Request a call back

Join NOW to get access to exclusive study material for best results

Class 10 INTER UNIVERSITY PRESS Solutions English Chapter 7 - A Doctor's Journal Entry for Aug 6, 1945 [Poem]

A Doctor's Journal Entry for Aug 6, 1945 [Poem] Exercise Passage 1

Solution 1

The narrator of the journal entry is a doctor who lives with his wife in Hiroshima. It records the horrific aftermath of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on 6th of August 1945, during WW II.

Solution 2

Before seeing the flashes of light, the day began with a calm morning. The narrator describes the day as beautiful and warm. The sun was up and the narrator gazed at the shimmering leaves and shadows before him.

Solution 3

The narrator's peaceful morning was disrupted by two sudden strong flashes of light. The sudden flares startled the narrator because he did not know what caused them and suddenly the old stone lantern before him was up in flames. 

Solution 4

This extract uses adjectives and verbs to describe the calm morning as experienced by the narrator before the blast took place. 

A Doctor's Journal Entry for Aug 6, 1945 [Poem] Exercise Passage 2

Solution 1

The poet uses hyphens for poetic effect in the second last line of the extract. They are pauses which reflect the disorientation caused by the sudden flashes of light. 

Solution 2

The poem is set during the time of Second World War. In this war, magnesium was commonly used in explosives. Therefore, the sudden flashes of light prompted the narrator to think that they were caused by magnesium.

Solution 3

As the narrator debated on what to do next everything around him began to crumble and fall. He saw the roof and the walls of his house collapse into debris. By the time he stepped out and reached the garden, he could see dust all around him. 

Solution 4

The disappearance of the narrator's drawers and undershirt was weirder than the flashes of light and the collapsing of buildings. The poet calls it weird because the narrator could not come up with any logical explanation for such a thing to happen.

A Doctor's Journal Entry for Aug 6, 1945 [Poem] Exercise Passage 3

Solution 1

After the flashes of light, the narrator was covered with wounds, dust and blood, and his clothes had disappeared. A splinter jutted from his mangled thigh. There was blood on his right side and his cheek was torn. The narrator's wife looked pale and frightened and was bloodstained when she emerged. She was also holding her elbow which was an indication that she too was injured. 

Solution 2

The flashes of light and the destruction that followed all happened so soon that the narrator did not understand what had come to pass.

Solution 3

Words such as 'alarmed', 'scared' and 'panic-stricken' have been employed in the extract to describe the narrator's fear. In the lines before these words the narrator clearly describes his own condition but when he cannot understand the cause of the explosion and is unable to find his wife, he panics further. This shows that he loves and cares for his wife dearly. 

Solution 4

The narrator used the words 'We'll be fine,' to console his wife. When the narrator used these words he realised that he was consoling himself more than her by doing this. 

Solution 5

The narrator shares a close bond with his wife. This is evident when he nervously searches for her all around amidst the dust and the debris. When she finally emerges out of the dust, he notices her frightfully pale face and tries to console her. When he remembers that he has to do his duty as a doctor, his first thought is to send his wife to a safe place. He instructs her to go ahead without him and tells her that he will join her later. We don't know if the two reunite since the widespread devastation caused by the atomic explosion left almost everyone shattered and lost. However, the poet clearly explains to the readers that even in those trying times, the doctor chooses to look for his wife instead of fleeing to a safer location.  

A Doctor's Journal Entry for Aug 6, 1945 [Poem] Exercise Passage 4

Solution 1

On his way out the narrator stumbled over the head of a dead man who had been crushed by a gate. 

Solution 2

The narrator and his wife were shocked and distressed to see the mangled remains of the dead man. 

Solution 3

When they reached the street, it dawned on the narrator that they had to get to the hospital. They needed medical help but more urgently the narrator, who was a doctor, had to assist his staff at the hospital in looking after the casualties. 

Solution 4

The narrator uses the word 'dawned' for two things; firstly to indicate that he was too shaken by the blast to remember that his and his wife's injuries needed medical attention. Secondly, as he saw people marching towards the hospital, he suddenly realised that he was a doctor who should be at the hospital treating the injured people. 

Solution 5

As the narrator and his wife looked for safety they saw a house which was standing before them tilt, sway, topple, and crash to the earth. Then there was fire which sprang up from the dust and was quickly spreading by the wind.

