World War II was a very traumatizing time for the soldiers that fought in it. Unfortunately, the War was also a very traumatic experience for the Japanese Americans that were forced into internee camps. Key examples of those who have struggled through awful conditions are Miné Okubo and Louie Zamperini. Miné is a Japanese American artist who was forced to live in squalor conditions surrounded by armed guards. Louie is an American soldier and a previous Olympic athlete that was beaten daily and starved almost to death in prisoner of war camps.
1. Louis Zamperini was born in January 1917, in Olean, New York. Raised in California, Zamperini joined the track team in high school. Excelling at long-distance events, Zamperini competed in the 1936 Berlin Olympics and was set to compete again in the 1940 games in Tokyo, which were cancelled when World War II had struck. A bombardier in the Army Air Corps, Zamperini was in a plane that went down, and when he arrived on shore in Japan 47 days later, he was taken as a prisoner of war and tortured for two years.
“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.
Unbroken is a nonfiction novel written by Laura Hillenbrand. It recounts the remarkable World War 2 survival story of Louis Zamperini. It is set in Louie’s lifespan, 1917-2014, but most of the book is set during wartime in either Japan POW camps or in a raft on the open ocean. The main character of Unbroken is Louis Zamperini, called Louie throughout most of the story.
Being in the middle of WWII, it was a dangerous place. In Unbroken, Louie Zamperini, a World Olympic runner enlist in the army which just happens to be WWII. Both characters are faced with life or death situations and they both happen to survive. Liesel faced with death as the street she lived on, Heaven, was mistakenly bombed overnight. Lucky for Liesel, she fell asleep in the basement which kept her unsafe.
“Unbroken”, the story of an unforetold tale which includes a young man, who went by the name Louis Zamperini. Louis starts off in his birthplace of New York in 1917, then growing up in his hometown area of Torrance, California with his family after moving in 1919, two years after Louis birth. He was a young boy of Italian descent, living with father Anthony, mother Louise, sisters Sylvia & Virginia, and older brother, Pete. Being in the household of the Zamperini 's they’d lived strict Roman Catholic lives. Louis did not favor the strictness, which led him to be quite the troublemaker.
How would you feel if one day you were told to leave your whole life behind to live in captivity just because people halfway across the world did something wrong? This horror story was all too true for the thousands of Japanese Americans alive during World War II. Almost overnight, thousands of proud Japanese Americans living on the west coast were forced to leave their homes and give up the life they knew. The United States government was not justified in the creation of Japanese internment camps because it stripped law-abiding American citizens of their rights out of unjustified fear.
Louis Zamperini endured countless hardships during his lifetime. Growing up in Torrance, California, Louis was a reckless delinquent who often stole and got into fights with kids from his school. Louis got away with stealing and got out of fights with his impeccable speed and ability to quickly run away. His older brother, Pete, thought he could channel this incredible swiftness into something positive.
Family #19788 The memoir Looking like the Enemy, was written by Mary Matsuda Gruenewald. Set during World War II after the attack upon Pearl Harbor. The Japanese Americans living in Western part of America had a since of betrayal and fear having to evacuate their homes and enter into internment camps.
The Japanese Treachery Would you like to be forced out of your home and into a glorified prison? Japan’s air and naval forces struck against Oahu in a surprise attack. That day led to many things, and one of those was Japanese internment camps. These camps were similar but different than concentration camps. One of the largest differences is why the Japanese were even sent to the camp.
Overcoming Dehumanization “Louie watched the sky and hoped the Americans would come before the Bird killed him” (181). This is one of the many examples of how the way POWs were treated in these camps influenced many lives negatively. Like many other Prisoners of War, Louie Zamperini survived several difficult conditions. He had to resist several attempts of dehumanization. In Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand uses both internal and external conflict to show that war has profound and varied effects on individuals.
In addition to the cultural tradition of Bushido, the Japanese’s harsh treatment of prisoners of war during World War II can also be attributed to the military doctrines and structures that were prevalent in Japan at the
Julia Espino Mrs. Yates English 9a Per. 1 11/30/14 Human Rights Paper Rough Draft “We the peoples of the United Nations, determined to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small..” (UNC). In 1942, during World War II, Japanese Internment Camps were created and acted as a prison for families. These camps infringed peoples protection from “severe political, legal, and social abuses” (Nickel).
Unbroken The author wrote this story to inform the reader of the life of Louis Zamperini, while also telling the story in an entertaining way. Hillenbrand demonstrated the main idea throughout the book by using rhetorical devices such as diction, syntax, imagery, and tone. Hillenbrand’s use of these rhetorical devices contribute to the book Unbroken by emphasizing the main character, Louis “Louie” Zamperini’s, life before, during, and after becoming a prisoner of war.
Although international laws evolved after the Second World War, a concept and standard on behaviors between countries, what countries can do to their people and how countries should engage in war existed in the international law prior the Second World War. For example, Hague Conference of 1907 and Geneva Convention of 1929 had guidelines on how a country in war should treat the certain individuals. Several laws in the conferences conventions applied to the U.S. government’s action, which proved the government’s violation of international law toward people of Japanese ancestry during wartime. Both Hague Conference of 1907 and Geneva Convention of 1929 have a part on the treatments of Prisoners of War (POW), which could be applied to the people
