Summary Of ' A Unbroken ' By Laura Hildebrand

Being held captive during a time of War can be traumatic and torturess or silent and subtle. It can take an effect on the person experiencing it in very complex ways. Overcoming traumatic events in POW camps can be extremely difficult. If they return home they can struggle with a wide range of illnesses like PTSD and traumatic war flashbacks. Louie Zamperini was unfortunately that person. He was taken in as a prisoner of war during WWII by the Japanese. He relied on his inner strength and self worth to get him through traumatic beatings, and dehumanization over a period of years. In the novel Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, it shows the detailed struggle of Louie Zamperini’s experience and how he regained strength.

Hillenbrand and the author of the text about Mine’ Okubo explain how perseverance and resilience are essential for surviving difficult times. Throughout both texts, the authors use several methods to develop this central idea.

camps shows a power, only understood by Louie after the War Ended. On Page 145, Louie is being interrogated, not for information but simply, forcing invisibility, “One of them asked if Japan would win the war. ‘No,’ said Phil. A fist caught Phil in the face. Louie was asked who’d win the war. ‘America.’” Being able to speak of America in this way during the war conditions, in which the Japanese immediately broke Louie’s nose, exposes the pride of Louie for himself and his nation as well. Again, Louie shows his individual pride and true individual power, “Once, driven, to his breaking point by a guard jabbing him, Louie yanked the stick away” this spirit shown by Louie is so powerful, for he knows he will be beaten brutally in multiple ways, but for him to show his individual power as well, is explained by his spirit (140). Finally, again being interrogated, Louie lies to the Japanese, except this time they gift him with a Cola, “It was all a lie. The ‘bases’ Louie identified were the fake airfields he’d seen when tooling around Hawaii with Phil.” Louie again holds his prideful spirit through this journey, risking death or beatings unlike any other just to stay prideful to himself and his country (143). Louie risked all, for even the cruelest of consequences, in order to maintain his pride for himself and his country, These acts prove that Louie has simply held to his prideful spirit during the war, if not strengthened it

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

When authors write about World War II, most set their stories in Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich, but few would give a moment of thought to the atrocities perpetrated by the Imperial Japanese Army in East Asia and the Pacific region. However, Laura Hillenbrand has brought us this heavily neglected side of the tragedy. By following the vicissitudes of a USAAF lieutenant named Louis Zamperini in her bestseller “Unbroken”, she pays tribute to all ex-POWs and soldiers that lost their lives on the Asian battlefield.

World War II was a profusioning and distressing experience for a plethora of Americans. Men and women both suffered during the WWII. Soldiers were going thru many awful and life changing experiences that lead most soldiers to have PTSD. But back home United States citizens were free and loved their constitutional right amendment 14. Many authors began to expose the truth about the soldier’s experiences like john Steinbeck and Randall Jarrell, Both were in the military. So they were conveying there experience by capturing the feeling and emotions to show public policy.

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.

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

During the second World War, an olympic record holder, Louie Zamperini, was one of the few men that got shot down into the ocean and was stranded for 47 days on a lonely, little raft. The great American hero we all have heard of didn’t start out like you would have thought. He was a young scoundrel who was influenced by his brother to run for something better than away from is problems. After years of running and going to the German Olympics to set the best lap run in the 5,000 meters, Louie had gone into the Air Force and had gotten into trouble at a Japanese POW camp after a crash. The book Unbroken, written by Laura Hillenbrand, expresses Louie’s life exceptionally well, especially

Rose claims that when people discussed the war they choose to focus on stories that helped the population feel good, rather than talking about the horrors of the war. World War II seemed to generate higher levels of patriotism than ever before seen. Rose hopes to give true honor to the Americans of this generation in his book. Not by elaborating on their contributions, but by trying to paint a picture of what life was like while America was at war. Rose chose to rely on first-hand accounts of the men and women who actually experienced the war. He does this to give them credit, but also to show that the so-called Greatest Generation was not without its own problems and flaws. He shows that they were just another regular generation who lived through tough times that tested their character and will power.

When Louie first enlisted in the war, he was terrified of heights, but wanted to fly a plane. He had to overcome his fear to accomplish being able to fly. When Louie and his crew were flying their bomber named Superman, it was hit by enemy fire. Many of the crew members inside were injured, Louie did everything to try help them survive. Shortly after the attack, Louie’s plane crashed into the ocean. Three of the crewmen who were on the plane, including Louie, were the only ones who survived. 46 days passed, the men fought vigorously for their lives, with no food or water. With the willpower of trying to survive, they also had to survive the sharks and the Japanese bombers. When Louie finally reached land, he was nowhere near alive or healthy. After finding land, Louie was held as a POW never knowing if he was going to live to see the next day. “It was a secret interrogation center called Otuna, where “high value” captured men were housed in solitary confinement, starved, tormented, and tortured” (Hillebrand 198). He was dehumanized and constantly made fun of. Louie had to use his survival skills to continue on to be able to survive being a POW. “Confident that he was so clever, resourceful, and bold enough to escape any predicament, Louie was almost incapable of discouragement. When history carried him into war, this resilient optimism would define him” (Hillenbrand 7). Despite the challenges

Louie is a wise person, but can have his moments of messing up. At the age of 18, Louie enlisted in the army. As his life continued Louie went and fought against the Japanese, including once where the B-4 was shot down. The book Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, describes Louie with the character traits determined and resilient.

World War II is an important key point in history that addresses to young adolescents. The novel, T4 is based on a true story, in which the author, Ann Clare LeZotte is portraying a novel that is based on the theme of survival. It appears to be that the author’s argument in writing this novel is to simply maintain awareness of the past. Generally speaking, a story about survival is a difficult genre for young readers, “The majority of war stories for children are about World War II and the Holocaust.” (Huck 482) The reason war stories are mainly about World War II and the Holocaust is because it was the most recent, largest, and horrifying war during the twentieth century in Europe. Our textbook also states that these historical novels help children experience the past. Meaning, that it is important for a child to learn about the past including all the wars, conflicts, sufferings, and great happiness that had occurred so they can apply that to the present and to the future.

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.

Although the twisted outcome of the victory from WWII is adapted from, the point brought across is that any historical event could have went either way and each way brings a totally different outcome. The idea of ungratefulness and forgetfulness in humanity is something very visible yet not paid much attention towards. Through this Dick wants readers to mentally comprehend that the past is something that clings onto the future and affects it in many different ways, big or small. The presence of every single individual plays a crucial role in these moments and most importantly their actions, good or bad, as Dick’s characters determine