Darkest Moments In Unbroken

The novel Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand tells the story of Louie Zamperini’s childhood, military service and imprisonment, along with the effects of the latter on his life after the war. In it, many characters of the story are examples of the overall theme of people finding themselves in their darkest moments. In fact, two of the most important characters of the book, Louie and Watanabe, are used to place this theme at the forefront of the story. When Louie was sent to the prison camp where Watanabe was, it began his slow descent into the worst part of his entire life. By being beaten and enslaved through no fault of his own, this was a very trying time for him. Louie shows his agency by reminding himself constantly that he can be stronger than Watanabe and not bend to his will. He shows this with the quote “All he knew was a single thought: he cannot break me”(Hillenbrand 213). Louie’s rebellious side was also shown in his time in the camps, forming a meeting with other officers to capture and kill Watanabe. He shows his rebellious side against Watanabe as well when he, within the previously mentioned group,

Watanabe had tried to get to a higher rank before, but was refused , as shown in the quote “ when he applied to become an officer, he was rejected; he’d be a lowly corporal” (Hillenbrand 173). His failure led to his temper being very volatile and intense, causing him to have rapid and sometimes dangerous mood swings, which he would lash out against the prisoners with. He also would target higher ranking soldiers than him in the camps, especially officers, the position he had vied so intensely for. The quote “thanks to Watanabe’s intense jealousy of officers, high ranking POWs were in for unrelenting cruelty” ( Hillenbrand 175) exemplifies how Watanabe would attack POWs who had more than him, to give himself power that his rank did