Louie Zamperini was a remarkable man, soldier, and survivor. Growing up a slipshod child in California, Louie learned to push himself on the track. The “Torrance Tornado” was destined for the Olympics. His career was abruptly stopped in 1940 when Adolf Hitler and his regime destroyed the Olympic stadium in Finland. With his dream diminished, he became a bombardier for the U.S. Army during World War II. His plane, The Green Hornet, crashed while on a search mission to find a downed crew surviving for 46 days on a raft, he and another pilot were discovered by Japanese. Then and there, Louie’s journey with excruciating lows and euphoric highs, had begun. In the novel, Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand uses Louie’s traumatizing experiences to convey that if one taps into their resilience, they can survive anything. Louie had to tap into his resilience to survive during internment. Louie, during captivity, showed amazing resilience to survive 3 POW camps. To start off, when Louie was imprisoned in Kwajalein, “He called to Phil. Phil’s voice answered, distant and small” (135). This was risky …show more content…
Zamperini knew that he had to regain his dignity to survive before and after imprisonment. He did this by taking each day as it came, and then moving onto the next. His true turning point would be when he was moved by Billy Graham’s words. He really came to terms with his past and present life from there on out. To conclude, his struggles with imprisonments showcase the theme of resiliency because so many times Louie was beaten and humiliated by the guards, but he always bounced back. Everyone can relate this life rule to their lives because it shows that if something goes wrong, they should come back stronger instead of giving up. So, next time a setback occurs, be resilient, and come back even