Images In Masuji Ibuse's Black Rain

Masuji Ibuse’s novel Black Rain about the aftereffects of Hiroshima uses many images to convey the reaction and the mindset of survivors. I will be focusing on three particular images; that of the stunned fish (86-87), the burnt rock (103-104), and the bodies at First Prefectural Middle School (154). When discussed alongside aspects of the plot and descriptions of survivors and their actions, these images suggest that the survivors reacted in such a way where they were changed mentally— so much so that they seemed to be devoid of hope (181-182) in a burnt-out city (18) reminiscent of hell (98, 160) that was ruined with death and destruction (18). First, the image of the stunned fish suggests that the survivors were stupefied by the bomb,
just like the fish were stunned by Shigematsu’s hammer. Similar to the Japanese people, the fish were “subjected to some sudden, sharp shock” (87) that killed them instantly, made them lose their scales (294), or paralyzed them (87). The Japanese were subjected to the shock of the bomb, and many died instantly if they were too close to its impact area. Others, though, like Shigematsu, were injured so badly that their skin peeled off their bodies like the scales of the stunned fish. In addition, the hammer stupefied the fish in such a way where they “beg[an] to swim groggily” (294), just as those affected by the bomb aimlessly “shift[ed] about in their suffering, groaning all the while” (14) and often “drifted into” dormitories and train stations “neither waiting for someone nor buying tickets…for want of somewhere else to go” or “with nothing else to do but stand around and wait” for family or assistance (158, 129). Expanding upon the image of the stunned fish, the survivors did not only die or were stupefied by the bombing; they were changed psychologically because everything around them was so traumatic. Survivors that Shigematsu passed by ignored others around them, “hastily…evacuat[ing]” if able, or trudging along if injured (44-45, 92, 107). In the words of Mr. Miyaji, it was as though they “didn’t know or care what [they] were up to” (79). But, as Shigematsu, noticed, this silent and unsocial behavior was not normal: “[t]he people of Hiroshima [were] noted for their sociability, but..paced steadily ahead…without exchanging a single word” (159)/ Thus, the image of the stunned fish served as a direct parallel to the reactions of the survivors. They seemed to be careless and in despair, as I gather by their silence and unusual behavior. Second, the image of the burnt rock suggests that the survivors reacted negatively to the bombing and to being survivors (as if with shame at the effects of war) because they did not want to look at the damage the bomb caused. The burnt rock that Shigeko and Yasuko were sitting on in chapter seven was surrounded by a “scene of cruel desolation” (103) much like the rest of the area around Hiroshima that made it, according to Shigematsu, “a city of ashes,…death,…[and] destruction…” (103). The rock served as a reminder to Shigematsu and his family that nothing, not even nature, was unaffected by the bombing. Because everything around them was harmed, survivors “kept their faces averted from the direction of the city, avoiding to look at Hiroshima” or simply looked down at the ground because there was “nothing [they could]…do for [the injured] (23, 96). In other words, the survivors reacted in shame and guilt because the bombing caused so much death and pain and they were the ones who survived. Many survivors wanted to avoid the death around them, but some took it as an opportunity, as was the case with army officials and Japanese citizens such as the Superintendent-General and Shigematsu’s mother (106, 188). These survivors took to “digging for pine tree roots” to help the war effort, thus believing that they could a difference by believing that Japan still had a chance in the war (291). However, the survivors were exposed to death so much that this optimism was not often their mindset.
The constant exposure to death and illness caused survivors to be “apprehensive of the next [U.S.] air raid” because that would mean more death, desolation, and destruction (125), so they lived in fear and were just as desolate mentally as the land around them actually was. When Shigeko’s older brother, Watanabe, and Yasuko’s father (181), Takamura, encountered Shigematsu and the others, Watanabe said that “the most [the family] hoped was to find the spot where [Shigematsu and Yasuko] had died” (181-182). Therefore, the images of death and destruction around Hiroshima (such as the burnt rock) made the survivors react in despair, guilt, and shame, and attempt to deny the death and destruction around
them. Thirdly, the images of the bodies at First Prefectural Middle School (FPMS) suggest that the survivors were also stupefied by the scenes of death that were reminiscent of hell and incited negative reactions. After the bomb fell, some survivors believed the false word of health officials that the “black rain…[was not] harmful to human beings” (92-93). Mostly, though, survivors did not know the true effects and remedies for radiation exposure until weeks after the bombing, as was the case with Yasuko, who was cared for based on records of a man named Iwatake (270). Until the survivors and doctors knew how the body reacted to the black rain and bombing, they stipulated the effects, as with one of the gentlemen Shigematsu met on the train (118-119). Because the survivors did not know what caused their illness, the bomb’s mystery created worry, pain, and rage. The many images of bodies strewn out and piled on top of one another at FPMS served to incite cries of “pain and rage” in survivors as they did in Shigematsu (37). In a way, the image of the charred bodies at FPMS represented the damage all around Hiroshima. According to Shigematsu, “the horror [of places such as at the middle school] w[ere] so stupefying that they could do nothing but take helpless note of whatever they saw” (156).
Just by Shigematsu’s wording alone with the word ‘stupefying’, he connected the image of the stunned fish and the image of the bodies at FPMS. From this connection, Shigematsu meant to infer that the sight of images such at the bodies at FPMS made the survivors act like the stunned fish. This horror at the site of FPMS also connects (through use of the word ‘horror’) with the scene where Shigematsu, blinded by the bomb’s black smoke, was tripping over bodies (98). Because of this smoke, survivors were blinded and could not see in front of them. Instances such as this particular one in chapter six made Shigematsu become “petrified with horror,” thus influencing the belief that the smoke was hell incarnate and inciting fear, horror, pain, and rage in survivors. With these three images of the stunned fish, burnt rock, and bodies at FPMS in mind, it is clear that these images suggest (through direct parallels and symbolism) that the survivors of the Hiroshima bombing were changed not only physically through injuries, but also mentally as shown by their despair, lack of sociality, seemingly mindless walking, guilt, shame, and denial of the death and images of hell in the demolished city around
them.