Theme Of The Story Of Unbroken By Laura Hillenbrand

Chapters 6–11 relate the beginnings of Louie’s WWII career in the American military. In September 1941, Louie was drafted and eventually assigned to the Army Air Corps. He trained as a bombardier, flying in the clunky but powerful B-24 Liberator planes. Stationed in Oahu, Hawaii, Louie and his crewmates joined in the fight against Japan that was taking place all across the Pacific Ocean (referred to as the “Pacific Theatre”).

Laura Hillenbrand chose to present Unbroken as the life story of an Olympic runner who happened to be captured as a prisoner of war, rather than a man whose only story is that of the war. However, much of the focus is his experiences in several different Japanese prisoner-of-war camps, and how it affected the rest of his life. Hillenbrand walks the reader’s through Louie’s life to help them understand and empathize with what he went through. The time spent on his childhood and career is meant to get the

Months passed with little action, however one day on a mission in search of a missing plane , Louie’s plane crashed in the middle of the Pacific due to engine failure. With little supplies, Louie ,Mak , and Phil survived 33 days , before sadly Mak passed away. On July 14 Louie and Phil were captured by the Japanese; thus turning them into P.O.W.S . Moving from prison to prison, Louie faced his biggest problem yet: The “Bird”. Despising Louie, “ the Bird” treated him like dirt.”Pick it up , the Bird said. With some effort, Louie hoisted it up, and the Bird ordered him to lift it higher and hold it directly over his head. Louie heaved the beam up” (301).This happened to occur after louie was assigned to watch and make sure a sickly goat would not die. With no food to give the goat, Louie shared his although he had minimal to share. This was his punishment for the goats death. After 37 mins, “ He felt his conscious slipping, his mind losing adhesion, until all though knew was a single thought; He can’t break me. Across, the bird had stopped laughing”(302). Holding up the beam was a hard to do, considering he was also getting hit by an officer at the same time. As Fearless as Amelia Earhart, Louie stood up against cruelty and injustice, even when it “threatened “ his life .4 and a half years of being a P.O.W, later Louie was freed from the

In Unbroken, the text says, “He found himself thinking of Pete, and of something that he had said as they had sat on their bed years earlier: A lifetime of glory is worth a moment of pain. Louie thought: Let

Louie grew up in a small town, he was a rebel child who stole things and started fights. All he wanted to do was run away because he always had his parents or his brother lecturing and yelling at him. However, Louie had a very special gift in which he never put to work. Thankfully for his brother, he got him back on track. Louie’s gift was running, he was so fast and could never stop. Louie continues to compete and break world records soon leading him to go to the olympics and he tries to break the world record of the timed mile. His career was stopped and taken over when the second world war two broke out, and he enters the army. He becomes a bombardier. On his first mission, a battle occurs between him and his captain, however they managed to land the plane safely. Then they are placed onto a new plane that eventually gets shot down, Louie was one out of three who survived. These three men had to figure out how to survive even though they were flustered about the whole situation. One ended up dying but Louie stayed strong and was fighting for his own food to survive. Everything was going smoothly, they were surviving for a pretty long time but it quickly shifted when the japanese find them. The Japanese shuttle Louie and his

What This Says About the Book: This quote obviously gave “Unbroken” its name, especially the final sentence of “He cannot break me.” Throughout this entire book, the author is trying to capture Louie’s struggle and then shock the reader with how Louie continues to survive. But this passage acts as the essence of it all, as we see both of these things written in a blatantly bold manner.

As soon as he was captured Louie was beat and tortured. The main enemy he had was the bird. Every day he would beat him for no reason. He went to camp after camp being followed by the bird. In the novel Unbroken it says on page 244, “From the moment that Watanabe locked eyes with Louie Zamperini, an officer, a famous Olympian, and a man for whom defiance was second nature, no man obsessed him more.” Another quote on page 301 is, “Lying on the ground before them was a thick, heavy wooden beam, some six feet long. Pick it up, the bird said...The bird called a guard over. If the prisoner lowers his arms, the Bird told him, hit him with your gun… Louie had held the beam aloft for thirty-seven minutes.” This first piece of evidence shows that the bird was out for Louie from the start. The second piece evidence shows that Louie was pushed to the max but had resilience and was able to go through this. After the time Louie was in the prisoner camps he still was not broken. Even if his physical state showed

