Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken

The art of survival is something that is not easily learned. For some, however, it is something that comes from a natural desire to be defiant and rebellious. In the novel Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand, protagonist Louie Zamperini fights for survival through a number of trials that are presented to him. His life takes him from being a troubled child, to an Olympic runner, to a bomber lost at sea, to POW in some of the worst camps Japan could conjure. Louie not only survives these trials, he stands up and goes directly against the normality and ease of submission and faces his adversity head on. Throughout the novel, Louie shows that his ability to survive stems from his natural urge to rebel and defy anything that he deems too controlling in his life.

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.

The American industrialist Henry Ford once said, “ Life is a series of experiences, each of which makes of bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character , and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help us in our marching onward.” In Laura Hillenbrand’s nonfiction book Unbroken, the fearless Louis Zamperini epitomized Ford’s words when, he survived imprisonment for over 2 years only after his World War II bomber crashed into the middle of the Pacific . Thankfully Louie’s fearlessness helped him return home and share his story with the world.

Louie’s athletic career definitely prepared him for what he would encounter in the war. Through his extensive training and unprecedented success, Louis gained a wide variety of traits and abilities that can be predicted to be essential for him as he faces the challenges of war. One obvious and major way that his athletic career prepared him for the war was by increasing his physical ability. In the novel, Louie is a long-distance runner in the 1936 Olympics, in which he placed eighth (Hillenbrand 35). Through his all encompassing physical training, Louie became extremely competent in physical endurance and strength. As it can easily be assumed, having good endurance can prove to be life-saving in war, especially in Louie was ever in a situation

From the beginning, Hillenbrand highlights a series of specific details to exaggerate Zamperini’s uncontainable personality that would carry him through the war. Page fifteen states, “To get even with a railcar conductor who wouldn’t stop for him, Louie greased the rails. When a teacher made him stand in the corner for spitballing, he deflated her car tires with toothpicks. After

First, on page 36 in Unbroken, Hillenbrand wrote, “In the 5,000, well over three miles, a final lap in less than 70 seconds was astounding. Louie had run his last lap in 56 seconds”(36). This quote is saying that Louie showed his outgoing trait in the form of running. He had run his final lap determined to get first, so he ran his heart out by finishing 8th with a record breaking lap. Next, showing off Louie’s outgoing personality, the text had said, “The shark swam for the bait. Louie clapped his hands around the tail and heaved it out of the water”(126). Hillenbrand is saying that Louie had gotten angered about not having any food while stranded in the middle of the ocean, so he decided to catch one of the dorsal finned enemies, a shark, he had faced while there with his bare hands. Finally, showing Louie’s outgoing trait, Hillenbrand had addressed, “Time ticked on, and still Louie remained, the beam over his head, his eyes on the Bird’s face, enduring long past when he should have collapsed. The Bird stopped laughing”(213). In the text, when the author wrote this, she was saying that Louie is determined to keep going and never let anyone tell him different. He is showing the Bird that he is strong and he will not break him down. Louie Zamperini has shown many great acts of outgoingness, but one thing is for sure, he never knows when to

As indicated by Laura Hillenbrand in Unbroken, ¨A month earlier, twenty-six-year-old Zamperini had been one of the greatest runners in the world, expected by many to be the first to break the four-minute mile, one of the most celebrated barriers in sport. Now his Olympian’s body had wasted to less than one hundred pounds and his famous legs could no longer lift him. Almost everyone outside of his family had given him up for dead¨ Louis’s life had gone to pieces all in two or three months. He was tormented, stranded, and broken. He was broken until he was saved and it make him come to a realization of his life. No individual ought to be abandoned or regarded as the way he seemed to

Imagine having everything taken away from you, your food, your rights, your family, and your life. That is what happened to Louie Zamperini and other other POWs at japanese prison camps. Louis Zamperini grew up in Torrance being a bad kid that everyone in his town disliked. Later in his life in high school he took on running, being trained by his brother pete. This turned his life around and everyone loved him. He started breaking records and adventally he went to the olympics. He was drafted into the air corp and was a bomber. He got stranded in the ocean and later was taken captive by the japanese, who tortured him. During his life Louie never gave up, he was unbroken. Even through the hardest things he had resiliency and showed redemption.

