Book Report On Unbroken By Laura Hillenbrand

In this astonishing World War II non-fiction novel based on a persons’ life named Louis Zamperini, there are many rhetorical strategies used to explain the many hardships of his life. The name of the novel is Unbroken. The non-fiction novel written by Laura Hillenbrand in 2010 took over 7 years to complete. The book was number two on New York Times best seller for nearly four years. Laura Hillenbrand went into extraordinary detail when creating this piece, explaining the unfortunate yet amazing life of Louis Zamperini.

Well-known nonfiction author Laura Hillenbrand, in her best-selling biography, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, describes the chilling reality faced by those living in Japanese prisoner-of-war camps. As the title suggests, this is not the typical World War II tale of hardship that ends in liberation; rather, it follows the main character, Louis “Louie” Zamperini, through his childhood, Olympic performances, and military career leading up to his captivity, as well as his later marriage and many years of healing. Hillenbrand's purpose is to impress upon her readers the scale of this tragedy as well as remind them of the horror that so many nameless soldiers endured. She adopts an emotional yet straightforward tone in order to get readers to sympathize with the characters and truly understand what they went through. To do so, she manages to make the unique story of one man represent the thousands of others going through the same tragedy.

World War II had a lasting impression on not only the countries but on the soldiers and people as well. POWs and internees had to experience things that would make a grown man cringe in fear. In the stories ”Unbroken” by Laura Hillenbrand, and “Manzanar” by Jenne Houston Wakatsuki, tells the tragic story of how these men are stripped away of their human rights. As they try to struggle their way out of insanity, their stories will forever echo in history to show the outcome of war.

While Wakatsuki suffered the horrible experiences of being interrogated, Zamperini suffered the awful experience with the POW prisoner camps. “He had aged ten years. He looked over sixty, gaunt, wilted as his shirt, underweight, leaning on that cane and favoring his right leg” (Houston 2). This shows how much change these two men have suffered in a short period of time. For instance, Japan physically hurt and also humiliated him once they learned he was a olympic runner. “Hauled and forced to run, Louie was trounced, and the guards made a tittering mockery out of him.” (Hillenbrand). This shows that he is so bad physically that he had to be haul out to run. Though Wakatsuki aged ten years and had to use a cane, he suffered less physical pain and more emotional pain and Zamperini is the other way

Laura Hillenbrand’s biography titled Unbroken recounts the life of Louie Zamperini and major events that occurred throughout it. Hillenbrand’s purpose was to emphasize the inspirational story of heroic Zamperini as he qualified and participated in the Olympics, as well as describe the endless struggle of pain in the plane crash and in the Japanese POW camps. She also portrays the importance of dignity and resilience and how without it, the chances of surviving the cruel events Louie experienced during World War II would have been minimal.

The French emperor and arguably one of the best military tacticians Napoleon Bonaparte once said, ‘’Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them.’’ In the book Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, Louie goes through trouble and fame as his life progresses from being a small town boy to a famous athlete and competing in the Olympics. Later, Louie joins the military when the Axis powers Germany and Japan declared war on the United States. This results in Louie’s Bomber crashing and him being both stranded in the Pacific Ocean and captured by the Japanese, where he must endure torture as a POW. Miraculously, Louie survives in these camps

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand is a historical biography about the life of Louie Zamperini. Louie began as a delinquent and soon became a track star. Heading into the battlefield, Louie Zamperini became a bombardier. On a search-and-rescue mission, Louie’s B-24 crash landed into the ocean. He became a castaway with two other crew members. Louie was captured by the Japanese and sent to a POW camp. After two years, Louie was reunited with his family. During his childhood, Louie was troublesome turning into a resilient individual during the war, then developing into a forgiving person after the war.

The Great Louie Zamperini’s Journey What would you do if you were stuck on a punctured life raft for forty-seven days with two other men with shriveled up skin due to the sun, with a grumbling, vacant stomach in the middle of the Pacific ocean after a miserable plane crash? Well, before this all happened to Louie Zamperini, he was a troublemaker as a young boy and turned into an astonishing Olympic runner. Nobody would have ever thought a troubled boy from a small town of Torrance would end up at a Prison camp after multiple depressing days on a life raft. You will see appearances of the novel Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.

