One of the defining choices in Hiroshima is its focus on six individuals: a clerk, a doctor, a tailor's widow, a priest, a surgeon, and a minister. Their different backgrounds give readers different ways into the same event. Essays that draw on this variety often show the best thinking in a class set.

Perspective-taking is a skill worth assessing directly. Students who can explain how two survivors experienced the same morning differently are practicing a form of analysis that reaches well beyond this book. It sits at the heart of both literature and history.

But it is easy to grade poorly. Students tend to write about the survivors one after another, giving each a paragraph of summary and calling it comparison. True perspective-taking requires linking experiences and explaining what the differences reveal.

A few adjustments to your grading can bring out the deeper thinking.

Reward Comparison Over Listing

Build your criteria around how well students connect the survivors, not just how many they mention. An essay that thoughtfully compares two people beats one that summarizes all six. Make that clear in the assignment so students focus on depth.

• Does the essay identify a meaningful similarity or difference between survivors?
• Does it explain how a person's role or background shaped what they experienced?
• Does it use specific details from each survivor's account as support?
• Does it draw a conclusion about what the comparison reveals?
• Does it avoid speculating about thoughts the text does not support?

Watch for Overreach and Imagined Detail

Students sometimes attribute thoughts or feelings to survivors that Hersey never reports. It is a natural instinct when engaging with a moving story, but it weakens analytical writing. Feedback should steer them back to what the text supports.

A helpful comment might ask, "Where does the book show this?" It invites students to check their claims rather than telling them they are wrong. Over time, students learn to separate what the text says from what they imagine.

Balance Sensitivity With Rigor

The subject matter is heavy, and students may feel protective of the people they write about. That care is good, but it should not stop you from giving direct feedback on the writing. You can be kind and precise at the same time.

Frame your comments around the essay's argument and evidence rather than the emotional content. This keeps the conversation on writing skills and respects the seriousness of the material.

Make Grading Faster Without Flattening It

Comparison essays take longer to read because you have to track multiple threads. Using a consistent rubric and, if you choose, an AI tool for a first-pass read can reduce the time it takes to get to the essays that need your closest attention. The insight about what makes a comparison genuinely thoughtful is still yours to supply.

Students benefit when feedback recognizes their best moments of connection. Pointing to a sharp comparison in their own paper shows them what to aim for next time.