Louie is determined to say no to this offer, knowing that if he takes it, he would get better food, a actual bed, but would be discouraging he’s country. Louie’s life experiences throughout the book that show Louie is a determined person. In the book Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand uses the life experiences of Louie Zamperini to show the traits of Courageous and Determined. Louie is courageous because he
Louie was known for doing things that he was not supposed to, “When Louie came home drenched in oil after diving into an oil rig well and nearly drowning, it took a gallon of turpentine and a lot of scrubbing before his father recognized him again. Thrilled by the crashing of boundaries, Louie was untamable. In Torrance, a rebel was born.” (7) This shows Louie in a rebellious look because without thinking he would do things that could have gotten him killed. He would slipshod for a lot of things he thought were fun.
One day some kids were beating him with a stick and he pulled the stick away from the kid, “... Louie yanked the stick away”. Louie did things he wasn’t supposed to do , like drink, smoke, and other things he shouldn’t do. Later on Louie’s brother convinced Louie to join the running team and he did.
Louie, throughout many different points in his story, developed new skills to aid him in his endeavors. Whether stealing food from others or learning how to run like a champ, he used his skills thoughtfully. At the beginning he was a very skillful thief who would most likely get away before someone could catch him. Hillenbrand wrote, “ a local family left him off their dinner-party guest list,
As Louie grew up, he straightened himself. Pete his older brother was trying to get Louie into track. Louie eventually joined track, he set records in his school then
As a boy who frequently found himself running away from the police, Louie’s perseverance defined him even in childhood. Louie stated, “‘...and then I ran like mad.’ He was often
Evidence of his untameable determination can be found on page 183 where the text states “The raido tokyo man brought him pen and paper and set to work. Knowing that his family might not that it was really he, he added details that he hoped would convince them.” This shows louie’s determination to see his family again and talk with them again. He is willing to go on a propaganda broadcast to reassure his family that he is alive and well. More evidence of his determination can be found on page 242 where the text states “Before their walk was done, he had talked her into marrying him.
Originally, Louie was a slow runner and felt humiliated. He tried harder, not because he liked it, but because he had to win. He started to get faster, eventually breaking records and pushing the limits of what he could do. As he did this, the crowds at his meets grew larger and the applause became more and more addicting. Running was a way for him to let go of life.
Louie himself began to worry as well, and he even takes to reading western novels and dreaming about running away from home. Eventually, Louie does try to run away from home, but his plan fails miserably when he is kicked off of a train and is forced to walk home over the spam of two days. Louie’s brother Pete convinces him to join track at school. Although Louie hates running, he is very good at it, and he enjoys the feeling of winning.
He learned this from his brother when he was told this as he got on the train, "A life time of glory is worth a moment of pain. " This is where perseverance comes into play. Even with all this suffering he still strived until the end. Starting off when he first began to run, he didn't think he was any good and wanted to quit, but his brother wouldn't let him. Louie went from somebody with a dark future to a superstar in his home town, because of how bad he wanted to be a great runner. "
Louie’s success was achieved by many values. The first value that was key to his success was morality. His brother Pete played a huge part in teaching Louie about his morals. He was the major reason why Louie changed his bad habits when he was a child. Pete was the perfect son; an athlete and a straight A student.
The traumatizing events Louie went through damaged him severely. Louie ran away from home when he was in high school. He went to Los Angeles with a friend for a a few days. He got into an argument with his dad, mixed with the harsh training hours given to him by his brother, he finally broke and left. He got on a train and rode North, he was caught by a police officer and was forced to jump off the train at gunpoint as it was moving.
Being resilient in tough situations can be substantial in some cases. To be resilient means one has great wit, especially in a 'finding a way out ' scenario. It can even be the key to survival, as can be shown in a short excerpt from Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand. It gives a great example of resilience based off of a situation that Louie Zamperini finds himself and crew in as their plane crashes in the Pacific Ocean. What characteristic is most important in helping Louie survive?
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.
This proves Louie is defiant because he stole the flag with complete disregard for authority, behavior that can be described as defiant. That is how Louie is defiant in Unbroken. All in all, the life of Louie Zamperini portrayed in the novel Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, clearly illustrates Louie as being determined, compassionate, and defiant. These attributes are what made him such an incorrigible child, a prodigious athlete and what kept him alive in his journey through World War II. These personality traits and the story of Louie’s life are the true meanings of the word
