Unbroken is a book that has touched everyone that's read it in someway, Louie's can do attitude will leave us inspired to do more with our lives by the end of the book. Laura Hillenbrand tells us the life of tenacious Louie Zamperini, who went from an olympian to a living corpse to a man of God. Louie Zamperini was a troubled child who seemed to going on the wrong path, but once he started running he learned that he couldn't keep doing the things he used to do. Louie makes it to the olympics and comes in eighth. He is then drafted into the military where he becomes a bombarder. His plane crashed in the ocean where he was stuck at sea for 47 days. The Japanese captured him at sea and took him to a prisoner of war camp, he was torchered for two years till he was rescued. Even after he was rescued he was still not the same because of he had …show more content…
While he was in the war Louie was put in the worse plane that could fly, crashes in the ocean, is lost at sea for 47 days, and the captured and tortured by the Japanese, yet through all of this Louie never once gave up hope and faith. While Louie was captured by the Japanese he was transferred through several different camps. All these camps had one thing in common, their ultimate goal was to make these men's lives as terrible as they could. One day ‘the Bird’ told Louie to hold up a 6 foot long wood beam and if he couldn't he would be hit with a gun. The book stated, “The beam tipped. The guard jabbed Louie with his gun, and Louie straightened up. Less and less blood was reaching his head, and he began to feel confused, his thoughts gauzy, the camp swimming around him. He felt his consciousness slipping, his mind losing adhesion, until all he knew was a single thought: He cannot break me.” Through all the tests and pain ‘the Bird’ has out Louie though he does not give in. Louie stares fear in the face and doesn't flinch, he make be worn down but he can never be
In Unbroken: A world war 2 story of survival, resilience, and redemption- by Laura Hillenbrand; young Louie Zamperini is a delinquent of Torrance, California. He steals food, runs around like hell and even dreams of hoping on a train and running away for good. However, Pete, his older manages to turn his life around by turning his love of running from the law into a passion for track and field. Zamperini is so fast that he breaks his high school’s mile record, resulting in him attending the olympics in berlin in 1936. His running career however was put on hold when World war 2 broke out, he enlisted in the the Air Corps and becomes a bombardier. During a harrowing battle, the “superman” gets hit numerous times with japanese bullets destroying
In the book Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, young Louie Zamperini is the troublemaker of Torrance, California. After his life had taken a mischievous turn, his older brother, Pete, managed to convert his love of running away, into a passion for running on the track. At first, Louie’s old habit of smoking gets the best of him, and it is very hard for him to compare to the other track athletes. After a few months of training, coached by Pete, Louie begins to break high school records, and became the fastest high school miler in 1934. After much more hard work, goes to the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936 but is no match for the Finnish runners. He trains hard for the next Olympic Games, and hopes to beat the four minute
Conflict arises in several aspects of life. We often have conflicts with ourselves, with other people, and even with nature. These three main conflicts, which bring Louie to redemption are seen in Hillenbrand’s Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. These conflicts are between the man and nature, Louie and the Bird, and the internal conflict as Louie struggles with alcoholism
“The commandant announced that we had already covered 42 miles since we left. It was a long time since we had passed beyond the limits of fatigue. Our legs were moving mechanically, in spite of us, without us” (Wiesel 83). Elie was forced to run at two in the morning on a regular basis, and if anyone slowed down or stopped they were immediately shot or beat. Elie was mentally fit and told himself that he wouldn’t give up, however, his father was slower and a lot older, making it much harder for him to be quick on his feet. In Unbroken, the quickness that Louie showed as a child and while growing up, helped him prepare for the future of being quick on his feet as well as being mentally and physically strong. “The same attributes that had made [Louie] the boy terror of Torrance were keeping him alive in the greatest struggle of his life” (Hillenbrand 34). In many of the conditions that Louie faced on a daily basis, only someone with his faith still holding together and can persevere through the struggles in his life is going to make it out
Louis “Louie” Zamperini went from the Terror of Torrance to a World War II hero. He grew from a young boy, who terrorized his town, into a record breaking runner, who competed in the Olympics. He later joined the United States Army Air Forces and served as a bombardier in World War II. After his plane crashed and he was stuck on a raft in the ocean, he was captured by the Japanese and became a prisoner of war. Louie’s resourcefulness, toughness, and defiance from his boyhood helped him to survive the relentless torment thrown at him later in life.
First of all, Louie stood up and defended himself against the guards, despite the consequences. When the guards were jabbing him with a stick repetitively, “Louie yanked the stick away,” showing that although
As the story comes to its conclusion, the hero has endured his hardships; he went from the one that started fights to the one that thought of what could make everything work. An ordinary person in an ordinary world faced his share of trials and tribulations to come out as a new person. Defining the hero myth—he struggled and still was able to triumph to his prize at the end ; individuals relish these type of stories, they can
In life, everyone needs to survive in some way. Some people may have to survive from hunger, or maybe they have to survive without a home, or without a family. How you try to survive makes all the difference. In the short story “Attack,” by Ralph Fletcher a boy and his family’s roosters are attacked. But, everyone still believes that some roosters are alive. “Attack” shows, there is always a way to survival. This is true when, the mom believes there are survivors, also when two people in the family go into the woods and don’t give up looking for roosters that have survived, and most of all when the mom and Johnny a brother come back with two rooster survivors.
