Research Paper On Unbroken By Laura Hillenbrand

Inspirational Writer Eckhart Tolle once said “When you lose touch with yourself, you lose yourself in the world” (“Picture Quotes”). A World War II veteran and Olympic runner, Louie Zamperini, went through traumatic events during his life and he came out a changed man not only to himself, but to the world. The novel Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, is an amazing story of Louie Zamperini’s life starting at his mischievous childhood to his Olympic running days to his life in the Japanese POW camp and coming home as a different person. Living through the experiences he did, Louie’s life changed when he returned home and realized his true self. For Louie, being a POW during the war was very hard on him and resulted in the loss of his identity. When Louie became very ill, he ended his running career and joined the

Louie had horrific nightmares about the Bird, the man that changed his life for the worse. The torture that the Bird put Louie through, caused Louie to have nightmares day in and day out and turned him into an uncontrollable alcoholic. “He was drinking heavily, slipping in and out of flashbacks, screaming and clawing through nightmares, lashing out in fury at random moments” (Hillenbrand 370). When Louie met his wife Cynthia, she was not aware of his erratic drinking and behavior. As time went on, Louie drifted even farther from his normal self. The nightmares of the Bird were out of control and they felt very real to him. One night when Louie had a realistic nightmare of killing the Bird, he did not realize what was actually happening in real life. “Louie was straddling Cynthia’s chest, his hands locked around her neck. Through her closing throat, she was screaming. Louie was strangling his pregnant wife” (Hillenbrand 373). From that moment, Louie realized how truly lost his identity was. The Bird had taken over his identity and made him into a man that he never imagined he would be,