Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima, Volume 1Drawing on his own experiences as a seven-year-old in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb was dropped, Keiji Nakazawa sets out gently and persuasively, without preaching, to use the comic book as a medium to make sure such an atrocity never happens again. Following on from the success of his initial short strip about Hiroshima called I Saw It, Barefoot Gen is a huge body of work. Volume 1 is chiefly concerned with introducing us to Gen; his formidable mother, who struggles to cope with the privations of life during wartime; and the rest of his family and neighbours. Plenty of time is spent getting to know their quirks and personalities, giving the reader a huge emotional investment in their fate. |
Common terms and phrases
AKIRA ALREADY AMERICAN ATOMIC ATTACK BACK BANZAI Barefoot BATTLESHIP BECOME BEGGARS BETTER BOMB BRAT BROTHER CALL CAN'T CHILDREN CORPS COUNTRY DAMN DEAR DEVILS DIED DON'T EIKO EMPEROR ENEMY FAMILY FATHER FEEL FIGHT FIRE FOOL FORGIVE FRIENDS GIVE GLASS GONNA GROW HANADA HAPPENED HARD HATE HELP HIROSHIMA HOLD HOME HOPE HOUSE human HUNGRY HURRY HURTS I'LL IDIOT IT'S JAPAN JAPANESE JOIN KEEP KILL KIMIE KNOW KOJI LEAVE LITTLE LIVE LOOK MAMA MATTER MEAN MISTER MONEY MOTHER NAKAOKA NAVY NEVER OKAY PANT PAPA PLANES POLICE POTATOES PRETTY PUFF RAID RICE RIGHT SCHOOL SHINJI SIGN SOLDIERS SORRY STAND STOP story STRONG STUDENTS STUPID SURE TAKE TEACHERS TELL THANK THERE'S THINGS THINK TODAY TOLD TRAINING TRAITOR UNDERSTAND VOLUNTEER WAIT WANT WHAT'S WORLD WORRY YEAH YOU'RE young