CHAPTER IV THE IMPACT OF NARRATIVE TO LITERARY JOURNALISM AS SEEN
THROUGH JOHN HERSEY’S HIROSHIMA
4.1 Narrative in John Hersey’s Hiroshima
Based on the theory of narrative by Gorys Keraf, Hersey’s Hiroshima is categorized as expositional narrative. It is because Hersey’s Hiroshima expands the
reader’s knowledge about the history of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima, Japan, and the story of hibakusha, the people who suffer from the atomic bomb. Hersey’s
Hiroshima is written based on rational and logical order. Hersey uses plain and simple diction in Hiroshima.
The narrative structure that is based on Gorys Keraf’s theory contains of plot, action, character, setting, and point of view. Below is the elaboration and analysis of
narrative structure in Hersey’s Hiroshima. By showing the narrative structure in Hersey’s Hiroshima, it is proven that Hersey’s Hiroshima adopts narrative writing
style although it is actually a journalistic piece of work.
4.1.1 Plot
The plot in Hersey’s Hiroshima is written chronologically. First, the story starts by telling readers what the six main characters were doing at the moment when
the atomic bomb flashed above Hiroshima. Hersey describes the characters’ backgrounds and their activities, then the bomb is dropped. The climax in this story
is when Hersey describes the agony and the suffering of the victims of the bomb, focusing on the six main characters situations. At last, Hersey describes how the
struggling lives they faced after that bomb incident.
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Keraf 2004: 148 says that plot organizes how every action is supposed to be related, how every incident has relation with another, and how the situation of the
characters in the story. In Hersey’s Hiroshima, the six main characters are related by the same experiences of great event of torment and turmoil.
The passage in Hersey’s Hiroshima on page 15 tells the story of Miss Sasaki, one of six main characters in Hersey’s Hiroshima. The passage contains of 501
words. Keraf 2004: 146 mentions that there are small climaxes in a bigger climax in a plot. The passage is one example where a small climax is occurred, complete
with the beginning, middle, and ending parts. The story begins very slowly with the introduction of Miss Sasaki’s family background and her activity in the morning at
the day when the bomb fell. The tension to the climax starts to occur when the narrator mentions the former worker from the factory who committed suicide the day
before. It reaches its climax when Miss Sasaki ‘paralyzed by fear, fixed still in her chair for a long moment’ because of the blinding light that was filled the room. The
ending is when the narrator tells reader that Miss Sasaki was crushed by books from the bookcases that were right behind her. The elements of action, characterization,
and mood are coherent. The quotation above is just a bit from a much longer story. But it still has elements that make it considerably as a plot. The small plot like the
one above is needed to build the big plot.
4.1.2 Action
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