A Doctor's Journal Entry for Aug 6, 1945 [Poem] Exercise Passage 5

Solution 1

The shock of the blasts paralysed the narrator in his spot. His legs gave way and brought him down to the ground. He felt thirsty and his breath quickened for a while.

Solution 2

The narrator was not the only person who was naked. The explosion was so intense that it caused the skin and clothes of people to melt away. The narrator could see many others walking naked on the street trying to fathom what had happened.

Solution 3

The thought that he was naked and yet felt no shame disturbed the narrator. This thought subsided when the narrator met a soldier standing silently. The soldier noticed the narrator and gave him a towel that he had around his neck. 

Solution 4

The atomic explosion threw the citizens into shock, which is the reason why there was silence all around. The blast took away everything that the innocent people owned; their loved ones, their houses and their jobs. Moreover, the people were injured and scarred for life. The pain of these wounds was so unbearable that the people chose to endure it silently than to add to the chaos. There was no one they could turn to for support as every single soul in the city was running for his life.

Solution 5

Through the narration, we can deduce that the narrator took some time to come out of his crumbling house and reach the open space where he is now. Apart from this there is no indication of the amount of time that passed. 

A Doctor's Journal Entry for Aug 6, 1945 [Poem] Exercise Passage 6

Solution 1

The injuries of the narrator stopped him from keeping up with Yecko-san, his wife. The narrator instructed his wife to go on ahead and find a safe place for herself. He also requested her to go ahead because he wanted to go to the hospital and look after the injured.

Solution 2

The narrator's wife did not want to leave him because she knew there was no certainty of them meeting again. When his wife finally left the narrator felt a dreadful loneliness overcome him.

Solution 3

The narrator's mind was grasping everything at full speed. However, the severity of the situation pushed the narrator's body into inactivity. He saw and felt everything but he could not get his body to react to any of it. 

Solution 4

The narrator uses the phrases 'shadowy forms', 'ghosts' 'scarecrows' and 'wordless dumb' to describe the people he encountered. These phrases are generally used for the dead. By using these phrases, the narrator is trying to describe how morbid the situation had become after the explosion.

Solution 5

The arms of the people were stretched straight out to prevent them from scraping or rubbing against the wounded parts of their bodies. The pain caused by the burns was so intense that the people feared to even touch themselves.

A Doctor's Journal Entry for Aug 6, 1945 [Poem] Exercise Passage 7

Solution 1

Even a slight touch to their body caused such pain that the people feared to chafe flesh against flesh. The word 'chafe' means 'rub against something or cause friction'. 

Solution 2

The sight of the naked woman and the child disturbed the narrator greatly therefore he turned his gaze. On seeing them the narrator wondered if they had come from a bath. 

Solution 3

The mention of 'stripping of clothes' can be seen as an indication of the extent of destruction caused by the ruthless bombing. By the bombing, innocent people lost each and every thing that they held dear to them. 

Solution 4

The hyphens in this extract are either preceded or followed by the mention of naked people. It therefore highlights the shock and the discomfort of the narrator on seeing people in such a state.

Solution 5

Yes. A certain order can be noted by the phrase 'shuffled in a blank parade towards the hospital' used in the extract. 

A Doctor's Journal Entry for Aug 6, 1945 [Poem] Exercise Passage 8

Solution 1

The strangest part of the poem is the silence which the narrator describes repeatedly. He mentions people injured and chaffed because of the blast. However, the deafening silence which follows the blast is even more harmful. It brings out the extent of shock and pain that the innocent people had to bear. The people were wounded both physically and mentally to such an extent that they could not even express their agony audibly. It is also a representation of the doom which the people were pushed into, as they lost everything they had in the blast. 

Solution 2

Apart from his wife and the crowd of people walking like shadowy forms of ghosts, the narrator comes across a soldier, a woman with a child and an old woman on the ground. He noted that all these people had lost their clothes by some unknown force. He also noticed the silence that prevailed after the blast. No one cried or screamed. 

Solution 3

The poem does not follow any poetic devices. Apart from the short lines, there is no similarity between it and any other form of poems. On the contrary it closely follows the pattern of a diary entry. It is written in the first person. It is descriptive and contemplative. And finally, it records a past event.

Get Latest Study Material for Academic year 24-25 Click here
×