Unbroken: Story Of Survival, Resilience, And Redemption

Based on Laura Hillenbrand’s 2010 best seller, the film Unbroken is an inspiring, three-time Oscar nominated, World War II biography that tells the story of a young man, Louis Zamperini (played by Jack O’Connell), enduring the unimaginable brutalities of war. Directed by Angelina Jolie and produced by Erwin Stoff, this film is a story of survival, resilience, and redemption. Although this movie has some tear-jerking moments and a few memorable quotes, it seems to have fallen flat when it comes to the emotional aspect of the lead character’s experience.

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.

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

The Brave and Forgiving Louie Zamperini survived on a raft in the middle of the ocean, for 47 days, with a finite supply of water, and no food! Louie was born in 1917, and was a troublemaker from the beginning. Louie’s older brother, Pete, encouraged Louie to run. Eventually Louie was on his way to the Olympics in Japan. However, fate had different plans for Louie, instead of Louie going to the Olympics, he was stranded on a raft for 47 days in the middle of the Ocean, and was sent to brutal POW camps for 2 1/2 years.

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.

Laura Hillenbrand’s biography titled Unbroken recounts the life of Louie Zamperini and major events that occurred throughout it. Hillenbrand’s purpose was to emphasize the inspirational story of heroic Zamperini as he qualified and participated in the Olympics, as well as describe the endless struggle of pain in the plane crash and in the Japanese POW camps. She also portrays the importance of dignity and resilience and how without it, the chances of surviving the cruel events Louie experienced during World War II would have been minimal.

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.

In Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand we plunge in to the life and battles of Louie Zamperini’s life. In his voyage through childhood, adolescence, soldier life, World War II, and his later years we see many traits of his identity. His friendships, his competitiveness, his resourcefulness, his honesty etc.… All of these great characteristics, but the ones that resonates with me the most and makes me admire him are his determination and with that his persistence. That determination that helped him continue and power through many hardships, this is what truly makes him admirable in my eyes. Through Hillenbrand’s writing this trait is well developed.

Louie Zamperini: Olympian, War Hero, Role Model Author, Laura Hillenbrand, in the biography Unbroken, narrates Louie Zamperini’s thrilling journey through World War II. Hillenbrand’s storyline goes into heart wrenching detail of the excruciating experiences Zamperini endured. Throughout, and particularly, when Louie’s war plane Green Hornet crashes, the author portrays the ideals of never giving up and self-determination through diction, imagery, and pathos. Throughout Unbroken, Hillenbrand continuously uses a variety of diction to keep the readers attached. Specifically, when Louie’s plane has engine failure and plunges into the Pacific, the author uses very tense and powerful word choice in order to show uncertainty and to create suspense.

World War II had a lasting impression on not only the countries but on the soldiers and people as well. POWs and internees had to experience things that would make a grown man cringe in fear. In the stories ”Unbroken” by Laura Hillenbrand, and “Manzanar” by Jenne Houston Wakatsuki, tells the tragic story of how these men are stripped away of their human rights. As they try to struggle their way out of insanity, their stories will forever echo in history to show the outcome of war.

Louie started his life on the wrong path, he then turned into a champion. When Louie was a child he was terrible, the cops had to bring him home almost everyday. He was fast, so his brother started training him each and everyday. Louie was also a prisoner of war. The title of this book is Unbroken the author is Laura Hillenbrand and two traits that define Louie are admirable and rebellious.

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.

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

Hillenbrand, L. (2010). Unbroken: A World War II story of survival, resilience, and redemption. New York: Random House.

Hillenbrand’s Unbroken is impressive because of her thoroughness and attention to details. One way in which Unbroken is impressive is through anecdotes. One anecdote states “In 1992, Poon Lim survived for 133 days alone on a raft after his ship was sunk by a German submarine. Lim’s feat was a record, but his vessel was a large, wood-and-metal “Carley float boat” raft,