another. Chapter four is entitled ‘Panic Grass and Feverfew’. The
narrator describes the weeks after the attack, as the hibakusha attempt to rebuild their
lives. The blast and radiation effects induced the anomaly to their health and
Aftermath’. The narrator describes the lives and death of the six main characters after
Hersey came back to Hiroshima almost four decades later.
4.2.1.2 Theme
The theme of Hersey’s Hiroshima is atomic bomb victims’ survival.Written
one year after the first atomic bombs were ever dropped on civilians, Hersey focused
on how the six main characters survived the explosion and what lives they got
through even after forty years later when he came back to write the final chapter.
4.2.1.3 Dialogue
Unlike other usual product of journalistic, literary journalism such as
Hersey’s Hiroshima, uses dialogue in its story. In writing the journalistic article of
Hiroshima, Hersey uses dialogue to describe the situation and feeling that occurred at
that time.
Here is the dialogue between one out of six main characters, Mr. Tanimoto,
with one of the Army doctors at East Parade Ground. It describes the dilemma and
rage that is felt by Mr. Tanimoto.
[…] Nevertheless, he went up to one of the Army doctors and said, as reproachfully as he could, “Why have you not come to Asano Park? You are badly needed there.”
Without even looking up from his work, the doctor said in a tired voice, “This is my station.”
“But there are many dying on the riverbank over there.” “The first duty,” the doctor said, “is to take care of the slightest wounded.”
“Why—when there are many who are heavily wounded on the riverbank?”
The doctor moved to another patient. “In an emergency like this,” he said, as if he were reciting from a manual, “the first task is to help as many as possible—to save as many lives as possible. There is no hope for the heavily wounded. They will die. We can’t bother with them.”
and he turned away without finishing his sentence, angry now with himself.
(Hersey, 1989: 50)
Another example of meaningful dialogue in Hersey’s Hiroshima is between
one out of six main characters, Father Kleinsorge, and Mr. Fukai, who apparently
had been hopeless and just wanted to die.
[…] “Leave me here.”
Father Kleinsorge went into the room and took Mr. Fukai by the collar of his coat and said, “Come with me or you’ll die.”
Mr. Fukai said, “Leave me here to die.”
Father Kleinsorge began to shove and haul Mr. Fukai out of the room. Then the theological student came up and grabbed Mr. Fukai’s feet, and Father Kleinsorge took his shoulders, and together they carried him downstairs and outdoors.
“I can’t walk!” Mr. Fukai cried. “Leave me here!”
Father Kleinsorge got his paper suitcase with the money in it and took Mr. Fukai up pickaback, and the party started for the East Parade Ground, their district’s ‘safe area’. As they went out of the gate, Mr. Fukai, quite childlike now, beat on Father Kleinsorge’s shoulders and said, “I won’t leave. I won’t leave.” […]
(Hersey, 1989: 27)
4.2.1.4 Image
According to Aziez and Hasim (2010: 80), image is usually presented as a
concrete quality. Image visualizes material object and immaterial object such as
taste, smell, and sound. It is quite the same with what people called as description,
and Hersey’s Hiroshima is full with it. Image or description helps reader to really
feel or see or contemplate with the situation that has been told in the story. It makes
reader to feel like they are really being there, watching the situation by their own
eyes.
Several parts in Hersey’s Hiroshima have images of how awfully wounded
the victims are. Hersey uses simple diction and straight forward writing style. But, it
does not make the story on the state where it is brutal or vulgar. If anything it would
[…] When he had penetrated the bushes, he saw there were about twenty men, and they were all in exactly the same nightmarish state: their faces were wholly burned, their eyesockets were hollow, the fluid from their melted eyes had run down their cheeks. (They must have had their faces upturned when the bomb went off; perhaps they were anti-aircraft personnel.) Their mouths were mere swollen, pus-covered wounds, which they could not bare to stretch enough to admit the spout of the teapot. […]
(Hersey, 1989: 51)
The passage above shows an excruciating image of some soldiers with melted
eyes and other heavy wounds. Readers supposedly are able to catch the image of
them easily with that kind of description. Hersey adds a note in the brackets to
elaborate how the soldiers could end up by the melted eyes.
4.2.2 Narrative Makes the Story Longer
Hersey’s Hiroshima is first published as an article in The New Yorker
magazine in August 31st 1946. The editors for this article are William Shawn and
Harold Ross. They decided to deliver the story in one edition. By that, the edition of
The New Yorker in August 31st 1946 consisted of Hersey’s article only, from the
first until the last page. This breakthrough article is opened by one editorial
paragraph entitled ‘To Our Readers’.
The New Yorker this week devotes its entire editorial space to an article on the almost complete obliteration of a city by one atomic bomb, and what happened to the people of that city. It does so in the conviction that few of us have yet comprehended the all but incredible destructive power of this weapon, and that everyone might well take time to consider the terrible implications of its use. –The Editors
(Hersey, August 1945)
Hersey’s Hiroshima consists of more than thirty thousand words. In
Indonesia, most of journalists used to write news in a thousand or two thousand
because it is full of details and covers what mainstream journalism does not cover.
Details help create images and building the story. Below is one example out from
many of details that clearly create image, until readers feel like they watch a movie.
Immediately after the explosion, the Reverend Mr. Kiyoshi Tanimoto, having run wildly out of the Matsui estate and having looked in wonderment at the bloody soldiers at the mouth of the dugout they had been digging, attached himself sympathetically to an old lady was walking along in a daze, holding her head with her left hand, supporting a small boy of three or four on her back with her right, and crying, “I’m hurt! I’m hurt!” Mr. Tanimoto transferred the child to his own back and led the woman by the hand down the street, which was darkened by what seemed to be a local column of dust. […]
(Hersey, 1989: 17)
Those sentences begin the second chapter in Hersey’s Hiroshima, ‘The Fire’.
It is movie-like because the details are really tiny. Even the narrator states which
hand that holds the old woman’s own head and which hand that holds the boy. These
kind of details are scary because it is all true.
In Hersey’s Hiroshima, reader will not find the details about the exact
number of victim, no information about the planes that dropped the bomb, and no
explanation of the bomb itself. Hersey’s Hiroshima only tells about the fates of six
people in Hiroshima that experienced same tragedy. Hersey covers their story from
before, during, and after the bomb fell. That is all. Hersey’s Hiroshima indeed covers
unusual things that are not usually be covered by mainstream journalistic works.
Hersey describes the feelings of the characters, works on extreme details, focuses on
humanity aspects rather than the World War II itself.
The passage below is one example of things that any other form of
journalistic may not consider to write in their news. It tells about Dr. Sasaki who lost
[…] He grabbed up some bandages and an unbroken bottle of Mercurochrome, hurried back to the chief surgeon, and bandage
