Test Your Knowledge of Radiation Sickness in Hiroshima

"Panic Grass and Feverfew" Chapter Summary

• The chapter is named after weeds growing in Hiroshima, perhaps symbolizing the survivors' desire to drive away the fever associated with radiation sickness.
• The city of Hiroshima is described through personal thoughts of survivors and objective statistics.
• Imagery evokes an understanding of the swiftness of death, such as signs on ash piles and stationary cars and bicycles on the street.
• The government must deal with practical issues like lack of electricity and clean water, and a Planning Conference is called to decide what to do with the debris.
• Hersey's factual, journalistic style produces a profound reaction in the reader without sensationalizing or dramatizing.
• The largest portion of the chapter describes the horrifying effects of radiation sickness on the six survivors, including wounds that won't heal, hair loss, diarrhea, weakness, and depression.
• Lack of medical supplies, doctors, and nurses, and medical inexperience with radiation sickness contribute to the problem.
• Survivors try to rebuild homes and churches, feed and clothe children, and come to some sort of closure with what has happened.
• Dr. Sasaki and his fellow physicians theorize that radiation survivors have three stages to their illness.
• Hersey seems to be layering page after page of quantitative terms and numerical equivalents to explain how the governmental institutions of the time treated the survivors and the city as a huge experiment in new technology.
• The medical establishment and statisticians assault the city to gather accurate and measurable statistics for the future.
• In opposition to the facts and figures, six survivors' lives symbolize the individual suffering caused but rarely measured by the bombing.

"Can You Survive the Fallout? Test Your Knowledge of Radiation Sickness in Hiroshima" - Take this quiz to learn about the devastating effects of radiation sickness on the survivors of the Hiroshima bombing. From Father Kleinsorge's weakened state to Mrs. Nakamura's hair loss, see if you can identify the symptoms and aftermath of exposure to radiation. Test your knowledge and learn about the tragic consequences of this historical event.