Book Report On Unbroken By Laura Hillenbrand

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand follows Louie Zamperini, a US prisoner of war survivor in World War II. Louie Zamperini was the son of Italian immigrants. He grew up in Torrance, California with a habit of testing the limits. Pete, Louie’s older brother, saw that Louie had a talent for running. As a result, he forced Louie to join the track-and-field team at school. Louie soon became a track phenomenon, nicknamed the “Torrance Tornado,” and gave up his delinquent habits. His running talent eventually earned him a spot on the U.S. Olympic team and he competed in the 1936 Olympics in Germany. However, World War II got in the way of Louie’s success when he was drafted and eventually assigned to the Army Air Corps. Louie trained to become a bombardier

He wasn’t allowed food, water, or any sort of medical care and was interrogated, beaten and humiliated on many occasions. While Louie was transferred between many POW camps, most of his time was spent under Corporal Mutsuhiro “the Bird” Watanabe. The Bird was Louie’s worst tormentor. He deprived the prisoners of food and even made them lay face down in human excrement. However, even with all of the dehumanizing events, Louie’s spirit remained unbroken. When the Allies defeated Japan, the Bird went into hiding and ultimately avoided all punishment as a war criminal. After Louie was freed from captivity, he returned to California where he met and married Cynthia Applewhite. However, Louie still ran into many struggles; he fell into alcoholism, struggled with untreated PTSD, and struggled financially. His marriage collapsed, but Cynthia convinced Louie to attend a Billy Graham Crusade in Los Angeles. The program completely changed his life once he committed himself to his faith. Louie lived the rest of his life relatively

Hillenbrand illustrates, through Louie’s experiences, that those who maintain their human dignity have a greater chance of surviving that those who gave up. Even through the inhumane treatments these men were given in the P.O.W. camps, they remained strong and had a will to live through their trials. “With these talks they created something to live for” (146). While at the camps, Louie and the other men managed to keep their dignity intact through rebellious acts which lifted their spirits and kept them from being broken. While Louie, Phil, and Mac were stranded at sea, Mac didn’t survive despite eating all of their survival chocolate. He remained sad and quiet; he gave up hope and because his spirit was broken and his body wasn’t capable of staying alive, he passed on. “Mac’s resignation seemed to paralyze him and the less he participated in their efforts to survive, the more he slipped. Though he did the least, as days passed on, it was he who faded the most” (148). This examples shows that an unbroken spirit can survive even the worst circumstances, “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 at which the body should have surrendered