Summer Reading: Uncle Tom'S Cabin, Hiroshima.

Entry 1: Beginning - July 21, 2019

Tom is a Christian man who also was a slave. Mr. Shelby and Mr. Haley were slave negotiators. Mr. Shelby was a slaveholder and Mr. Haley was a businessman that bought slaves. Mr. Haley didn’t want just one slave, he wanted many slaves. Mrs. Shelby’s maid, Eliza, had a son whose name was Harry who Mr. Haley was interested in buying, who was just a young boy. Mr. Shelby had no say or choice to not sell Tom and Harry to Mr. Haley because he needed to get out of debt.

I feel the same way that Mrs. Shelby feels. I can’t imagine in today’s world buying and selling and trading human beings to do your work for you. I agree with Mrs. Shelby that slavery is a sin and should never be conducted. I believe that this was the only way to get out of debt have your bills paid if you couldn’t get a job. The richer people with money back then didn’t even do things for themselves, they bought people (slaves) to do their work for them. This was an easier, and more common way than getting a loan from the bank. In today’s world, you would get credit cards and bank loans and mortgages and with a good paying job, you can pay these debts off.

Eliza escapes with her son Harry, to not let him become a young slave, and I would do the same exact thing. Mr. Haley grew furious and insists on hunting for them. He tries to catch them but they had a big lead ahead so he hired profession slave hunters. He was a wealthy man, who paid everyone to do everything for him. Mr. Haley then returns to Mr. Shelby’s house to collect Uncle Tom.

Entry 2: Ending - July 22, 2019

Even until the end of Tom’s life, he was a good devout Christian man, always doing good and in turn, although he had a hard life, some good came about it with people and paths he crossed both good and bad. Tom was bought and sold several times throughout this book. Over Tom’s trials and tribulations, he came across and met and lived and was bought and sold through many others who had their own trials and tribulations in this book. His last master that bought him was a cruel, and vicious man named Legree. When Tom disobeys his Master’s orders, he has Tom beaten up real bad. Even on his deathbed, he forgives Legree and the other slaves that beat him viciously.

Right before Tom’s death, his original owner, Mr. Shelby arrives with enough money to finally buy Tom back from Legree. He was all set to finally buy freedom for Tom, but his beating was so severe, he dies from them. He literally dies a Martyr’s death. After Tom’s death, Mr. Shelby arrives back to his Kentucky farm, and decides to set all the slaves free. He did this for Tom. He did this in honor of his memory. He tells all the slaves that he set free to cherish Tom and remember the sacrifices he made when they look at or go by his cabin and practice good Christian faith like Tom did.

The message left here is that obviously slavery is a horrible and evil thing, Tom went through pain and suffering until he was set free and so did the other slaves. Another lesson learned is the Christian values set in this book. Chritianity can be used to fight slavery, which is what I think Tom tried doing when practicing good Christian faith. The message is that in life you may go through some pain, but you can always find something to stop it from happening, which is what Tom tried to do.

Entry 3: beginning - August 13, 2019

The Reverend Mr. Tanimoto was a small, but quite emotional man who lived in Hiroshima. Mr. Tanimoto being small gave him a old-young look which made his face and whole body look very strange, but he was a wise young man. Mr. Tanimoto studied theology at Emory College.(Hershey, John page 3) He had a wife and a kid, he also had a very good friend named Mr. Matsuo. Mr. Tanimoto and Mr. Matsuo were trying to find household goods from Matsuo's house and get as far away from Hiroshima as they could, because of all the air raid warnings they have been getting lately.

I agree with Mr. Tanimoto with getting as far away from Hiroshima as possible because there were so many warnings that he knew something was going to happen. If him and Mr. Matsuo didn't go two miles from the center of where the bomb went off they would not have survived the explosion. Even though Mr. Tanimoto saved himself, his daughter and his wife were still in Hiroshima. I think he did the right thing getting away from Hiroshima, but you still have to think about others and especially your family. Mr. Tanimoto then went back to Hiroshima to find his wife and child, and luckily they were unhurt. If I was running through the streets of Hiroshima seeing all the people severely injured Id feel really bad and even try to help others that were hurt.

A huge fire then spread after the explosion going through the park. I think that Mr. Tanimoto did a great thing putting a group together to put out the fire using clothing and buckets of water. Overall I think that Mr. Tanimoto is a great leader, who is a very intelligent and careful person, who at least tried to help during the aftermath of the bomb.

