Rape Of Nanking Essays - Nanking Massacre, The Rape Of Nanking

Rape Of Nanking Chapter One The main point in chapter one was to give us a history of the Japanese people, and to rationalize why the Japanese army went to such extremes in Nanking. She uses examples of training rituals used by the Japanese army like extreme teaching procedures and terrible school conditions in Japan. I don't think she was trying to make an excuse for the Japanese army but she wanted to site a possible reason for the abuse. She talks about Japanese history and gives us lots of background on the Japanese people before the horrifying occurrence in Nanking. The audience she has tried to communicate to is the intellectual western society who has possibly not heard or knows little about the Nanking massacre. The purpose of the essays is to educate and make aware of the atrocities here in this area of China. To tell, it seemed to me, is an important part of educating people to what the human species is capable of doing in extreme circumstances. Her tone seems to be one of sympathy to what the Japanese people had to go through before the war between China and Japan. This chapter has done a good job on giving the reader history and background of the country and the people in Japan. Chapter Two Iris Chang in this chapter details issues that were critical to the rape of Nanking. The Race to Nanking detailed the Japanese strategy to take Nanking from the Chinese. Killing the prisoners of war detailed the orders to kill all the prisoners because of food concerns and rebellion. The Murder of Civilians detailed why the civilians were killed because of a lack of protection from the soldiers of the Chinese army. The Japanese Journalists told us that the Japanese journalists were horrified about what was going on in Nanking. The Rape of Nanking told of the plight of the women in the Chinese capital. This section told of rapes and atrocities inflicted on the Chinese women, no matter how young or old they could not escape these atrocities. The arrival of Matsui Iwane was the section where the leader of the Japanese army came to inspect Nanking and to make sure the soldiers were doing well. The rapes and atrocities subsided, when he found what was going on he was angry and he even cri ticized the emperor's son-in-law, which in Japanese culture was unheard of. She wrote the chapter this way because it is a chronological order of the way things happened in Nanking. It makes sense because it separates the different events that happened in a certain length of time. Chapter Three The Fall of Nanking is a chronological narrative of the defeat of the Chinese army in Nanking. It details the four-day ordeal and makes us realize what it was like to live there in the time of the fall. The first thing we ask is why the Chinese army fell from power so easily, we realize that when the leaders left the people lost all hope for Nanking. Rape and torture seemed easy to the Japanese because they could be victimized so easily. Chapter Four Six Weeks of Horror as a descriptive and horrifying chapter which takes us to be the witnesses in the, rape, torture, killing contests, and death toll. The description of rape in this chapter is very detailed, but it serves a purpose to take us to be a witness for people who have no witnesses. Most people have a hard time reading this chapter but I've found it very disturbing how people could do that to other people. She excelled in this chapter to make witnesses of us all. Chapter Five In every horrendous situation there are heroes. This chapter talks about the heroes in the Nanking safety zone. There were twenty-four in total and everyone had a difficult story to tell. Men and women alike had to suffer various forms of physical and mental exhaustion. Doctors took care of the sick; politicians took care of many refugees. The most prominent politician in Nanking at the time was a man called Rabe. He was a Nazi but was very respected in Nanking. He initiated the start of the safety zone and many people's lives were saved because of him.