After conquering horrific tragedies during World War Two, Louie Zamperini commented, “I didn’t know it then, but my persistence, perseverance, and unwillingness to accept defeat when things looked all but hopeless were part of the very character traits I would need to make it through World War II alive.” (Hillenbrand, FIGURE OUT IF AND WHERE IT IS IN THE BOOK.) In Laura Hillenbrand’s book Unbroken, he showed absolute determination to survive insurmountable obstacles. Throughout his life and everything he endured, he was determined he was going to make it through. In fact, Louie decided he would be whatever he put his mind to. If he was going to run, then by golly he was going to run, and if he wanted to make it out of a POW camp, then

First of all, the theme of survival was demonstrated throughout the book. Starting off with Zamperini surviving from the eugenics by transforming himself into an Olympian athlete in Part I, to the plane crash in Part II, next the 47 days of drifting in the Pacific Ocean in Part III, then the Japanese POW camps in Part IV, and finally overcoming his mental illness in Part V were all examples of the theme survival being demonstrated. In addition, the theme of resilience was part of the protagonist Zamperini’s personality. At the Japanese POW camp, Naoetsu, the Bird, a sadistic Japanese POW guard, tortured him and stripped away his dignity. The Bird has let Zamperini perform tasks such as holding up a six foot beam after discovering Zamperini was desperate for medical care. Being told to hold the beam or else being whacked by the guard’s gun, Zamperini held it for 37 minutes. Considering his physical condition during that time period, it was incredible how Zamperini’s mental state helped him through the difficulties of the Japanese POW camp. Lastly, Hillenbrand integrated the theme of redemption mostly in Part V. The following quote from that section explains it all. “It was forgiveness, beautiful and effortless and complete. For Louie Zamperini, the war was over” (p.386). After the war, Zamperini had nightmares of the Bird, sank into

In her film, Unbroken, Angelina Jolie uses the archetype of warrior to reveal how we as humans keep fighting and believing for what we want in order to survive the greatest difficulties in life. In the movie, Louie Zamperini demonstrates the archetype, warrior, throughout the movie to show how we as humans act when we want to accomplish it. During WWII, Louie Zamperini was set out to go on a mission across the ocean. However, their plane didn’t make it and crashed into the ocean. Only three of them survived, including Louie. They survived 47 days out at sea, stranded on a single lifeboat, living with limited supplies to last them. They were finally spotted by the enemies, Japan, and brought back to prisoner camps. From that point, Louie

Louie Zamperini is an example to follow. Not because he was an athlete or a solder, because of his actions and motivations The most important, from my point of view, is his family. He would've done everything for them. That's the most important reason why he decided to change and by the same way change others. The best example for that is when he stared running, he was doing it for his mama, for his dad and Pete and his sisters, and that before doing it for himself. An other example is when the Japanese gave him the opportunity to speak on radio, the first thing that he did was speaking to his family and how much he missed them. Another remarkable thing that Zamperini did was being the life of the raft. He was the one who was giving hope to

The American writer and bestselling author Og Mandino once said, “Sound character provides the power with which a person may ride the emergencies of life instead of being overwhelmed by them. Failure is… the highway to success.” In Laura Hillenbrand’s nonfiction book Unbroken, the calm Louis Zamperini personified Mandino’s words when, against all bad luck, he battled through the emotional and physical struggles of his journey from start to finish. Needless to say, Louis Zamperini, when placed in tight situations, held his own while remaining calm and doing what he needed to do to survive.

However, even with everything that happened to Louie and Miné, they resisted invisibility. One of the stories is called ‘Unbroken’. This is the perfect title for the story because, people fought being made invisible and wouldn’t break. “The japanese had tried to torture information out of Fitzgerald, clubbing him, jamming knives under his fingernails, tearing his fingernails off, and pouring water up his nose until he passed out,” (Hillenbrand 152). This man was getting tortured non-stop so the Japanese would get his information, yet he didn’t tell them anything. However, there are easier ways to resist invisibility than resisting torture. Mine showed that even being in an internment camp, she could find a way to be happy. “She took a chance

This quote shows that Louie not only became interested in track, but he became skilled in it as well. He was quickly on pace to becoming a very known and talented runner, breaking several records and even being part of the Olympics. Once again, this quote signifies a change in Louie’s character since before, he was infamous for being the rebellious thief. However, now Louie is instead famous as a talented and gifted free spirit.