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Analysis Of Unbroken By Laura Hillenbrand

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The Olympic athlete Gail Devers once said, “Sometimes we fall, sometimes we stumble, but we can’t stay down. We can’t allow life to beat us down. Everything happens for a reason, and it builds character in us, and it tells us what we are about and how strong we really are when we think we could be that strong.” In Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, Louis Zamperini demonstrated Devers’ words with the utmost determination when, even life was rearing its ugly head, Louis never gave up hope and survived being stranded in the Pacific for 47 days. In all, Louie’s determination was one of his greatest virtues and his life saving quality that Hillenbrand described in his story. A sly yet caring thief, Louie often stole just about anything he could get …show more content…

When the plane crashed into the Pacific, Louie had one thought: “Nobody’s going to live through this” (125). In short, Louie knew there was nothing he could do but try, and he survived the crash along with Mac and Phil. Mac died. While seven other crew men perished, they were stranded for 46 days, longer than any person or crew had been stranded before. This says a lot about Louie’s personality, like how he knew that while his body was diminishing he needed to keep his mind sharp. He came up with creative ways to keep them entertained and yet work their brains at the same time: “They continued quizzing each other, chasing each other’s stories down to the smallest detail, teaching each other melodies and lyrics, and cooking imaginary meals” (173). After his capture, Louie continued to change. He became fearful and started losing hope, though he never seemed to give up. When he had been taken as a POW he and the others had been nearly enslaved, yet also became mischievous: “When their guard became absorbed in wooing a pretty girl, the POWs sprinted from their stations, snatched up the tools, dashed over to a section of track, wrenched the pins and bolts out, and rushed back to their work. The guard, still talking to the girl, noticed nothing. A switch engine chugged in, pulling several boxcars. The engine hit the sabotaged strip, the rails shot out from

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300 Words | 2 Pages

In the novel, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, Louie is tortured by being dehumanized and isolated while being a POW. Throughout the book, Louie is being treated poorly by his captors, but resisted giving up. One example is in chapter 17, Louie was being transported to a camp and is put on the ground. The text states, “Louie said something to Phil and immediately felt a boot kick into him...” (page 181).

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665 Words | 3 Pages

A second character trait Louie shows throughout the book is determined. An example of this is when Louie, Mac, and Phil are on the raft and sharks are circling them. “He stewed all night, scowled hatefully at them all day, and decided that if the sharks were going to try to eat them, he’d try to eat them. ”(126) Louie is determined and had a conviction to survive, because the sharks are trying to eat them, Louie is going to try and kill and eat them.

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707 Words | 3 Pages

Shortly after being captured, Zamperini is taken to a POW camp where he is abused physically and mentally. Throughout the novel the readers learn that the hardships of war effect Louie, causing the loss of his dignity. After Louie was captured by the Japanese, he was taken to a POW camp ,Ofuna, they began to deprive Louie of human essentials such as food and water. To make matters worse, they started to conduct experiments on him and his comrade Phil, “The doctor pushed more solution into his vein, and the spinning worsened.

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1143 Words | 5 Pages

Proverbs 24:6 says; “for by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory and safety” (Holy Bible, New Living Translation). In the novel Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, the story of Louis Zamperini is told from his troubled childhood, his record breaking running days, and to becoming a WWII hero, and living to tell his story. Louie ends his running career when the second world war started between the Americans and the Japanese. Louie faces many hardships through his time in the military, and after the war. Through Louis Zamperini’s suffering while striving to survive while being stranded at sea, becoming a Prisoner Of War in Japan, and his post war trauma, leads him to God, and finding his faith.

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974 Words | 4 Pages

Although the guys insisted there were no planes available, the lieutenant had them take the B-24 Green Hornet. “There was only one ship, the Green Hornet,” “We were very reluctant, but Phillips finally gave in for the rescue mission”( Hillenbrand 96). After taking flight, the plane began to experience engine problems and began to go down. The men prepared for crash landing into the Pacific Ocean. Louie, Phil and Mac survived the crash, but were stranded on a raft.

