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Book Report On Unbroken By Laura Hillenbrand

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People live through positive and negative events. Many people have struggles throughout their lives that make life feel impossible with the amount of abuse that is placed on them. Louie is stranded at sea and his situation does not get much better when he is taken by the Japanese. Being beaten by the Bird on nearly a daily basis while stuck as a POW in Japan eventually takes a toll on Louie. Although the war is over after nearly two years as a POW, his problems do not get much better. PTSD and being an alcoholic follows him around and constantly haunts him. In the novel, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, it shows a true story of a soldier’s life of positives and negatives while being stranded out at sea, being a prisoner of war, and having post …show more content…

While stranded out at sea, Louie became more mentally stronger. Louie endured dangerous weather, being attacked by sharks, getting shot at by a Japanese bomber, surviving from the bare minimum supplies, and watching his only little bit of hope fly away. In the middle of chapter 17, Louie and his fellow crewman, Phil, finally spot land, until a Japanese ship spots them drifting towards the island. They are taken in as POWs, prisoners of war. POW is a term used for a person that has been captured and imprisoned by the enemy in war. With Louie being stranded at sea for as long as he was, this helped him be prepared for being taken in as a POW and being beaten. An example of Louie’s mental toughness showing is, “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. Across the compound, the bird stopped laughing”(302). Louie knew that if he dropped the six foot wooden beam, he would view himself as a failure, and the Bird would beat him. Louie wanted to prove his defiance to the Bird, and his mental toughness is what is keeping him

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