Unbroken Survival Quotes

In this astonishing World War II non-fiction novel based on a persons’ life named Louis Zamperini, there are many rhetorical strategies used to explain the many hardships of his life. The name of the novel is Unbroken. The non-fiction novel written by Laura Hillenbrand in 2010 took over 7 years to complete. The book was number two on New York Times best seller for nearly four years. Laura Hillenbrand went into extraordinary detail when creating this piece, explaining the unfortunate yet amazing life of Louis Zamperini.

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.

As the Former First Lady of the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt stated, “People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built.” Author of the nonfiction book Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand, shows Louis Zamperini is bravery. Louie proved that Roosevelt’s statement in his case was true. Whether in the Olympics, a fight, or serving his country Louie maintained a brave face demonstrating his true character to the world.

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

Louies hardships after crashing the Green Hornet cause him to suffer as a POW while his odds continues to be against him. After crashing the Green Hornet that

Louie survives, even when a sadistic guard nicknamed “the Bird” who especially attacked Louie personally. The Bird singles Louie out and tortures him mentally and physically abuses him the most of everyone, including the infamous scene where Louie is forced to hold a large wooden log above his head until told other wise and if he dropped it a guard was ordered to kill him on the spot. After the war is declared over, American planes dropped food and other supplies to the camps including Louie’s. Back home being a very different man malnutritioned and unable to run, Louie reunites with his family, who have all worried themselves almost to death about him being missing or presumed dead. Later Louie married Cynthia Applewhite. They have a daughter, but Louie now has an alcohol addiction and has flashbacks of the war and his time spent on the raft and in the prison camps he was trapped in. Louie still cannot run or find a new career; he only wants to murder the Bird because of what he did to him and because he singled him out to inflict pain upon. When Cynthia files for divorce, Billy Graham comes to town and starts some tent preaching

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

Even when the weight of the world is coming down and doubt is setting in, there still are powers to help carry on. Louie Zamperini, a famous Olympic athlete, was dragged down to a low level when he was captured by Japanese forces and suffered under horrendous conditions in the many POW camps he stayed at. Throughout all of life’s trials, he survived, due to his strong resilience and agency. He wanted to live, and even though he may have wanted to give up, he had plenty of things to live for. In Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand uses both internal and external conflict to show the theme that people can stand up against enemies even when the odds seem stacked up against them.

The French emperor and arguably one of the best military tacticians Napoleon Bonaparte once said, ‘’Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them.’’ In the book Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, Louie goes through trouble and fame as his life progresses from being a small town boy to a famous athlete and competing in the Olympics. Later, Louie joins the military when the Axis powers Germany and Japan declared war on the United States. This results in Louie’s Bomber crashing and him being both stranded in the Pacific Ocean and captured by the Japanese, where he must endure torture as a POW. Miraculously, Louie survives in these camps

Later in Louie's life he joins the Army Aircorps. All was well for louie, until he was sent on a rescue mission. During the mission Louie's plane goes down. Later a horrific journey on a raft in the ocean he is captured by the japanese, and becomes a POW. Many incidents in Unbroken reveal that Louie is hopeful, Intelligent, and determined.

The American talk show host Dennis Prager said, “Goodness is about character - integrity, honesty, kindness, generosity, moral courage, and the like. More than anything else, it is about how we treat other people.” In the biography Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, Louis Zamperini’s generosity helped desperate, dying men survive POW camps in Japan during World War II. While Louis faced the same dehumanization as other prisoners, his will and need to give to others saved not only his life, but the lives of those around him.

According to the great retired olympian track athlete Gail Devers, “Sometimes we fall, sometimes we stumble, but we can’t stay down. We can’t allow life to beat us down. Everything happens for a reason, and it builds character in us, and it tells us what we are about and how strong we really are when we didn’t think we could be that strong.” In Unbroken, a biography written by Laura Hillenbrand, Louis Zamperini illustrates Devers’ words with his resilience, springing back after his World War II bomber crashed and enemy forces captured him. In the end Louis’ ability to make due with every hellish situation life threw at him that influenced Hillenbrand’s aspired survival story.

This journey which lasted for more than 24 months and all started when Zamperini and his fellow crew members went out on a search and rescue mission near the Pacific Ocean. As this expedition one on a major mechanical issue came along with the plane. Due to the plane failures, the plane crash leaving only three men who were; Louis , Russell Allen “Phile” Phillips and Francis “Mac” McNamara. (Schudel 2) These 3 million luckily stayed afloat using a raft, surviving only on rain water and eating birds. The frustration of finding food became so unbearable that Louis caught a bird and ate it raw and his face became infested with lice because of the bird. Being drifted as the days went by floating upon the never ending sea, Being drifted as the days went by floating a pawn the never ending see, one of the surviving soldiers could no longer fight the battle with the sweltering sun and the surrounding sharks, Francis “Mac” McNamara past away 14 days before making it ashore. Louis and Russell gave Francis A proper sea burial and two weeks later he help came, only it wasn't what they expected. After being stranded at sea for 47 days some help arrived but it wasn't all peaches and cream, the Japanese had arrived and approach the remaining two men at gunpoint, bounded them and brought them to prisoner of war camps. Due to famine and thirst Zamperini went from 160 pounds to about 80 pounds. After being captured Zamperini and R.A Phillips we're separated,sent to different camps and tortured in various ways. He spent six weeks on an island named Kwajalein. ” this imprisonment lasted two years and he later suffer from disease, exposure, starvation and daily beatings from the corporal name “the bird”.

He really didn’t know what to do. As he was looking for a place to hide, he can see a Japanese plane coming from the south to the north on the west side of Ford Island. “They were flying slowly enough I can actually see the goggles on the rear gunners helmet as he started shooting at us.” As bullets were flying and concrete pieces flying around as well he hid under this tractor to protect himself from all the dangers around him. As he was hidden under the tractor he notices that some of his ship mates have picked up .45 caliber pistols that have been used for watch the night before and started shooting at the Japanese planes.

Rico breached the surface of the water looking like a whale coming up for air, and then he took hold of the rickety ladder and shambled his way up. Upon reaching the deck, he saw small pockets of fighting raging throughout the ship, some were personal disputes, but most were about food. Ever since the collision crewmen and passengers were hoarding food. Rico ran right into one of the skirmishes and quickly pushed the furious sailor away from the fragile sailor. As soon as the small fight was dealt with a man from below deck emerged with a large metallic rifle. Immediately the man trained his sights on one of the crewmen with rations in his hand and fired the rifle. The bullet struck the man and sent him flying backwards off the side of the ship and he landed with a loud splash. All of the crewmen ran to the side of the ship to see what had happened to the sailor, but all they saw was oily blood curling through the water. Before the crew could shake off the feeling of shock another shot rang out. This one hit a man of a catwalk near the bridge. His agonizing scream could be heard as he fell and then hit the cold, metallic hull with a loud “thud” that shook the whole ship. The man stood at the hatch and had a menacing smile across his face, and then he let out a maniacal laugh made everyone’s souls