The Fate of the Earth

This post is to analyze the written work The Effects of a Nuclear Explosion, and its excerpt "The Fate of the Earth".


His Own Devices:


The author uses a number of devices to build his written work.  I am able to identify the following devices, however he uses them constantly and repetitively throughout the excerpt.


1. He uses very well known historical events and familiar places for the audience to relate to and be able to use as reference points.  He uses the Japan bombings and the German Holocaust as well known historical events which most people are familiar with, to express the magnitude of the proposed attacks he feels are quite possible.  To go with this, though most of us are familiar with the bombings that took place in Japan, the majority of us haven't ever been there.  This is when the author brings in New York as a familiar place for us to be able to relate to.  Even if we haven't ever been to New York, we understand its massive size in population, buildings, and space on the map.  We come to understand how devastating it may be if our own New York was attacked as Hiroshima was in the past.


2.  The author uses droll language such as "The hiroshima people's experience, accordingly, is of much more than historical interest..." to express how far away and distant the happenings were from us personally, in time and space.  The attacks were long ago, we can't feel the emotional attachment to them anymore, thus he brings into light the fact that we are basically complacent.  He calls this part of our "backdrop" now.  We no-longer feel the fear that emulates from a possible attack.  which is when he brings in the possibility of the "inescapable truth about our lives today that at every single moment each one of us may suddenly become the deranged mother looking for her burned child..."he also speaks that at any moment we could turn around, be burning to death ourselves, and seeing another man holding his eyeball in his hand screaming for help.  His point - you never know.  The fear should be present all of the time.  
This contrast between the tired worn out discussion of the Japanese attacks is suddenly startled and awaked with the eye opening understanding that it could be us at any moment with his vivid, scary, detailed and excited language of the very opposite and extreme.  That it shouldn't just be history... it should be present at all times. 


3.  He also shares with us this notion of specific and detailed information ("... for ten seconds, it would broil the city below..."), step by step events that would occur at every millisecond following the attack.  He uses painful, agonizing words "... burned, battered, crushed, and irradiated..." to make the reader cringe and feel the pain.  He uses these vivid pictures, step by step accounts, and harsh language to move the audience and make the audience squirm in their seats, to make them feel the anguish that history as felt and that we could possibly feel.  He wants to the reader to understand that complacency shouldn't be an option, understanding, seeing, feeling, hearing, and relating is power in this case.  
As a side note, the writer accounts for step by step events which take place during these attacks - however, one must note it is all in speculation and assumption, his perspective, and how he thinks it would take place; "... If it were possible for someone to stand at Fifth Avenue and Seventy-second street without being instantly killed, he would see the following sequence of events..." here he accounts for very specific, detailed. step-by-step events which would go on at every microsecond following the attack by the first person view of a man being able to see what was going on and what was about to happen.  Conversely he also admits it all in assumption with this line, "Very little is known about what would happen to a city that was inside a fireball, but one would expect...".


What's with the long paragraphs? 


I believe the author is basically trying to paint a picture, he is trying to tell a story.  He wants us to envision what it would have been like to be in Japan, Germany, and then envision our own demise.  With short, informational paragraphs one really isn't able to detail accounts, be specific, exaggerate and massage ideas into the readers minds.
Though they are long - I will say, they don't seem to be too long winded.  The author does an amazing job at catching the reader's attention, saying everything he has to say, then gliding right into the next thought (paragraph) painting a new idea, or going off of the last one just in a new frame of mind.  He has made his point, and I believe his reader's would say it has stuck.