The Ash Garden

"But it's true. I felt it in his hand. His hand moves for me. He understands things when I touch him."

This quotation takes place in a Japanese aid hospital several months after the bombing of Hiroshima. Emiko's brother Mitsuo has not regained consciousness since the bombing. The doctors believe that there is no hope for him, but Emiko insists that he can communicate with her by lightly squeezing her hand while she tells him stories. This simple action of Mitsuo squeezing her hand gives Emiko hope that she and Mitsuo will triumph over the obstacles that have been placed in their path. Hope is an important theme in all the despair and pain during those months following the bombing, which is why this quotation appeals to me.

"At night he reminded himself why all this had happened. He'd close his eyes and remember that there had been no alternative. Us or them. The sad fact of the world. A tragic inevitability."

This quotation appeals to me because of the conflicting nature of Anton Böll. Anton was involved in the Manhattan Project. Throughout his work on the atomic bomb, Anton was convinced that the use of the bomb was necessary in order to save lives. After the bomb was dropped, Anton and several of his coworkers traveled to Hiroshima in order to study the effects of the bomb. There he goes through a moral crisis as he sees the pain and suffering that his life's work has caused. Anton never wished to harm anyone, but he knew that the use of the bomb would save many more lives that it destroyed. Nevertheless, Anton struggles with these emotions, humanizing him to the reader, who until now only saw his cold, scientific side.

"He returned the embrace, and as he did so, arms only half raised, half there, it looked as though he was going to be sick. I knew how hard the reverend had worked the last ten years of his life, trying to repair the damage that had been done. Working with people like me. He had lived through the war. He had seen things. But he was not ready for this."

This quotation is one of Emiko's recollections of her stay in America for reconstructive surgery. The children and their caretakers are invited onto an American TV show called This Life in Focus. This quotation reveals the double-sided nature of the American media and government. The show was aired as a public sign of regret to the survivors from the American people. Unofficially, however, the show was also used to promote American patriotism and atomic supremacy. This duality and seemingly opposing viewpoints appeal to me because they provoke new thoughts on the subject of atomic weapons.

After reading The Ash Garden, I would like to ask these questions to Dennis Bock...

1. Do you agree or disagree with the use of atomic weapons?

2. Do you believe that America took advantage of the suffering of the survivors of Hiroshima to promote their own nuclear agenda?

3. Do you think that Anton was justified to follow Emiko's life after the bombing?