Forty-seven Days Louie Zamperini was a young boy, who encountered a painful, yet fascinating journey in his life surviving things many people could not through his will to live. Not only was he was one of America’s greatest heroes but also, an Olympic runner, WWII bombardier, plane crash survivor, POW, and survivor or post-war turmoil. Laura Hillenbrand was able to tell Louie’s incredible story through her award winning book, Unbroken. She wrote the book Unbroken to tell Louie’s unforgettable story of a man’s journey into extremity, Unbroken is a testament to the resilience of the human mind, body and spirit. Laura Hillenbrand, married to Borden Flanagan in 2006, but separated in 2014. She was born in Fairfax, Virginia, but grew up in Washington …show more content…
After getting caught in the wrong crowd, his brother Pete, manages to turn his life around by taking his love for running from the law, and turning it into a passion for track and field. Louie breaks his high school records, and goes to the Olympics in 1936, and trains to beat the four-minute mile. His running career was put on hold when the World War broke out. Louie enlisted in the army as an air corps and becomes a bombardier. While over the Pacific Ocean they were shot down. Only three men survived, Louie, Phil, and Mac. Louie and Phil continue to fight for their lives at sea for forty-seven days, only to be captured and tortured by the Japanese. After being transferred from camp to camp each one worst than the last, Louie was the only one to survive when the war ends. Louie is finally able to return home and reunite with family. Louie fights hard, but cannot let go of the past and winds up with a drinking problem to forget what he had been through. Louie is able to find faith and have the will power to quit his drinking problem, and turn to motivational speaking. Many years later, Louie was able to forgive all of the men who did him wrong, and carried the Olympic torch past Naoetsu in 1998, leaving his dark past behind …show more content…
This story was a great read and tells the amazing journey of Louie Zamperini, showing what these men and women had to go through. “A life time of glory is worth a moment of pain.” The author was balanced through out this story, telling Louie’s side of his adventure, “When he thought of his history, what resonated with him how was not all that he had suffered but divine love that he believed had intervened to save him.” Laura wrote this story about Louie almost as a documentary to show the world what he had to encounter. She used Louie as her primary source, through interviews and hours on the phone trying to get different angles on the same stories, but also used friends, and family members, going back to childhood, as secondary sources. Laura Hillenbrand did an outstanding job capturing every moment of Louie’s life in this book. Laura divided up this book using intriguing chapter titles to tell Louie’s incredible
I agree with the statement that Louie was as much a captive as he’d been when barbed wire had surrounded him after the war. The following quote was taken from chapter 39 of Unbroken. “It was forgiveness, beautiful and effortless and complete. For Louie Zamperini, the war was over” (386). From this quote, we can see that Louie was struggling with vengeance. Although the war was over in 1945, it toke Louie almost five years to say that the war was over for him because of the hatred and thought of revenge Louie undergo after the war. This is one of the reasons why I agree with the author’s choice to include the post-war years and explore this story of obsession for vengeance. Putting Part V into the book not only not take away the theme of survival,
In Unbroken: A world war 2 story of survival, resilience, and redemption- by Laura Hillenbrand; young Louie Zamperini is a delinquent of Torrance, California. He steals food, runs around like hell and even dreams of hoping on a train and running away for good. However, Pete, his older manages to turn his life around by turning his love of running from the law into a passion for track and field. Zamperini is so fast that he breaks his high school’s mile record, resulting in him attending the olympics in berlin in 1936. His running career however was put on hold when World war 2 broke out, he enlisted in the the Air Corps and becomes a bombardier. During a harrowing battle, the “superman” gets hit numerous times with japanese bullets destroying
