Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon History of Hiroshima
Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon
History Of Hiroshima
Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon History Oh Hiroshima1 is written to show Keiji Nakazawa’s own ideas on peace and how the world needs to live peacefully together. The story is about Keiji’s alter ego Gen’s life before the atomic bomb was dropped on his hometown of Hiroshima. Gen and his family are poor civilians living in Hiroshima who are under the constant burden of the town officials, the citizens of the town, and the hunger that plagues all of them. When Gen’s father is accused of being a traitor to the Japanese government life for them gets even tougher. When the bomb drops at the end of the story all that are left is Gen, his mother, and his newly born baby sister. Gen has to face the harsh realities of war at a very young age and has to become the man his father wanted him to be. Barefoot Gen is written as a first hand account about what civilian life was like for the people of japan during World War II. Also there are many themes in this book including power, and loyalty. Each one is shown by either the Japanese Government or by Gens own family. Also symbolism plays a big part in this story like the name Keiji picked for himself, the wheat that Gen and his family grow, and the sun that appears in the book many times. When people study war and in this case World War II they always look at the battles and the military. They never really look at what happens to the everyday citizens on both the Axis and Allies side. Barefoot Gen is a good example of a first hand account of a normal citizens life during World War II. Gen is a young boy in this book and his family is on the poorer end of society during this time. The Japanese army is very large and is taking away all of the metal, wool, and food from their own citizens. This makes life very tough for the Nakaoka family. This is shown by Gen telling his brother, “Wow soldiers’re lucky, they get to eat rice. I wanna grow up quick
History Of Hiroshima
Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon History Oh Hiroshima1 is written to show Keiji Nakazawa’s own ideas on peace and how the world needs to live peacefully together. The story is about Keiji’s alter ego Gen’s life before the atomic bomb was dropped on his hometown of Hiroshima. Gen and his family are poor civilians living in Hiroshima who are under the constant burden of the town officials, the citizens of the town, and the hunger that plagues all of them. When Gen’s father is accused of being a traitor to the Japanese government life for them gets even tougher. When the bomb drops at the end of the story all that are left is Gen, his mother, and his newly born baby sister. Gen has to face the harsh realities of war at a very young age and has to become the man his father wanted him to be. Barefoot Gen is written as a first hand account about what civilian life was like for the people of japan during World War II. Also there are many themes in this book including power, and loyalty. Each one is shown by either the Japanese Government or by Gens own family. Also symbolism plays a big part in this story like the name Keiji picked for himself, the wheat that Gen and his family grow, and the sun that appears in the book many times. When people study war and in this case World War II they always look at the battles and the military. They never really look at what happens to the everyday citizens on both the Axis and Allies side. Barefoot Gen is a good example of a first hand account of a normal citizens life during World War II. Gen is a young boy in this book and his family is on the poorer end of society during this time. The Japanese army is very large and is taking away all of the metal, wool, and food from their own citizens. This makes life very tough for the Nakaoka family. This is shown by Gen telling his brother, “Wow soldiers’re lucky, they get to eat rice. I wanna grow up quick
Bibliography: Nakazawa, Keiji. Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon Story Of Hiroshima. San Francisco: Last Gasp, 2004.