He lived in a tiny prisoner of war camp by the Japanese for two years being fed very little and often unfit things to eat in general. Harsh labor was forced upon him and the other prisoners which broke them down the very last bit. An old friend that Zamperini met during his time at the olympics ended up being on of the prisoner guards at his prisoner of war camp. He treated Louie awfully, beating him, scolding him and forcing pain upon him in multiple ways. However, Zamperini, being the strong, independent, and determined person that he is he persevered past him not matter what challenges he was thrown into. The Bird, was what Zamperini and the other men in the prisoner camps named his old friend that he met at the Olympics, he treated Zamperini awfully and made him hold a wooden beam over his head and if he dropped then he would be shot. In the novel the author writes about his experience while holding the beam “Louie locked his eyes on the Bird’s face, radiating hatred.”, he showed perseverance and determination in this quote because even though he was being threatened with his life he would not accept defeat from his enemies (Hillenbrand 301). When Zamperini was finally released home after World War II finally ended he was relieved yet still had horrible nightmares from his time spent on the prisoner camp island, Kwajalein. He was unable to overcome his fears

When nineteen he participated in the Berlin Olympics and took 8th place in the 5000m race. Years after the Olympics, Louie was sent to war, where he becomes a POW in Japan. In the book Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, Louie Zamperini was in captivity where he showed his two most important traits, courageousness and resourcefulness. First of all, the personality trait courageousness means to be brave. In the book Louie had to be brave when he was in the camp being tortured by the deranged guards.

Winston Churchill once said,”success consists of going from failure without loss of enthusiasm.”Louie Zamperini, an outstanding olympian and WWll hero, keeps enthusiasm throughout his struggles and that is possibly what saved him. Louie Zamperini is portrayed in the novel Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, first as a young boy who smokes cigarettes, drinks, and takes his frustration out by fighting. In his twenties he goes to war, then returns a different man. Through his many years of suffering, it was hard but he became a better man for it.Louie Zamperini goes through a great deal of suffering in WWII which leads to him redeeming himself.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand is a story about Louie Zamperini and his journey throughout World War II. Zamperini went through being stuck on a raft for forty-seven days and two years in Japanese POW camps, where he survived beatings, starvation, and dehydration. One of the themes of this book is hope. While Louie was on the raft, in order to stay alive he had to have hope. If he did not, he could have easily given up and died.

The book I choose is Unbroken By Lauren Hillenbrand. This book is the life story of Louie Zamperini. Lauren Hillenbrand had wrote a book before and it was about Seabiscuit and When she first interviewed Louis he said “Don’t worry I’ll be easier to talk to than a horse”. Louis Zamperini ran in the 1936 Olympics, The 1936 Olympics were in Germany .He ran the 5000 meter he got 8th place. Though he got 8th place he did have a very fast finish. So fast it caught the attention Adolf hitler. After the olympics Louie became an actor. One day while he was acting he got a letter from the USAAF (United States Army Air Force) in September of 1941 wanting to enlist him for World War II. He earned Commission as Second Lieutenant and was a bombardier. During

For my summer reading, I read Unbroken by Lauren Hillenbrand. The story is about Louis “Louie” Zamperini. Louis was a juvenile delinquent, Olympic runner, and an airman during World War II. In the beginning of the book, it explains Louie’s exploits as a child and his training as a runner. After going to the New York Olympic trials, he travels to Berlin to participate in the 1936 Olympics. During the Olympics, Louie ran the 5000m and then was able to meet personally with Adolf Hitler. Then he stole a Nazi flag from the Chancellery, and after being questioned by a German official, he was able to keep the banner. Another interesting part of the story was how Louie’s bomber, “Super Man” was able to survive being shot by Japanese anti aircraft

Unbroken, written by Laura Hillenbrand, tells the inspiring story of World War II POW Louis Zamperini and how he went from being an Olympic runner to a survivor of the inhumane Japanese internment camps. Louis grew up a rebellious child and trouble seemed to follow him wherever he went. After gaining his brother’s attention, Louis began his running career, which eventually led him to the 1936 Berlin Olympics where he gained popularity. While commissioned to the United States Air Force, Louis’ plane crashed in the Pacific Ocean where he and two other men, one who died, were floating on a raft for 47 days before being captured by the Japanese. In the hands of the Japanese, Louie endured painful, cruel treatment that included beatings and starvation, much of which came