Unbroken Book Theme

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

It is a well known fact that experiencing war changes people; there is an innocence that is forever lost. In Tim O’Brian’s, “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong”, Mary Anne Bell is an unusual example of the innocence that is lost in war because unlike the rest of the soldiers, she is a woman. Mary Anne’s transformation from innocent “sweetheart” to fierce warrior left readers with mixed emotions because although Mary Anne felt at peace with her transformation, she was also disconnected from reality.

Most importantly, it is a story of captivity, of failed attempts at freedom, and of one woman's partial escape from the constraints of her family, home, and past.

When she states, “There’s nothing more I can do” (119), readers quickly jump to the conclusion of death and sorrow. This immediately affects our emotions, and how our minds are racing to find an escape route for Louie because we are emotionally attached to him and his survival. This statement also connects back to Louie’s ideal of never giving up because even though Louie said he was giving up, he fights for his life and in the end he survives. With this specific diction and profound imagery, Hillenbrand adds the emotional touch to round out Louie’s

Jeanne Wakatsuki is the narrator throughout the book. Her goal is “to write about the life inside one of those camps... where [her] family spent three and a half years” (J. Wakatsuki Houston and J. Houston ix). For a long time after the camp had closed, Wakatsuki longed for acceptance. So not only does she share what happened physically to her and the new surroundings she experienced, she also focuses on how she felt before, during, and after everything. She does this with the purpose to tell the reader about how her experiences changed her. The book is significant to her because it is a true story based on her account of life at Manzanar.

It’s no surprise that soldiers will more-than-likely never come home the same. Those who have not served do not often think of the torment and negative consequences that the soldiers who make it out of war face. Erich Remarque was someone who was able to take the torment that he faced after his experience in World War I and shed light on the brutality of war. Remarque was able to illustrate the psychological problems that was experienced by men in battle with his best-selling novel All Quiet on the Western Front (Hunt). The symbolism used in the classic anti-war novel All Quiet on the Western Front is significant not only for showing citizens the negative attributes of war, but also the mental, physical, and emotional impact that the vicious war had on the soldiers.

The two books “Soldier’s Heart,” and “The Red Badge of Courage,” have their differences and similarities that take the reader on a wild, emotional journey. The major differences amongst the stories highlights the characters personalities, or traits, and assists in making each book stand apart from

In the book, Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, Louie Zamperini was majorly obsessed with vengeance throughout the end of the book that his life was consumed by the quest for it. Louie felt as if the Bird had stolen his dignity at the POW campsites, where he was beaten, humiliated, starved, and stripped of his powers of self-defense. Louie was overwhelmed with his anger that the only objective he sought was to get revenge on the Bird. In other words, Louie was angered about his loss of dignity at the POW campsite, he wanted to get revenge on the Bird by killing him, and how Louie eventually forgives the Bird for what he did to him. These three reasons show how Louie’s loss of self-dignity in the POW camp was pursued.

Though her family was her main source of strength, Klein had to find someone else to rely on when she lost them. Her childhood acquaintance, a girl called Ilse, filled that void in Klein life, and Klein did the same for her. Together they pushed each other through illness, back-breaking labor, and a 350 mile death march through freezing rain and snow. Klein and Ilse became more like sisters than best friends. Ilse last gift to Klein was a single, bruised raspberry for her birthday. Klein held Ilse as she lay dying on the freezing ground. Before she drew her last breath, Ilse begged Klein to o on for one more week romise me. (p 205) Exactly one week later, the war ended and Gerda Klein found herself a free woman.

“Maus: A Survivor’s Tale”, and “Maus: And Here My Troubles Began”, are hit graphic novels about World War II, and tell the fictional stories of a soldier who survived the Holocaust. These two books are both purely about survival, but not in the way that you may think. Maus I and Maus II are both essentially telling us that survival may mean that you live through something horrific, but you may be a different person by the end of it.

I recently read your book Unbroken. I really enjoyed it. I also watched the movie made from your book too. The thing is, I loved your book way more than the movie, because, even though the movie was good, you didn’t get to know the feelings and thoughts of the characters. Your book was filled with very descriptive feelings of Louie and some of the other characters and I really enjoyed it because it felt like I was there, in the war camp with Louie. Have you ever been to Japan? My cousin works for the Navy in Japan and I hope to visit her soon. From your book Unbroken, I learned many valuable life lessons. Just a few are to always be content with what you have, never underestimate friendship, and never give up.

overcame the odds by surviving the invasion of the Nazis. Sylvia is one of twelve surviving Jewish children that lived through this terror in her home town. After many years she decided to share her story. Her story is called Yellow Star written by Jennifer Roy.

In the biography Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, the story of an extraordinary man is unmasked. Louie Zamperini a World War II survivor who inspired others with his utmost resilience and redemption. In the poem If by Rudyard Kipling, it does not depict one individual from a crowd. It can used to represent anyone, who has shown the smallest amount of perseverance despite defeat. All things considered, in both Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and If by Rudyard Kipling, the themes of sanity, defeat, and self dignity are present.

Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front is one of the greatest war novels of all time. It is a story, not of Germans, but of men, who even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war. The entire purpose of this novel is to illustrate the vivid horror and raw nature of war and to change the popular belief that war has an idealistic and romantic character.  The story centers on Paul Baümer, who enlists in the German army with glowing enthusiasm.  In the course of war, though, he is consumed by it and in the end is "weary, broken, burnt out, rootless, and without hope"  (Remarque page #).

The life one treasures and takes for granted today can be so easily erased in the blink of an eye and gone tomorrow. Therefore, not only is it important to cherish how one lives for today and now, but it’s also important to how one can overcome the misfortunes and hardships they may suffer; tragedy can make a person or break a person. Mary Rowlandson’s experience during her eleven weeks of captivity as documented in “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” is a perfect answer to the above argument. The eleven weeks she experienced as a prisoner of her Indian captors proves to be a pivotal occasion in her life, which changes her feelings, lifestyle, and attitude as well towards her abductors. By the end of her horrifying experience, she rises more profoundly grounded in every way: mentally, physically, and spiritually with a new outlook on life, closer to God, and a newfound opinion of the Indians.