Unbroken Research Paper

Louie Zamperini is the type of person that has been through a lot of pain and happiness, making Louie much more complex of a person than most people. Louie is a person who started off as mischievous and then turned that into power for running, and won a lot races breaking records. He went to join the Air Force for the army, and then one day his plane crashed into the ocean and only him and 2 others survived the crash. He was next the found by the Japanese and was sent to a POW camp, and was a victim of many war crimes. The book “Unbroken ” by Laura Hillenbrand, shows Louie’s two character traits that most defines Louie are tenacious and fractious.

The art of survival is something that is not easily learned. For some, however, it is something that comes from a natural desire to be defiant and rebellious. In the novel Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand, protagonist Louie Zamperini fights for survival through a number of trials that are presented to him. His life takes him from being a troubled child, to an Olympic runner, to a bomber lost at sea, to POW in some of the worst camps Japan could conjure. Louie not only survives these trials, he stands up and goes directly against the normality and ease of submission and faces his adversity head on. Throughout the novel, Louie shows that his ability to survive stems from his natural urge to rebel and defy anything that he deems too controlling in his life.

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.

Watanabe, who’s nicknamed is “The Bird” beats Louie daily with his fists, a kendo stick or even his belt. The Bird would often starve the prisoners, humiliate, and use them for slave labor. When the allies finally defeat Japan Louie and the camp members are recused and the Bird disappears and goes into hiding to avoid being punished as a war

He became a forgiving person. Louie experienced PTSD after his experiences in the POW camp. He had horrible dreams about the Bird. One day, Louie agreed with wife to go hear a minister named, Billy Graham speak about God. Touched by Billy’s message, he realized he had to fulfill his promise and serve God. Therefore, he wrote a letter to the Bird. “ At that moment, like the others, I also forgave you and now would hope that you would also become a Christian (Pg. 281)”. This quote shows how Louie forgave the Bird even after the Bird tortured him every day while he was in the POW camp. This shows that Louie turned into a forgiving person due to his desire to move on and pardon those who hurt him, Another example of Louie’s forgiveness was when he visited his captors in Japan, The text states, “ In bewilderment, the men who had abused him watched him come to them, his hands extended, a radiant smile smile on his face (Pg. 273)”. This quote shows how Louie wants to make peace with the people who once abused him. This shows how Louie is a forgiving person since he wanted to move on from the past and start a new life. Louie stayed like this throughout the rest of his

Many prisoners were malnourished and starved to death. If you were injured while doing hard labor, your food rations would be cut in half. One time in the camp The Bird had a truck of oranges and apples delivered for the prisoners to eat. He said that they were aloud one apple and one orange. When the prisoners were grabbing their food, Japanese reporters were taking pictures. When the pictures were over, The Bird told al the prisoners to put their food down and said they were not aloud to eat it. It was all a scam to make Japan look good. The Bird is also very irrational. He would make up reasons to beat people up so he can get his fill of excitement. In the book it says, “He would tell the POWs to look him in the eye, and then beat them up for looking him in the eye” (Hillenbrand 205). He also had very hard and overdramatic punishments. He accused Louie and another POW of stealing food even thought they didn’t. Their punishment was for every prisoner in the camp to punch them in the face. If the prisoner didn’t punch hard

“Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns” (Anne Lamott Quotes). Unbroken, book by Laura Hillenbrand, shows the truthful of this quote. The novel is about Olympic runner and hero of the war Louie Zamperini. He survived a lot of inhuman and cruel harassments during WWII, simply believing and hoping for better times and victory of his country. By Louie’s example, author shows how faith can help to survive even in the most hopeless, wild, terrible, difficult and hard situations that can face people during their lives.

When the Bird had challenged him to hold the bar above his head, he wanted to prove the Bird wrong and had showed the bird that he wasn't weak, and that he wasn't going to give up and not let the Bird defeat him. While being a POW, Louie had not been fed very well or even been taken care of. He had pulled through it and given it his all. When Louie, Mac, and Phil had been stuck on the rafts, when Mac had eaten all of the chocolate, Louie got mad, but knew that he had to find another source of food to survive otherwise they would die. Without Louie being optimistic and risk taking, he probably not be where he is right

Louie’s running taught him to power through adversity and to never cower in the difficulty of life. During the war, Louie was faced with many times that his resiliency shined through hard times. Louie was first faced with a task that would ultimately show how resilient he was when the Green Hornet had faced engine trouble, eventually crashing, “sensing the ocean coming up at the plane, he took a last glance at the twisting sky, then pulled the life raft in front of him and pushed his head into his chest,” (Hillenbrand 125). Louie was more than afraid during the feat, but instead of allowing the fear to take control of him, he realized that he had the will to live. He was not done living his life and decided to fight for it. Louie, later on when living his life on a raft floating adrift with Green Hornet airmen Phil and Mac, their bodies deteriorated to nothing but frail skin and bone. The men, especially Mac, wanted nothing more than to succumb to death, but Louie would not allow it. He tried his hardest to make the men foresee a life beyond war but, “Mac didn’t join the prognostication. He was slipping away,” (Hillenbrand 166). Louie’s resiliency to dying, as well as selflessly helping Mac helps to show the type of person he is, and how war slowly began to change him. It also helps Louie succeed in future troubling

During the next two years, Louie endures physical and psychological torture by his captors. During this time, a major character is introduced, Mutsuhiro Watanabe (a.k.a. the Bird), who is a head Japanese captain at the camp where Louie is being taken to be held prisoner. He makes the creepy guard from The Green Mile seem like a guy you'd love to bring home to dinner. On the day Louie arrives to the camp, The Bird recognizes Louie for his Olympic performance and forces him to race against one of his soldiers; however, Louie is frail due to lack of food and water and is humiliated in defeat. The Bird is very hard on him, and is the predominant source of mental and physical abuse from which Louie suffers at this camp. Louie, being the strong-willed fighter that he is, continues to endure and remain physically and emotionally unbroken until he eventually catches a break when The Bird is offered a better job at another camp. After the war interferes with his camp, Louie is moved to a different camp, which ends up being the same camp where The Bird had transferred. The Bird continues to be ruthless and relentless towards Louie and directs his wrath at Louie far worse than any other prisoner, especially when he determines that Louie is attempting to boost the morale of other prisoners. In this time period in the book, hope and motivation are shown as Louie continues to fight through the abuse at the hands of his

What kind of people would want to have their kid unwound? I know I was not always the best kid, but how could you want to have your son unwound? I do not think I ever did something bad enough to deserve to be unwound. Why did you think to have me unwound in the first place? How could you not tell me I was going to be unwound? You two obviously did not love me if you wanted to have me unwound. This is the biggest betrayal that could ever happen to me. You did not want me like how you did not want the storked baby. Did you have fun in the Bahamas with your favorite son?

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