Entry 4: Ending- August 15, 2019

Years after the bomb every character moved on with their lives and got jobs, some retired and lived a normal life. Ms. Nakamura retires from the mothball factory once all of her children got married and moved away. Dr. Sasaki was still working in the Red Cross Hospital taking care of the people still badly hurt from the bomb. His wife then died of cancer and he now has his own clinic and worked harder than he ever did to help others. Father Kleinsorge convertes people in Hiroshima, he still has radiation sickness from the bomb, which was something everyone got if they survived when they were close to the bomb. He then dies from a fractured vertebrae in his back.

Miss Sasaki is now Sister Sasaki and travels around the world, giving speeches about the Atomic Bomb. Dr. Fujii lives the life of partying and drinking all the time because he said it helped cure his pain. Fujii then went into a coma and became helpless and eventually died. Lastly, of them all Mr. Tanimoto also travels, but to America to give speeches about peace. Then later on him and his wife ran an adoption agency and is living off her pension.

The message that I found throughout this book is that even though everything was destroyed from the Atomic Bomb, none of the characters gave up and they eventually rebuilt and some have died doing good for others and some are now living a normal life because they never gave up. Through all the pain and suffering these characters went through with radiation sickness and loved ones dying they still fought back and they made a living years later and became heroes in Hiroshima. I find that it would be hard to move on after the day those sirens went off and the light flashed before their face, but they did it and it was a hard journey for them. I think the message is to never give up and to help others and not only think about yourself.

Entry 5 - Passage A - July 29, 2019

There is a saying that, “Love is Blind”. In this case, I believe it is true when it comes to Augustine St. Clare and his wife Marie. Augustine was against slavery, where Marie was for slavery by literally owning slaves. Their marriage was kind of an arranged marriage, because he never married his true love, because he ended up marrying someone like him, someone just as wealthy. This passage means life goes on. Augustine is very unhappy in his newly married life with Marie, so unhappy that he is constantly saying he doesn’t feel well as to not spend time with her or even be in the same room as her.

All the money in the world, all the power in the world, and all the fame does not mean you will end up being the happiest person in the world. Sometimes it is the way you are raised in life, and the people you live around that bring you down instead of raising you up. When you are around miserable and ungrateful and bad people, you become like them too. In this case between Augustine and Marie, opposites don't attract. Augustine had a heart, and he had feelings but Marie was so ignorant to her feelings by not caring about anyone but herself. All she cared about was herself and making herself happy.

It is too bad that Marie was not like Augustine and Tom. Augustine respected Tom even though he owned him. He treated him more like a human being than Marie did. She treated Tom like a slave, even though he was, she lacked respect against him, and if she respected Tom like Augustine did, then maybe their marriage would have been full of love and pleasure.

Dr. Fujii couldn't do much to help his patients because his hospital was destroyed from the bomb. He's had a lot of bad luck in the past and still has it now. This passage is important to this story because bad luck keeps on coming to Mr. Fujii because after the bomb weeks later, a typhoon went through Hiroshima and destroyed everything even more, even Dr. Fujii's house. Many of the patients had a sickness and the investigators were going to test them to see what they have, but the typhoon had got in there way and the investigators ended up dying. It was a huge down fall for Hiroshima at the time because they could have found a cure and many of the people would be fine, and start rebuilding after all the destruction.

The passage is written this way to tell others that even though something as big as the Atomic Bomb that hit Hiroshima happened weeks ago, doesn't mean that something else bad might happen(the Typhoon). This tells others to be involved and be aware of what is happening because if your not, you'll never know what's coming.

Entry 6: Passage B- August 19, 2019

Dear Mr. Shelby:

I am writing to let you know that you know that even though you were a slave owner by owning me, you were a good and kind-hearted Master. You treated me with respect even though I was your worker, and back in those days, that never ever happened. Most Masters were cruel, vicious and constantly beating their help, their slaves that they owned. I was one of the lucky ones. I know you had to do what you did selling me to Mr. Haley. I do not blame you for that.

In fact, I forgave you for that.

I went through many scary situations, but my faith kept me alive. My faith kept me going and believing that one day I will no longer be a slave. In the end, I never got that chance, but I know I would have had a chance if I had made it through my last beating when you got enough money to purchase me back. I am sorry that it was too late. I am happy to know that Harry made it out alive by being saved by Eliza. I never realized that a mother’s love and bond could be that strong by her kidnapping Harry into the night and running far, far away from Mr. Haley and myself.

When you are born into slavery, you do not have a choice of the life you can or want to live. When you are lucky and blessed by God to have a family, a loving mother like Harry did, you realize they will do anything for you to give you a better life and not a life that they had before you. I know you wanted that for me. I wished I survived to live the remainder of my life with you or even serving you. For that, I came to know and realize what love and faith truly was.

Yours truly,

Tom