comparison/contras essay(Original Child Bomb byThomas Merton) and (Thank God for the Atomic Bomb by Paul Fussell)

p compare /contrast Merton 's poem and Fussell 's essays

Paul Fussell 's essay Thank God for the Atomic Bomb ' is the realistic picture of the situation before and after the dropping of the atomic bombs in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki . But his essay is centered only on the side of the Americans . To him he considered it necessary to drop the bombs to save thousands of American - and British - soldiers ' lives but he did not consider the thousands of more Japanese lives mostly noncombatants

He did not foresee

that the effects of the bombs would last for decades with many children until now born with defects as the aftermath of the nuclear bombs

In contrast to Thomas Merton 's piece that has religious connotations like nihilism and about good and evil as a reflection of his religiosity as a Trappist monk , Fussell was an American soldier on the way to Japan to fight on the mainland . Fussell had a 360-degree view of the rationale of using the bombs . He thanked about the invention - and dropping - of the bomb and its testing in New Mexico desert

Fussell knew of the barbaric activities in countries occupied by the Japanese - they killed even medics and doctors , the wounded , children and women and even bayoneted infants . During the gap between the dropping of the first bomb and the second bomb , the Japanese in the mainland committed atrocities like beheading the captured American pilots . Their war crimes were so gruesome that dropping the bomb would be the only solution to end it , as justified by Fussell

Of course war is cruel , as what Fussell wrote quoting Gen . Sherman War is cruelty ' General Mountbatten added : War is crazy . It would seem more crazy if we were to have more casualties on our side to save the Japanese ' With this quote Fussell has driven the point to his readers that the dropping of the A-bombs was justifiable

When the new of the bombing of the two cities reached the Allied soldiers , there first reaction was shock . They were shocked knowing that thousands would die and many more as the effect of the nuclear reaction . But , at the same time , they felt relieved , knowing that they would not be there in Japanese soil . They knew that they would die there as what they have known in previous battles with the Japanese

President Harry Truman , the president of the United States at the time ed the bombing not based on ethics but from his experience as a soldier . As Fussell has noted In life experience is the best teacher ' The dropping of the bombs was done not to punish the Japanese but to end the war . Truman had known the atrocities committed by the Japanese Imperial Army in the Philippines , Okinawa , Malaysia , China Singapore , Korea and other parts where the Japanese Occupied . He knew that if the war would not be stopped millions would die by the brutality of the Japanese soldiers

Fusell contended that for those who said that the dropping of the bombs was unnecessary are the people who have not experienced what a war was like .He also noted a young officer who wrote a letter for home who said that When I read that we will fight the Japs for years if necessary and will sacrifice hundreds of thousands if we must , I always like to check from where he 's talking : It 's seldom out here ' That letter writer was then Navy lieutenant John F . Kennedy

Fussell wanted to drive out that experience would help rationalize one 's actions , just like what Truman did in looking for the solution to end the war . If the nuclear bomb was invented earlier , it could have been dropped in Berlin to end the war in Europe and annihilate the Third Reich of Hitler

Fussell also noted that those against the dropping of the A-bomb lacked the experience , he remarked that in general the farther the scene of horror , the easier the talk

Fussell 's essay also questions the haste in dropping the bomb . A few weeks ' delay could have given the Americans more reasons not to drop the bombs . In the first place the war was certain to end and the Japanese , sooner or later , had to recapitulate . The bombs only hastened the date of recapitulation not the main reason why the Japanese surrendered

If the bombs were not dropped Fussell could have been there fighting house to house , room to room in the Japanese mainland for the reason that even civilians in Japan were told to prepare for an invasion in the name of the Emperor . He rationalizes that the dropping of the bombs could be also justified since the civilians would be later transformed into combatants . So the bombs killed the potential combatants not the civilians in the two cities

The claims that the bombs were dropped without warning was not true according to Fussell . He said two days before the dropping of the A-bombs , hundreds of thousands of leaflets were dropped warning the civilians to evacuate from the place because it would be annihilated But only few believed the message from the American government

And it were true , the Japanese had a high respect on themselves that they would rather die than surrender to the Americans

When the dropping of the A-bombs reached the defenders , Fussell bared that a battalion of soldiers committed hara kiri for being shamed not to have the opportunity to defend the beaches of Japan and show their skills . A colonel first killed himself , followed by the majors , then the captains , followed by the first and second lieutenants and so on . He drove the point that if the bombs were not dropped , the carnage during the battles would be so gruesome for not a single Japanese would surrender as long as their leaders or the emperor in particular would now bow to the Americans

Fussell favored the dropping of the bombs , on contrast to Mertons attack on the decision , as was decided by the top brass because the Japanese had already instructed women between the ages of 17 and 40 were to be armed to repel the invasion . It showed that there would be no more civilians in Japan since everybody would be drafted in the war So they would not be killing civilians but combatants , thus since it is war , then the bomb , as a weapon , should be used

French Gen . Winston Churchill , as quoted by Fussell , said : The people who invasion to A-bombing seemed to have no intention of proceeding to the Japanese front themselves

Fussell also quoted General George S . Patton as saying that War is not a contest with gloves it is resorted to only when laws , which are rules , have failed ' In this case the rules the governed the war failed because the Japanese , in the first place , did not follow the rules of engagement . Fussell adds : Understanding the past requires pretending that you don 't know the present . It requires feeling its own pressure on your pulse without any ex post facto illumination ...