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Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken Essay

691 Words3 Pages

Three-time Olympic champion Gail Devers once said, “Sometimes we fall, sometimes we stumble, but we can’t stay down. We can’t allow life to beat us down. Everything happens for a reason, and it builds character in us, and it tells us what we are about and how strong we really are when we didn’t think we could be that strong.” In the biography Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, Devers ' words illustrate the sturdy determination of Louis Zamperini, which carried him through everything from his track career and time as a prisoner of war in Japan, to his life after World War II had ended. In all, Louie’s unfailing willpower to continue through life’s hardships outshone all other traits throughout his haunting story. When Louie’s story began, he was …show more content…

One task Louie took upon himself was monumental: “He was going to kill the Bird”. (361) Murder may not be a morally correct objective, he was incredibly determined to accomplish it; he obsessed over his quest for ages. When he arrived home, Louie eventually met a woman named Cynthia and had a child. His personal battle raged on, and he turned to drinking. One night, Louie attended a religious revival, where he remembered the promise he made to serve God. When he and Cynthia returned to their apartment after this experience, “Louie went straight to his cache of liquor. It was the time of night when the need usually took hold of him, but for the first time in years, Louie had no desire to drink. He carried the bottles to the kitchen sink, opened them, and poured their contents into the drain” (383). With a wife and child he should have been with for quite some time, it was for the better that he gave up his harmful habits. Through the events that occurred at this point in his life, his determination was strengthened even further; this time, he used it to turn his life around. After reading the biography of Louis Zamperini’s life by Laura Hillenbrand, it’s obvious that Louie’s concrete determination remained strong despite doubt and countless struggles attempting to chip away at its foundation. Louie, determined to conquer insurmountable odds and remain unbroken proved to audiences

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After finishing the biography on Louis Zamperini by Laura Hillenbrand I can firmly say that Louie is a very skillful person. All of the skills that he acquired throughout his journey he earned himself and never let life get in his way or break

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Louie was upset, but then remembered the night he found God. “That night, the sense of shame and powerless that had driven his need to hate the Bird had vanished. The Bird was no longer his monster. He was only a man” (Hillenbrand 386). Years later, Louie heard the Bird was still alive, and Louie asked if he could visit with the Bird, but the Bird refused.

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Another value that was key to the success of Louie Zamperini was society. At first Louie was a delinquent trying to find endless ways to make money even if it included stealing. When people heard the name Louie they knew it involved something bad but whenever they heard the name Pete they thought good things. People referred to them as “Pete the athlete and his no-good, troublemaking brother Louie” (Benge 26). But once Louie began running and doing well in races Torrance saw the other side of Louie.

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Louis Zamperini is a well known hero for his deeds. As a child, Louie was unstoppable. When Louie was two years old and was sick, Louie couldn’t sit still and jumped out of his window, and he ran with policemen chasing after him. He was known as an one-man insurgency. As Louie grew older and joined the Army, Louie changed in some ways and stayed the same in others.

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Louis Zamperini by Kirsty Connell Louis “Louie” Zamperini was an Olympian and war hero. He was the subject of the book and later the movie adaptation ` Unbroken`. He died in 2014 on July 4th at the age of 97. Louie Zamperini was born on January 26th,1917, in Olean, New York. His parents, Louise and Anthony were both native to Verona in Northen Italy.

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Henry John Patch, the last surviving soldier of world war two quoted saying that, “war is organized murder and nothing else”(“Patch Harry”). Louis Silvie Zamperini, was a Olympic distance runner, who was faced with being a US prisoner of war survivor in World War II and had to go through unspoken atrocities, that traumatized him for life. Laura hillenbrand, novel Unbroken tells the life of Louis Zamperini an Olympic runner and military aviator life, and the agonizing and horrific abuse that he had to face at the hands of his capures after being stuck at sea for 47 days without any supplies, and all he had to rely on was his mental strength. Louis started off as a young man who had so many opportunities that were going going for him in his life,

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Louie Zamperini went through more pain and suffering than most people will ever endure in their entire life. In the book Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, Louis Zamperini was an Olympic runner. He was drafted during World War II . During the war, his plane crashed in the middle of the ocean and he was stranded with little resources to survive. This book follows his incredible story battling starvation and abuse in Prisoner of War camps (POW).

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I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (New International Version). When Louie came to faith, he turned his life around and saved himself by finding hope in God. He saved his soul as well as his heart, and that is true

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She did an absolutely wonderful job of creating this time period with just her words and it’s one of my favorite things about this book. The As a boy, Louie Zamperini was always in trouble, but with the help of his older brother, he turned his life around and channeled his energy into running. He set his first record in high school, “He ran a field of milers off their feet, stopping the watches in 5:03. Three seconds faster than Pete’s record. ”(17)

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As Helen Keller once quoted, “Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.” Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken tells the life story of Louis “Louie” Zamperini. Through his troubles as a child, emerged a strong-willed Olympic runner, who later became a military aviator. He was lost at sea and then captured by the Japanese as a prisoner of war. He endured years of abuse and suffering but still managed to stay true to who he was.

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Soon Louie became so traumatized by the events of War World II, he became an alcoholic. Once Louie’s friends and family realized how bad his drinking habit was they begged him to stop, but their words were not convincing enough. Then one day Louie turned to God and stopped drinking. Hillenbrand wrote “ When they entered the apartment, Louie went straight to his cache of liquor. It was the time of night when they usually took hold of him, but for the first time in years, Louie had no desire to drink”(383).

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Louie had brought out this theme in the camps many times. He had stayed strong against the Bird, who would stop at nothing to destroy his dignity. Once, the Bird had given Louie and some others the job of cleaning the benjo, or bathroom. The Bird thought they were going to hate it, but, “To deprive him of the pleasure of seeing them miserable, they made a point of being jolly” (179). If Louie would have shown he was despondent, the Bird would possess all the power.

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Determination is something displayed by Louie Zamperini all throughout the novel, from his career as an athlete to his journey in the Japanese prison camps. One part in this book where Louie shows he is determined is when he strives to go to the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Instead of trying out for the mile event, he starts training

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Eventually, “Mac's body grew weaker, following his broken spirit” (Source B; Hillenbrand, 31). With no ambition to continue wanting to live, Mac perished after one month at sea. Mac’s lack of determination not only made him different from Louie and Phil but also showed how he lacked the characteristic of being

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