Vikram Seth

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Analysis and Context of Vikram Seth's Poem 'A Doctor's Journal Entry for August 6, 1945'

Summary:

Vikram Seth's poem "A Doctor's Journal Entry for August 6, 1945" provides a poignant account of the aftermath of the Hiroshima atomic bombing. Through the perspective of a doctor, it captures the immediate shock, devastation, and human suffering experienced. The poem serves as a historical reflection, emphasizing the catastrophic impact of nuclear warfare and the resilience of those who survived.

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What is the message of Vikram Seth's poem 'A Doctor's Journal Entry for August 6, 1945'?

The message of this anti-war poem is that the dropping of the atomic bomb was a horrible act, demonstrative of man's inhumanity to man. There were 118,661 civilian deaths up to 10 August 1946. 

Vikram Seth personalizes the shock and suffering of the Japanese people who are startled one pleasant Monday morning by describing the effects of the bomb through the eyes of a doctor. The momentary delight in the beauty of nature when he awakens is violently shattered as the bomb that strikes is nearly one hundred degrees centigrade when it touches the earth, and it becomes a virtual fireball.

The speaker of the poem has his clothes burned off him instantly:

My drawers and undershirt disappeared. 
A splinter jutted from my mangled thigh. 
My right side bled, my cheek was torn, and I 
Dislodged, detachedly, a piece of glass....

This doctor is so stunned by what has happened that he removes the piece of glass from his face as though it were an injury someone else has experienced. He seems to be in shock as he calls to his wife,

Pale, bloodstained, frightened, Yecko-san emerged,
Holding her elbow. ‘We’ll be fine,’ I urged –
‘Let’s get out quickly.'

Images of blood, a severed head,"Fire sprang up in the dust." Ironically maintaining his cultural politeness, the doctor says to the head, "Excuse me, please excuse me." A soldier hands him a towel to cover his nakedness as they move with others who must hold out their arms so that they do not touch their bodies and "chafe flesh against flesh again. The instant that the bomb was dropped, people became metaphoric "scarecrows," walking phantoms of themselves; "all were wordlessly dumb." 

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What is the historical background of Vikram Seth's poem "A Doctor's Journal Entry for August 6, 1945"?

August 6, 1945, is the day that the first American atomic bomb was dropped over Hiroshima.

This bomb, nicknamed "Little Boy," was dropped upon Hiroshima. Later, the United States dropped a bomb over Nagasaki because the government of Japan refused to surrender unconditionally.

Vikram Seth's poem, "A Doctor's Journal Entry for August 6, 1945," which describes the horrors witnessed and endured by physicians when the atomic bomb falls, is ironically unassuming in tone. Even the simplicity of style belies the horrific moments witnessed and experienced by the doctor.

The poem begins much like the Japanese haiku:

The morning stretched calm, beautiful and warm.
Sprawling half clad, I gazed out at the form
Of shimmering leaves and shadows.

Without warning, the doctor suddenly feels his skin burning and sees his blood; immediately, he frantically searches for his wife, only to find her also blood-soaked. They rush out and run down the street, but trip over a dead body that has been blown apart:

We fell tripped, by something at our feet,
I gasped out, when I saw it was a head;
Excuse me, please excuse me – He was dead.

Horrified, they push on toward the hospital until the doctor can go no farther, and he must sit down. He instructs his wife to continue to the hospital. When he regains some strength, he again walks and finds others, all stoically holding their arms out to avoid the pain of the raw flesh touching another body part. Yet,

Silence was common to us all. I heard
No cries of anguish, or a single word.

Despite this horrific event and the pain endured, the Japanese rebuilt Hiroshima and Nagasaki. While "A Doctor's Journal Entry for August 6, 1945" depicts the horrors of the bombing, it also implies what one critic calls "the moral nakedness" of those who could order and carry out this bombing.

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Write a brief description of the main characters in Vikram Seth's poem "A Doctor's Journal Entry for August 6, 1945".

The poem, set at the time of the first atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, has two distinct main characters. First is the narrator of the poem, a doctor. The poem is written as his journal entry. A second main character is his wife, though she plays a much smaller role. Though not one character, a case could be made that a third main character, even more important to the story than the doctor's wife, is the group of citizens described wandering in shock after the explosion of the bomb.
The doctor is calm but bewildered by the shock of the instant destruction around him. His state of nakedness after the bomb strips them all of their clothes seems to symbolize his feeling that they are all vulnerable. He might also be described as caring, as his concern is for his wife first and then his staff even though he was injured.
The doctor's wife is very involved in his description of the moments after the bomb hits but is not very well described. Still, in his description we realize that she is frightened, injured and probably in shock. She complies with his wish that she walk on to the hospital ahead of him so she may be described as traditionally obedient.
Lastly, the citizens as a whole make up a last main character. They are described as wandering naked, unaware of their surroundings or naked state and so injured that they cannot bear to have their skin touched. As a group they are important main characters that allow the reader to experience the enormity of the destruction and pain caused by the bomb.

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