Unbroken Essay Odyssey

Louie Zamperini's Odyssey

“... Every one shot up, but none as badly as Super Man. Later, ground crewmen would count its holes: 594” (84). Louie Zamperini, a mischievous child who caused many headaches for the Torrance Police Department, began running track in high school and became a decorated olympian. Although he was in his prime, due to the sprouting war he joined the Army Air Corps. He was stranded on a raft for forty-seven days, only to be rescued and sent to Japanese POW camps for another two years. In the book Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand tells the story of how Louie’s resilience and cleverness guides him through his nearly impossible journey.
Throughout his life Louie used his cleverness to do tasks such as stealing a pie or make a

This justifies that he is clever because in a pressure situation he needed to catch water. Even though they had canteens, they didn’t catch nearly enough water to survive two more days. With limited time he was able to create an apparatus to save him and his crewmates. As a child he was untameable and did anything to get attention, “Louie crammed the pay-phone coin slots with toilet paper, then returned later to feed wire behind the coins… and fill his palms with change,” (9). Because he stole from most of the people he worked for, Louie wasn’t able to earn money so he stole from the pay-phone. Louie still wanted to buy things that any child would want like action figures so he composed a device that he could steal money without having to work. It was clever because nobody would look down a coin slot. It also proved he was clever because no one would question a child in the phone booth. As Louie was slowly dieing of starvation in the POW camp

As he was drowning, death looked him in the eyes but he continued to fight, “He was drowning. Louie flung out his arms, trying to find a way out,”(100). When he was gulping down water and stuck under the plane he thought he was going to perish. Although he had a small chance of surviving, he didn’t stop flailing until he had escaped from under the plane and broke the surface. When the POWs were depressed and needing something to cheer for and look forward to, Louie provided the hope that they all longed for by triumphing over a Japanese runner, “He lengthened his stride, seized the lead and crossed the line… Louie didn’t see the guard’s club coming at his skull,” (158). He knew that if he won or lost the guards were going beat him, he accepted the beating willingly so that all the captives would have hope that the Americans were winning the war and that they would be soon rescued. He was mentally resilient because he knew that he was going to get hit but he looked past that and won the race. When Louie was reacquainted with The Bird he couldn’t work so he forced him to hold a beam over his head. If he dropped it he would be punished, “Louie had held the beam for thirty-seven minutes,” (213). This quote proves that he is resilient because he could have let the board drop and let the guards beat him. Louie battled through pain from not having a decent meal