How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Sister Sasaki made a speech: "I shall not dwell on the past. It is as if I had been given a spare life when I survived the A-bomb. But I prefer not to look back. I shall keep moving forward." (5.101).
Like Dr. Sasaki, Sister Sasaki ultimately decided that dwelling on/in the past was no good. She really made a 180 over the course of he story, going from feeling pretty morbid and down on her life (and understandably so) to being positive, seeking to help others, and wanting to move forward. Not dwelling too much on the past seemed to be a key part of turning her frown upside down.
Quote #8
As the bearers were carrying Dr. Fujii downstairs, he stirred. Swimming up toward consciousness, he apparently thought he was being rescued, somehow, after the atomic bombing. "Who are you?" he asked the bearers. "Are you soldiers?" (5.117)
Forty years after the bombing, when Dr. Fujii was ill and had to be carried out of his house, apparently some old memories of the war seeped up to the surface, and he was zoomed back to the past, thinking he was being rescued during the war. The fact that his mind went there right away speaks to the enduring power/meaning of that time for him.
Quote #9
On the sea voyage, an ambitious idea grew in his mind. He would spend his life working for peace. He was becoming convinced that the collective memory of the hibakusha would be a potent force for peace in the world, and that there ought to be in Hiroshima a center where the experience of the bombing could become the focus of international studies of means to assure that atomic weapons would never be used again. (5.130)
In Mr. Tanimoto's view, memory can be super powerful. Here, it appears he was hoping that "collective memory" of the atomic bombing would help mobilize peacekeeping efforts going forward. Of course, not everyone agreed with him…