Unbroken Essay

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Britney Chungag Tobias WBHS American Literature Summer Reading 2015 Assignment #2 17th August 2015 Survivor Unbroken is the tale of Louis Silvie "Louie" Zamperini a former American war prisoner survivor. Unbroken shows how Zamperini survived and stayed strong in his darkest hours in the Japanese concentration camps of World War II. Unbroken is a very spiritual book that proves that not giving up, staying strong, and being motivated will help you in life. Louie Zamperini was able to overcome a lot of horrible experiences by keeping a positive spirit and mind (set). The point of my essay is that hanging onto bravery and remaining strong all the while being in the belly of the beast will help you survive. They say behind every strong man is …show more content…

"Louie was a marked boy. Bullies, drawn by his oddity and hoping to goad him into uttering Italian curses, pelted him with rocks, taunted him, punched him, and kicked him." Louie experienced brutality at a young age though not as harsh as in the concentration camps, it did helped him. Louie Zamperini could most defiantly take a punch. This came in handy when Louie had to deal with beating every day, especially from the head guard The Bird. It wasn’t only the group beatings that helped Louie, but also Louie’s past life of crime. “The same attributes that had made [Louie] the boy terror of Torrance were keeping him alive in the greatest struggle of his life (3.14.34).” Louie was a juvenile delinquent. He was smoker at five and a drinker at eight. He stole any and everything from local business and neighborhoods. His family was convinced that he was headed for a life of crime. Louie did however proved everyone wrong by changing his ways when he reached high school. When in the concentration camps Louie used some tricks from the past. Not only to survive, but to also keep entertained. “Confident that he was clever, resourceful, and bold enough to escape any predicament, he was almost incapable of discouragement. When history carried him into war, this resilient optimism would define him (Page 6-7)”. He stole food from the concentration …show more content…

“Come on Mac. Shut up”. . They spent forty-seven days lost at sea. It wasn’t easy, and Mac’s constant negative energy was not helping. Survival is not always based on the necessities of life. It has just as much to do with a positive spirt and mind set. “Louie and Phil's hope displaced their fear and inspired them to work toward their survival, and each success renewed their physical and emotional vigor. Mac's resignation seemed to paralyze him and the less he participated in their efforts to survive, the more he slipped. Though he did the least, as the days passed, it was he who faded the most. Louie and Phil's optimism, and Mac's hopelessness, were becoming self-fulfilling”. As humans we are often our worst enemies, and fill ourselves up with so much negative self-talk instead of seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Mac was always saying how they were going to die at sea, and that they wouldn’t make it. In emergency situations everyone will either stick together and try to remain positive or fall apart. It’s about loyalty and trust. “We beat them by making it to the end”. The best way to prove others wrong to be tenacious. Pete Zamperini once said ‘A moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory (Page 34)’. In hard situations people often give up and stop trying. However if chosen to push through and continue despite the bad circumstances the reward

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