Louie Zamperini: An Immigrant Italian Family

In the early years of Louie’s life, Hillenbrand referred to Louie as a hoodlum, often he broke the law to get what he wanted.

Many accounts of his activities involve him engaging in physical violence with one of his peers or, in one particular instance, lobbing tomatoes at police officers. He was constantly being hounded by his family and the police of Torrance, California, to end his mischievous ways and be more like his brother, Pete Zamperini, who was believed to be an upstanding citizen. However, according to a family account from Sylvia Zamperini, Pete and Louis were often engaged in similar activities with the major difference being that ‘Louie always got caught (Unbroken, page 8).’ Shortly before he attended Torrance High School, Louis was caught allowing people into basketball games through a rear entrance for free admission. This particular event earned him a ban from sports participation at Torrance High

He grew up in torrance amidst poverty and anti-Italian bias. Louie got in the habit of running outside the law. He started smoking when he was 5 years old and drinking when he was 8. He stole anything he wanted mostly food, money, and whatever else he felt like he should have. He ran small scams and vandalized property. Pete (Louie's older brother) forced Louis to join the track-and-field team at school. Louie excelled and soon gave up his habits for running circles around a track. He was given the nickname the “Torrance Tornado,” he became a high school phenomenon and eventually earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic team. Once WWII started he joined the military as a bombardier in the Air Force.

Before he was introduced to running, Louie was somewhat of a heathen. He was a thief and refused to be controlled: “If it was edible, Louie stole it” (6). Knowing that food was so easy to take, Louie indeed took it. When he heard that some keys fit more than one lock, he tried over and over until his key fit into the gym of the school. He became naturally

Louie never gave up. He showed early signs of his perseverance when he was just a boy getting into fights. Even when Louie was being jumped by a group of juveniles he still fought back. "You could beat him to death and he still wouldn't say ouch or cry." - Sylvia. Louie grew out of being a trouble making kid and began running track. On the track no one

One of Louie's dominant traits of Louie is rebellious Louie was planning an escape at the prison camp omori “Louie was thinking with garret a way to escape,” (page 85#) This shows that he is rebellious enough to escape although he didn't try because they would have been executed . Louie was daring enough to go into an officer's office and steal a map to help them escape “Louie had taken the map from the offices,” (Page,71) Louie was never caught for these daring actions that he carried out against the guards. To survive you can't always play by the rules as Louie did in this situation, “Louie left the benjo moving naturally as he could with ten pounds of rice in his pajamas,” (Page,205) This quote shows that he is rebellious enough to steal food from the guard. From stealing

“By spring of ‘38, he had whittled his mile down to 4:13.7, some even seconds off the world record which now stood at 4:06.4. (pg. 41)” Louie is determined to get a good time. “In February, he ran a 4:08.2, six-tenths of a second short of the fastest indoor mile ever run. (pg. 44)” This quote explains how Louie is a very determined person while he is running because he doesn’t let people beat him easy. “Two weeks later, he scorched a 4:07.9. (pg. 44)” Louie cut his time a week before he beat that time by a second he was determined to get a better score and he did it. That Louie was a very determined person to win and finish stuff and do

The world views many people as “inspirational”, but what does that really mean? What makes someone inspirational? Modern definitions of inspiration and inspirational are too basic, when in reality, the answer is much more complex. Louie Zamperini is the complex answer that we are all looking for. Through Louie’s perseverance, suffering, and his desire to be admired, he shows us the intricate answer to the world’s question.

Louie Zamperini. Born on January 26, 1917 grew up in Torrance, California. Louie grew up a daredevil. Always putting his life at risk. Whether it was taking a train to Mexico, hopping trains, or trying to catch cows, Louie never let anybody tell him he couldn’t do something. This showed Louie’s perseverance. Even if it wasn’t for the wisest reasons. Although, eventually Louis' family became worried about his constant need for danger, so his brother, Pete, showed Louis a way to get rid of all of his excitement. Louie immediately picked up running, and this is where his story truly began.

Literature Circle ___________________________________________________________________________ Facilitator; How do you think Louie Zamparin’s childhood has affected his motive to survive throughout the story? Samantha Ochoa’s Answer: I believe that Louie Zamparini’s childhood has affected his motive to survive the concentration camp tremendously. Since the beginning of the book where Louie was constantly bullied, he was able to take it and not complain.

From surviving plane crashes to escaping kill orders Louie Zamperini's story is filled with luck. Luck means something different to everyone. Some might say you were in the right place at the right time, and others will say it was meant to be. No matter what luck means to you there is no denying that the story of Louie Zamperini is an astonishing one with luck everywhere. Luck is shown everywhere in his story. For example: when Louie and the rest of his crew were on a search mission there plane failed and crashed hundreds of feet, many people would not be able to survive this yet Louie did. Another example would be when Louie was captive at the Japanese prisoner of war camps, (POW) he evaded the kill all orders issued by the Japanese in times

This chapter explains the details of the start of Louie Zamperini’s distance running career. It started when he found out that his house key worked for the back door of Torrance High School’s gym. Eventually he was found out and dragged off to the principal’s, where he was banned from joining any extracurricular activities. When Louie’s brother, Pete heard this, he went to the principal, dragging their mother along for authority, to protest this decision. Finally, the school allowed Louie to join sports in 1932. After that, Pete began pressuring Louie to put his time an energy into something less ‘illegal’ than stealing, like running. Even though he looked like the only boy in his class that could run, Louie was weakened from his round

When the rescue plane flies by him, Brian tries to kill himself, but he decides to live. In this progress he learns a lot about 'hope', and what great things it can do. Carrying this hope with him, Brian keeps up his adventure, to the day he is finally rescued.

After reading the book and understanding Louie’s story, Luke Zamerini’s presentation put an exclamation point on his extraordinary events in his life. Luke explained to us his father’s story including some details that were not in the book. He told us about the fame and worldwide popularity Louie gained from being an Olympic track athlete. Shortly following his track career, Louie joined the military and we found out it was his determination and heart that he took away from being an athlete is what helped him persevere for forty seven days on a raft in the middle of the ocean. I enjoyed the detail that he gave about Louie straight arming the shark similar to a running back in football. He reiterated the struggles, the same that were in

Some of the key actions are that he likes the attentions so he gets in trouble all the time and he thinks it cool to do these things. Louie wants to make his parents worry about him when he goes and runs off into a train yard but his parents always know that he will come back. After he was getting in trouble with the law he began to hide stashes around town so if louie got caught then there wouldn’t be that much evidence on him. I