Historical Stereotypes In John Hillenbrand's 'Unbroken'

Historical biographies are a very common form of literature in society today. The biography, Unbroken, is written from a third person’s point of view, telling Louis’s life story and recounting events, people he met, facts, as well as accomplishments. There were also encounters involving themes, which were quite persistent throughout the entire novel. To add to that, the archetypes that developed throughout the novel fit the requirements for historical biographies. The novel Unbroken fits within the genre of historical biographies because the characters and their relations to Louis, the themes present, and the archetypes cultivated throughout the novel are consistent with the elements of historical biographies.
First, the novel starts by recalling

As a kid, Louis was bullied, “drawn by his oddity,” and they “pelted him with rocks, taunted him, punched him, and kicked him” (Hillenbrand 9). As a result, this influenced Louis to become more “short-tempered and obstreperous” (Hillenbrand 9) as he went through his teenage years. Through these experiences, he learned to fight which made him more defiant, especially to authority figures, but to overall anyone. The experiences he went through later impacted him when he went through being a prisoner-of-war throughout the many years, camps, and abusers he met. In this historical biography, Louis would be considered the protagonist of the story, as well as a round character. Moreover, a person that impacted his life was his brother, Pete Zamperini. Pete was not very much like Louis, “whether that be his looks, manners, brains or even singing voice,” (Hillenbrand 8), but was a huge influence on Louis, and was the one that influenced Louis’s decision to get into running. Louis went on to break many records: most notably for running a mile in 4 minutes and 8.3 seconds at the University of Southern California. Pete pushed Louis to accept

To begin with, the story revolves around the life of Louis Zamperini, meaning he is the protagonist in this novel. Louis goes through his hardships, as well as at a certain point described as a hero that is quite often found in the protagonist. Moreover, the novel also has an antagonist, which is perceived as Mutsuhiro Watanabe. Watanabe was seen as a villain due to his actions against Louis and the other prisoners-of-war, which consequently qualifies the requirements for the antagonist. To add on, some other characters that fit the character archetypes in historical biographies are Pete Zamperini and Billy Graham displayed as mentors, Russell Phillips as the “sidekick”, and Cynthia Applewhite as the lover. Although this novel is non-fiction, the characters all fall into certain character archetypes which reflect the novel. Furthermore, the plot and setting archetypes also benefit the novel in many ways. The hero plot archetype is described as “A hero is a real person or a main character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity with feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength,” (Wikipedia). Louis fits into this plot archetype because in multiple different scenarios, such as when Mutsuhiro forced him to hold a huge log over his head, and if he let it down, he would be shot dead (Hillenbrand 301-302). Louis ended up