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815 Words | 4 Pages

For example, people thought that Louie’s worth was low when he was younger because he got into fights and stole from stores. Throughout the novel, Louie reveals his morals and worth showing that human dignity holds the truth and identification of a person. Countless times in Unbroken, Louie consistently shows the purpose of his self- worth. Page 25 states, “Once his hometown’s resident archvillain, Louie was now a superstar, and Torrance forgave him everything.

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1349 Words | 6 Pages

In the beginning of the movie, we see that Louie experiences an aircraft crash landings in the Pacific Ocean during the war. While Louie and the crew of the plane crash: Mac and Phil survived,

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874 Words | 4 Pages

Louie started a camp for boys named “Victory Boys camp”. He would take boys who had been in prison or juvenile school and be a mentor and attempt to put them down the right path for their life. He also spoke of the free gift God gives to everyone of eternal life. “He went easy on Christianity, but laid it before them as an option. Some were convinced, some not, but either way, boys who arrived at Victory as ruffians often left it renewed and reformed.”

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1205 Words | 5 Pages

This, among other actions taken against them by their cruel Japanese captors, develops a theme of perseverance through immense suffering and pain. In the book and movie, it is similarly illustrated as to how Phil and Louie are constantly abused by the guards, provided little to no shelter, and are given inconsequential rations of food despite the fact that they were previously starving for almost 2 months on a liferaft that had been lost at sea. Additionally, both tellings of the story indicate that Phil and Louie were often taken separately out of their cells for interrogation by the Japanese on topics like the B-24 and Norden Bomb sight. However, a significant difference between the book and movie is that during their captivity in the book, it is often mentioned that the Americans were able to communicate with each other through hand signals and whispering.

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819 Words | 4 Pages

This was important to his survival, because not only was he having something to eat, but emotionally he felt that he wasn’t playing the ‘rules of Japan’s game’. Lastly, to resist attempts of dehumanization, Louie never let any of the guards see his true depression. This is shown

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727 Words | 3 Pages

Louis learned a lot and when he returned from war, his character changed dramatically. In the beginning of Hillenbrand’s book, she described Louie as a delinquent, Louie stole things from liquor to souvenirs. Hillenbrand wrote “ At five, he started smoking , picking up discarded cigarette butts while walking to kindergarten” (5). These actions Louie executed shows

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799 Words | 4 Pages

Unfortunately, he and his friend Phil were captured by the Japanese and put into prison camps. Louie needed to show resilience and resist the captors attempts to make him feel worthless. Laura Hillenbrand, the author of Unbroken, uses character to show the theme when tough situations arise one must be resilient in order to transform the bad into good or even better. When Louie was a prisoner in the camp, he needed to resist the dehumanization and beatings he had been given by the Bird.

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456 Words | 2 Pages

This is shown in the biography, “Unbroken” by Laura Hillenbrand. This book is about men who used hope and resilience to survive being stranded in the ocean. A piece of text evidence from Chapter 15 that proves hope is needed to survive is when the author states, “Four more times the Japanese strafed them, sending Louie into the water to kick and punch at the sharks until the bomber had passes. Though he fought them to the point of exhaustion, he was not bitten.” (19) After their raft gets shot at and they get attacked by sharks, they still do not give up.

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690 Words | 3 Pages

Louie was out in multiple POW camps and was beaten nearly to death but he used his determination and courageousness to keep him alive and survive to see his family after two years. He was determined to keep his dignity and lied to keep the U.S. safe even though the punishments could be crucial. Louie went through living on a raft for 47 days to enduring over 2 years in POW camps and still lived to be 97, this shows the human ability to recover from traumatic experiences, even if they were on the verge of

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959 Words | 4 Pages

The determination to live comes from human nature. But the urge of giving up when we come across a difficult problem is also a part of human nature. There a few people in this world that have the characteristics of resilience. As author Kendra Cherry describes them, "People that are able to keep their cool have what psychologists call resilience, or an ability to cope with problems and setbacks" (Source A; Cherry, 1). An example of someone who has the characteristics of resilience is a bombardier name Louis (Louie) Zamperini.

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