Unbroken: World War 2 Prisoners of War Controversies

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Controversies of prisoners of war

The book “Unbroken” was a seemingly impossible tale of triumph and survival of an Olympic runner and WWII veteran named Louis Zamperini. He constantly had to overcome adversity in his early years, for he was an immigrant from Italy and a trouble maker before his brother Pete steered him into running track. This immediately turned him around as he did well enough to in running to break all sorts if local records, which were accomplished while his competitors were trying to sabotage his runs. This qualified him for the 1936 Olympic in Berlin, where he met Hitler. He still had running aspirations but felt he had no choice other than fighting in the world due to the fact that the 1940 Olympics were…show more content…
Everyone who experienced being a Prisoner of War were followed by physical, psychological and spiritual affects, and also affects that made them feel less than a person. Louie’s journey was no different. The physical affects were terrible, Louie had little food and water so he lost an extreme amount of weight. This was compounded with beating with first and kicks. The prison guards didn’t care, they made the POW’s work long, free labor hours. There were no medicines to treat any sick or injured so, if you were hurt you would most likely end up dead. All this horrible treatment truly affected Louie psychological as well. During the imprisonment he managed to stay strong mentally by not going crazy enough to kill himself and also by staying sane enough to be strategically incompliant in the interrogation rooms to let the interrogators feel satisfied while not relinquishing U.S. security. This psychological strength didn’t last long after Louie got out of the prison camps though, for he had constant reminding of “The Bird” and the evils that happened to him by daydreams and nightmares. This is commonly known as post-traumatic stress disorder. After he found out bird was still alive, Louie tried to forget and put the past behind him but the feeling of anxiety was just too great. Louie called for a meeting with the Bird to no avail. Although there were almost overwhelming negative effects, there were very
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    The article, Unbroken: what makes some people more resilient than others, uses the example of Louis Zamperini as shown in the movie, Unbroken, to examine the role of resilience in the ability to recover after a traumatic event. Written by David Cox for The Guardian, the article discusses current research on resilience, and explains how it can be used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Many people experience a severe trauma in their lives, but only a few go on to develop PTSD. For a long

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