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Analysis Of Forgiveness In Laura Hillenbrand's Book 'Unbroken'

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Someone once said, “Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future” (Lorenzo). Olympic athlete, Louie Zamperini lived through WWII and was able to experience a life free from his horrible past. Laura Hillenbrand’s novel Unbroken tells the story of Louie Zamperini and the struggles he experiences as a POW in WWII. After surviving the war, he returns home a completely different man. Louie struggles to deal with his horrific past, but manages to find a way to let it go. Louie faces many obstacles during the war, but with the faith in God, years after the war he was finally able to forgive those who had made his life miserable. Louie seemed to be a person who never prayed for help, but when difficult times arise in his life, …show more content…

In the first couple years after the war Louie was set on murdering the man who ruined him. A few years later, Louie was filled with forgiveness, “Thoughts of murder no longer had a home in him” (Hillenbrand). This thought that Louie had is an excellent sign that he is a changed man and that he is beginning to forgive what happened. A little later, Louie comes to the conclusion that he needed to go back to Japan. There he saw all of his previous captors except for the cruelest of them all, the Bird. When Louie heard about the fate of the Bird, “ Something shifted sweetly inside him. It was forgiveness, beautiful and effortless and complete. For Louie Zamperini, the war was over” (Hillenbrand 386). Louie no longer had the Bird haunting over him. Before Louie had left Japan, Louie had done something that the captors where completely surprised by “[they] watched him come to them, his hands extended, a radiant smile on his face” (Hillenbrand 387). Louie has no animosity towards the men because he finally feels free from the chains of the war. The faith Louie was able to develop during and years after the war allowed Louie to finally forgive those who made his past

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In the memoir Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand and Louie Zamperini show that having a determined mindset can help get through the horrors of POW camps. The POW camp Louie was in was terrible. He would get beaten everyday for no reason and be forced to do hard labor. The author uses words such as “broken”, “fractured, and “shattered” and paired them with the word “POW” to show that the Japanese soldiers had no mercy against the American soldiers. Throughout the POW camp terrible things happen to Louie and he is forced to see horrible events.

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His crew mates let Louie take command of the raft. The following quote shows how someone who just meets Louie recognizes his bravery and is willing to let him take control of the plan to survive. Phil exclaims “I’m glad it was you,

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As a result, Louie had so much hatred that he wanted to kill the Bird, and even dreamed of strangling

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Topic 1 The biography, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand was about the life of Louis and what troubles he faced while being kept as a POW in the Japanese camps during World War II. Louis and the other POWs faced horrendous conditions and were neglected throughout their time at the camps. There were strict rules placed on the captives but many of them found ways to break them. The POW camps served many purposes for the Japanese, but the conditions that the POWs faced at these camps were extremely severe.

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Another important fact was that as Louie was traveling across the Pacific Ocean, his plane was shot down, and his pilot and he became stranded in the middle of the ocean for forty-seven days. Both the pilot and Louie survived, but they were captured and place into prison-of-war camps. Another important fact was that during Louie’s time in the prison-of-war camp, there had been a guard nicknamed the Bird, that punched Louie more than two hundred times and even made him clean pigpens with his bare hands just because he did not like

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“Dignity is as essential to human life as water, food, and oxygen. The stubborn retention of it, even in the face of extreme physical hardship, can hold a man 's soul in his body long past the point when the body should have surrendered it” (Hillenbrand 189). In the novel Unbroken, written by Laura Hillenbrand, Louis “Louie” Zamperini goes through several life-threatening experiences. After being a troublemaker as a child, and an Olympic athlete, Louie straps up his boots and becomes a bombardier for the Army Air Corps. After a traumatizing crash and a forty-six day survival at sea, Louie is taken captive by Japanese officials.

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Louie started as a young trouble boy, who then became into a man who was an airman during World War 2. During his POW experience many challenges came in the way, one of them being Mutsuhiro Watanabe also known as the Bird. The Bird was a Japanese corporal who ended up in the Omori Camp. During Louie’s experience at Omori with the Bird became his worst challenge and enemy since the Bird wanted to make Louie’s life a nightmare. The Bird tortured Louie for different reasons but that it never broke Louie.

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This was until Louie noticed a bird flying, got an idea, and slowly inched his hand closer and closer to the bird. All in one go, Louie closed his hand, and while the bird is pecking he closed his hand and then snapped the bird 's neck. In order to get the meat from the bird, Louie

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Louie Zamperini and Mutsuhiro “The Bird” Watanabe: Character Comparison Like snowflakes, all people are extremely unique. Therefore, it can be assumed that we all have a different outlook on the world and will handle what the universe throws at us in our own way. In the young adult novel, Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand conveys this theme, war and trauma can have profound and varied effects on different people experiencing it in a similar way. She does this by showing the reader extremes at opposite ends of the spectrum: Louie Zamperini and Mutsuhiro Watanabe.

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Unbroken centers around a soldier named Louie Zamperini. Louie is on the American side fighting for peace in the South Pacific against the Japanese during WW2. Louie was a lieutenant in the U.S Air Force ,and served as a crewmember on the Green Hornet(B-24) Louie functioned as a bombardier who took pride in his duty. He was a true patriot.

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He married and was trying to move past his experiences as a POW. However, nightmares and flashbacks of The Bird haunted him. They made him focus on revenge and anger. One night while sleeping, he had a vision that he was strangling The Bird, but it turned out to the his pregnant wife. This PTSD caused Louie to become divorced.

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It was an act of God that allowed them to survive. After the war was over Louie 's life changed forever. He was a believer and follower of Jesus Christ. After the war was over Louie 's faith did not stop. He was excited and enthusiastic about the opportunity God had given him for his life.

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As Helen Keller once quoted, “Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.” Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken tells the life story of Louis “Louie” Zamperini. Through his troubles as a child, emerged a strong-willed Olympic runner, who later became a military aviator. He was lost at sea and then captured by the Japanese as a prisoner of war. He endured years of abuse and suffering but still managed to stay true to who he was.

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Other prisoners told him to give in or the Bird would beat him to death. Louie couldn’t do it” (181). This shows how although Louie was tortured by the Bird, who attempted to make him feel invisible and dehumanized, he never let him win. Next, Louie stole food from the guards to make him feel like he was doing something. This is shown when the author explained how, “Eventually, he was so frantic to eat that he broke into the kitchen and stole chestnuts reserved for the guards, an act that could’ve gotten him killed” (165).

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Louie didn’t want the Bird to see him in pain because he wanted to take control and turn the power around. He needed to be resilient and stay mentally strong. Later, for stealing, the Bird had made every man in the camp punch Louie and a few others in the

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