A huge part of the story showed how a person could overcome all the odds to become successful is feats such as sports and other activities. Most sports champions show great endurance to win many competitions. Similarly, Hillenbrand indicated that Louis, a competitive runner, trained until “he (had) rubbed the skin right off one of his toes, (leaving) his sock bloody” (Hillenbrand 23). As a result of all the hard work, Louis overcome struggles such as a bleeding shin, broken ribs, and a damaged toe to set time records for many races. In my experiences, I see many people take sports and other extra-curricular activities as a burden without embracing the challenges. In contrast, Louis illustrates the rare athlete and human being who seeks solutions to
After World War II, Louie Zamperini writes a letter to Mutsuhiro Watanabe, also known as “the Bird” saying that, “The post-war nightmares caused my life to crumble, but thanks to a confrontation with God through the evangelist Billy Graham, I committed my life to Christ. Love has replaced the hate I had for you. Christ said, ‘Forgive your enemies and pray for them.”’ This is demonstrated in the novel, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. This tells an emotional story about Louie Zamperini's experiences as an Olympic athlete, World War II veteran, and an American POW. After his Olympic dreams are crushed when he gets drafted at age 24, he experienced things most people cannot even imagine, when he returns he makes
The human need to be relatable is unquenchable. We love to be able to see parts of ourselves in others, and to be able to feel like our idols are not untouchable. The Hero’s Journey format is one that can be found in almost any story, even in real life. Overall, it is the perfect recipe for keeping readers engrossed. Another place the journey has shown up is in Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and Odyssey by Homer. These two stories—one a biography, the other, an epic poem—are so effective in their storytelling, it is easy to see how authors today continue to use the same method to make stories that grab the readers’ attention. What makes them most alike, however, is the emotions and thoughts they have the power to provoke.
As a teen, Zamperini acknowledges that great things demand hard work and if a person is exceptionally persistent, he will become unstoppable to achieve his goal. The words, “A lifetime of glory is worth a moment of pain (34)” illustrates Zamperini as a strongminded character. Although this quote has only been said in chapter four, it remained remarkable since the beginning of the story. These were the words of Pete that resonates in Zamperini’s head during the exhilarating moments he encounters. Pete is a loyal friend of Zamperini and the coach who never gets tired to motivate Zamperini. The inspiration words of Pete also echoes the social commentary of the human experience that people at any point in their life will experience pain, and the question is not why they have to suffer. But, will the outcome worth the pain. Since, everyone has the free will to decide which goals they desire to accomplish, it is also essential for them to realize that accomplishment is the product of hard work. In the novel, Zamperini strives to win Olympics for distance running. He trained so hard to prepare for this big competition that he begins to be numb from any pain. Therefore, Zamperini as a teenager discovered his defiance character is indeed the key into running. Due to perseverance, he uncovers a phenomenal gift that lead him
The narrator watches helplessly as the bird tries to escape wondering “how did it get into this terrible place?” (520). As the narrator watches the bird, he slowly begins to turn into the bird himself. All of the paralleled imagery comes together when he physically turns into a bird. The narrator and the bird are in the exact same situation and the narrator has slowly begun to view his own situation through the bird’s eyes. In an airport there are so many factors that travelers have zero control over. In the narrator’s case, he is trapped in the airport because his flight has been delayed over and over. The bird is trapped because it flew in somehow and cannot seem to find it’s way out. The narrator, frustrated with the other people in the airport for not paying attention to the bird or his similar problem screams, “Help me! I want to go home! I don’t belong here!” (520), but no one will help because they either don’t have control either, or they do not care. He helplessly awaits his plane to come, just like the bird helplessly waits for a person to come and save it. All of the imagery about the airport at the beginning comes back to the narrator’s panic attack. He screams for help as loud as he can but no one listens. He becomes just one person among the large crowd of people in the airport. Everybody has his or her own things to do and places to be. The randomness and chaos of the airport leads the narrator to feel helpless and unheard. Both the narrator and the bird have become trapped and
“It began over a chore Louie’s father asked him to do. Louie resisted, a spat ensued, and Louie threw clothes into a bag and stormed towards the front door. His parents ordered him to stay; Louie was beyond persuasion.” (15) He couldn’t take it any longer because all he did was run since Pete forced him to do so. Louie is respire, he wants to take a break. Furthermore, this is apart of his personality as he refused to listen to his parents. “The Bird demanded that Louie looks him in the eyes; Louie wouldn’t do it. The Bird tried to knock Louie down; Louie wouldn’t fall.” (181) “The Bird” was sadistic. Therefore, this explains of this character trait because he disobeyed when the bird demanded him to look at him in the eyes. “Other prisoners told him to give in or the Bird would beat him to death. Louie couldn’t do it.” (181) When he was held captive of war and “The Bird” was harangued. Consequently, this character trait because he ignored the other prisoners when they told him to give in or else the bird would beat him to death. If Louie was never rebellious his life would probably have been completely different.
In the book, Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, it follows a Olympian named Louie Zamperini, and his journey. Louie Zamperini was born in Olean, New York, his family later then moved to Torrance, California. Louie is: rebellious, resourceful, among many other things. Louie is who he is because of how he grew up, and the obstacles he overcame. Louie Zamperini shows rebellious and resourceful characteristic traits through his actions.