An Essay On Unbroken By Laura Hillenbrand

Forgiveness is never easy since human instinct is to seek revenge on those who hurt us. In the novel Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, Louie Zamperini suffers extreme brutality as a prisoner of war. After the war, Louie is further challenged to heal from the pain he endured, constantly reliving his trauma. When an inconceivable shift occurs in Louie, he learns to forgive those who hurt him by finding peace within himself. Forgiveness is difficult because it is easier to feel bitter and angry than to move on. It creates an endless cycle of hate, in which they are the prisoners. Louie faced nightmares day and night fighting battles with Watanabe. Unbeknownst to Louie, he was fighting a battle with himself, seeking armistice from within. Eventually,

But humans have the desire to get even with those who have wronged them. Many people do not allow themselves to forgive and forget. The wrongdoer made such a big impact on their life that the individual must seek revenge to feel content. The Bird or Mutsuhiro Watanabe, a Japanese sergeant, targeted Louie throughout the time he spent in the camp. As Louie adjusts to living his normal life, he feels a sense of rapture to see his family and run again. But the emotions from his experience rise to the surface, “ beginning to suffer bouts of suffocating anxiety” and “an apparition would form in his head and burn there. It was the face of the Bird, screaming, ‘Next! Next! Next!”(346). Louie Zamperini is known for his resilient character facing many challenges during World War II. He is ambitious, stubborn, and optimistic even on the brink of survival. After overcoming a great deal of physical suffering, he is further challenged by the mental trauma that results from it. Slowly breaking down, he builds up a wall from his loved ones unable to control his actions and losing his dignity. Many other veterans had severe mental injuries, some becoming “feral with rage. For many men, seeing an Asian person or overhearing snippet of Japanese left them shaking, weeping, enraged, or lost in flashbacks”(356). The trauma becomes unbearable for Louie. He can no longer live a day in his life without seeing The Bird

Not even something I could do. Through this novel, I have compared experiences in my life to the forgiveness and redemption in Louie’s. Never in my life had I once offered forgiveness to those who have hurt me. I’ve kept the emotions in, bottling them up, and expecting them to know where things went wrong. Rather than confronting the situation, I told myself that I was over it, but I was lying. My actions and thoughts proved myself otherwise. I wanted to prove my enemies wrong, showing them that I was better. I created fake arguments in my head with the same people over and over again. Similar to Louie, I was trapped. Every time I thought of that person, I see how they have hurt me and the emotions bled through. There were negative effects on my relationships: I was insecure and the smallest things irritated me. In moments of awareness, my self-worth was depleted. I have never understood why my mood fluctuated, but I now realize this partly answered why. Louie’s experience inspired me to set myself free and showed me that it was possible. Though I haven’t offered forgiveness directly, I have in some ways. In the past, I have stayed friends with those who have hurt me and put the harsh feelings aside. I don’t justify what they have done to me as right, but I have learned to separate people from situations because we are all trying to navigate our way through