civilians. The civilians must ration food so that the military can eat, and then they must also suffer because the bomb that was dropped was not meant for any military base but to destroy and kill a city. The theme is clear in meaning that it hurts the civilians much more than it hurts the military and that war is very, very cruel. The people that were rationing had very little to eat and that amount became smaller as the war continued. People were forced to grow carp in small, and search for mussels in ponds in order to get any type of meat. By the end of the war, there were no mussels left in any of the many streams and there were also no fish in any of the ponds. The only thing that survived were the eels who were seen swimming up the river a day before the surrender was given. This was a sign of rebirth. It only took a year after the Hiroshima bombing for the surrender and during that time the government did not help any of the people that really were hurt by the war, the civilians. It was strange that the people felt any remorse at all for losing the war when the government that they were supposed to believe in left them homeless and without any food. Innocent, unarmed people killed and mangled by a weapon that could kill the entire planet. For what purpose was the bomb dropped? Mr. Shizuma made many remarks about how if the opposition would have only waited a while longer they would not have had to drop the bomb because the country was internally falling apart. This seems to me that the dropping of the bomb was nothing but a science experiment to the 'opposition'. That is the hidden theme to this novel.The only type of person that could possibly read this book is a person that is very open minded to other ideas. To most people from the United States the bomb was necessary in order to stop the war. In the eyes of the Japanese the bomb was not needed to stop the war. Which side is true? The answer is both sides. To have an open min...
