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Surviving Hell Thor's Relationship Quotes

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Tim Hetherington once said, “Brotherhood means laying down your life for somebody, really willing to sacrifice yourself for somebody else.” In this quote, Hetherington is saying that a brotherly relationship spawns from the willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice for someone whether they are related to you or not. Leo Thorsness presents a similar idea in his novel Surviving Hell: A POW’s journey. In Thorsness’s novel, he tells the stories of what it was like being a prisoner of war in Vietnam. Thorsness and the soldiers experienced terrible times as POWs, however, they were able to not only survive, but thrive from these experiences by forming strong brotherly bonds with one another. One of the stories Thorsness shares is the story of the church service. While gathered into a large cell with forty-two other men, Thorsness and the other POWs decided to have a church service. During the service, the guards …show more content…

The past Christmases in prison had been rough for Thorsness and the other soldiers because they were forced to celebrate the holiday in their heads alone in their cells. However, once the men were all moved into one larger cell together, they decided to celebrate by using their green socks and rice paste to make a Christmas tree on the wall. To their surprise, the guards ignored their holiday decoration, which allowed the POWs to celebrate the holiday together. The men even went on to decorate the tree further with toilet paper ornaments and they set up a gift exchange with one another. When reflecting on the celebration, Thorsness said, “We had been through years of torture and tough times and through it all we supported and depended on each other. Now….we were celebrating the Lord’s birth with our brothers,” (Thorsness 113). By saying this, Thorsness shows that through their journey as POWs, they were able to become each other’s family even though they are not

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