Zamperini went through a lot in his life: the crash of the Green Hornet, being rescued from the sea, and the aftermath of the war. These events influenced his life greatly in many different ways. In the end, bad luck and good luck each influenced him at different points in his life, leaving him

They were then hit with a gun, blindfolded and thrown into a Japanese boat. The Japanese then test biochemicals on Phil and Louie, they survived. Louie and Phil are then moved to a Prisoner of War camp in Yokohama. As soon as they land, Sasaki (the Japanese friend from USC) greets them as the camp leader.”The man turned, and Louie saw his face” (Hillenbrand 3003). Phil is separated from Louie and is transported to Ashio. When he landed he became friends with Gaga the Duck. Louie is declared dead on 28 May 1944. Gaga gets sexually abused and then killed by a Japanese guard. “Shithead opened his pants and violated the bird” (Hillenbrand 3559). Months later, Louie is moved to another POW camp called Omori. On arrival, Louie is beaten by the head guard Watanabe (the Bird). “There was a rush in the air, the

During the seminar, someone asked: “Was Louie truly unbroken throughout the book?” Although this book was titled Unbroken, I believe the protagonist Louie had the spirit of being unbroken but didn’t stay unbroken throughout the book. First of all, one example of Louie having the unbroken spirit was when he was told to hold the six foot beam by the Bird. When Louie was slowly sliding into unconsciousness holding the beam, he thought: “He cannot break me” (302). Malnutrition, sickness, and other physical conditions were possessed by Louie that day, but he somehow managed to hold the beam for 37 minutes. However, Louie did not stay unbroken throughout the novel. Furthermore, the author lets us see the ‘broken Louie’ in Part V. In the beginning

First off, In the story Unbroken By Laura Hillenbrand Louie is brave by joining the war and trying to survive.The first piece of evidence is “The military was going to make him a bombardier. That fall, Louie was on his way to becoming an airman”(HillBrand 45). According to the quote how that shows bravery is becoming an airman in the 1940’s is very dangerous.Because planes are good, but not very reliable. So Louie had to be very brave to become an airman especially a bombardier. The second piece of evidence is “Below very close something exploded and superman rocked. A shell burst by the left wing, another by the tail.Louie could see tracers cutting neat lines in the sky to the right.”(HillBrand 74-75) This quote means right now the main character Louie is in his bomber plane named Superman. They are on

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.

Many people have been born that have struck a chord with the world. Some people have become legends, patriots and even heroes. Though one person stood out among the rest, this one was not made a hero, but was born to be one. He was a hero at what he strived to be in life and he has captured the attention of the public like no other solider has done before or since. This great Canadian Air Force Ace became one of the legendary figures in 20th century air warfare. With his daring and dramatic dogfights in France, he achieved a record of 72 kills in his many encounters. His role on the ground during the Second World War training pilots changed and inspired a whole new generation of fighter pilots. This man is known

In chapter eight of Unbroken, the narrator follows the description of Super Man’s bombing of Wake by describing the dangers of war, specifically in the American Air Corps. After describing multiple instances of Louie’s friends who have died in combat and the very real risks that are associated with flying in combat, the narrator follows with this quote, emphasizing how unlikely rescue at sea was. Although “the military was dedicated to finding crash and ditching survivors” (90), “the improbability of rescue, coupled with the soaring rate of accidental crashes, created a terrible equation” (91). This quote, and much of this chapter, is a foreshadowing of the events that occur with Phil, Louie, and the rest of the crew of the Green Hornet. By

“Life doesn't get easier you just get stronger”.Laura Hillenbrand wrote a book called Unboken.In this book Louie Zamperini had a rebellious childhood then, accomplishes great things in the Olympics and survives being a prisoner of war in World War II.How he does this is by having resilience developed in his childhood.Then by using that resilience it leads to his success in the olympics and helps him survive being a P.O.W. By showing Louis struggle as an olympic athlete and P.O.W he shows how resilience leads to success.