Resilience In Richard Hillenbrand's Unbroken

In the book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, the story is told from the perspective of Olympic-track-star-turned-WWII-airman Louis Zamperini. Zamperini was the youngest of four children, born from Italian immigrants Anthony and Louise Zamperini. He was a very definition of a delinquent. From the time Louis could walk, he could not be controlled. “The instant Louise thumped him into a chair and told him to be still, he vanished. If she didn’t have her squirming boy clutched in her hands, she usually had no idea where he was.”(Hillenbrand 5). These little acts of terror turned into full-blown teenage defiance. This defiance would help him many years later as a POW.

Louis Zamperini was nothing short of awe

For example, for he longest time, the prisoners at the Omori did not know that the Allies were winning the war. The Japanese felt that they still had a chance. They refused to give in and they fought to the finish. Even civilians participated in the war efforts by obtaining their own weapons. The Japanese were not bad people, they were simply a product of their environment. They, as all people during wartime, acted out of fear.

Mutsuhiro Watanabe, also known as The Bird, was nothing short of merciless. He was, simply, a psychopath. For example, when Louie, along with other Ofuna prisoners, first encountered Watanabe, they formulated their opinions right away. ‘Why you know look in my eye?’ the corporal shouted. The other men in line went rigid. Louie steadied himself. He held his face taut as he raised his eyes to the corporal’s face. Again came the whirling arm, the jarring blow into his skull, his stumbling legs trying to hold him upright. ‘You no look at me!’ This man, thought Tinker, is a psychopath. (Hillenbrand

As Bush tried to explain that Clarke had meant no harm, Watanabe drew his sword and began screaming that he was going to behead Clarke…After bush went to bed, Watanabe returned and forced him on him knees. For three hours, Watanabe besieged Bush, kicking him and hacking off his hair with his sword. (Hillenbrand 242).

Watanabe’s personality scared the prisoners. One minute he was beating them, the next meeting they were in his office chatting like old pals. People at the Omori camp had different theories to explain why he acted the way he did. Yuichi Hatto, the camp’s accountant, claims it was simple madness. Hatto also said that beating the POWs brought Watanabe sexual pleasure, “Watanabe was a sexual sadist, freely admitting that beating the prisoners brought him to climax.”(Hillenbrand 242).

The one true fault of Mutsuhiro was his lack of empathy and regret for what he did. He went into hiding no because of shame, but simply out of fear of being caught. When asked about his mistreatment of the prisoners, he either blamed the war or the Japanese government entirely. He always made himself seem like a victim of