In the book Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, young Louie Zamperini is the troublemaker of Torrance, California. After his life had taken a mischievous turn, his older brother, Pete, managed to convert his love of running away, into a passion for running on the track. At first, Louie’s old habit of smoking gets the best of him, and it is very hard for him to compare to the other track athletes. After a few months of training, coached by Pete, Louie begins to break high school records, and became the fastest high school miler in 1934. After much more hard work, goes to the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936 but is no match for the Finnish runners. He trains hard for the next Olympic Games, and hopes to beat the four minute
“The commandant announced that we had already covered 42 miles since we left. It was a long time since we had passed beyond the limits of fatigue. Our legs were moving mechanically, in spite of us, without us” (Wiesel 83). Elie was forced to run at two in the morning on a regular basis, and if anyone slowed down or stopped they were immediately shot or beat. Elie was mentally fit and told himself that he wouldn’t give up, however, his father was slower and a lot older, making it much harder for him to be quick on his feet. In Unbroken, the quickness that Louie showed as a child and while growing up, helped him prepare for the future of being quick on his feet as well as being mentally and physically strong. “The same attributes that had made [Louie] the boy terror of Torrance were keeping him alive in the greatest struggle of his life” (Hillenbrand 34). In many of the conditions that Louie faced on a daily basis, only someone with his faith still holding together and can persevere through the struggles in his life is going to make it out
Louis “Louie” Zamperini went from the Terror of Torrance to a World War II hero. He grew from a young boy, who terrorized his town, into a record breaking runner, who competed in the Olympics. He later joined the United States Army Air Forces and served as a bombardier in World War II. After his plane crashed and he was stuck on a raft in the ocean, he was captured by the Japanese and became a prisoner of war. Louie’s resourcefulness, toughness, and defiance from his boyhood helped him to survive the relentless torment thrown at him later in life.
A huge part of the story showed how a person could overcome all the odds to become successful is feats such as sports and other activities. Most sports champions show great endurance to win many competitions. Similarly, Hillenbrand indicated that Louis, a competitive runner, trained until “he (had) rubbed the skin right off one of his toes, (leaving) his sock bloody” (Hillenbrand 23). As a result of all the hard work, Louis overcome struggles such as a bleeding shin, broken ribs, and a damaged toe to set time records for many races. In my experiences, I see many people take sports and other extra-curricular activities as a burden without embracing the challenges. In contrast, Louis illustrates the rare athlete and human being who seeks solutions to
After World War II, Louie Zamperini writes a letter to Mutsuhiro Watanabe, also known as “the Bird” saying that, “The post-war nightmares caused my life to crumble, but thanks to a confrontation with God through the evangelist Billy Graham, I committed my life to Christ. Love has replaced the hate I had for you. Christ said, ‘Forgive your enemies and pray for them.”’ This is demonstrated in the novel, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. This tells an emotional story about Louie Zamperini's experiences as an Olympic athlete, World War II veteran, and an American POW. After his Olympic dreams are crushed when he gets drafted at age 24, he experienced things most people cannot even imagine, when he returns he makes
The demand to survive in an extreme environment encourages certain individuals to proceed to live their life despite the hardships they may face. In the novels, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, and Life of Pi by Yann Martel, the individuals must discover what it takes to obtain the will to survive in these extreme environments they are presented with. Thus, resulting in comparisons between their mental states (internal challenges), and contrasts between their physical states (external challenges) by Louie Zamperini and Piscine Molitor Patel (Pi).
Chris’s personality exhibits the real foundation of the pattern of his heroic journey. The last thoughts of Chris McCandless were, “I have had a happy life and thank the Lord. Goodbye and may God bless you all!” (Krakauer 199). This demonstrates how Chris had a kind and compassionate heart. His considerate...
“The Hero’s Journey.” Ariane Publications, 1997. Course handout. AS English I. Dept. of English, Woodside High School. 26 October 2013.
“Everett was strange, “Sleight concedes. “kind of different. But him and McCandless, at least they tried to follow their dream. That’s what was great about them. They tried. Not many do.” (67) John Krakauer’s book, Into the Wild, briefly makes a comparison between two young boys Chris McCandless and Everett Ruess and fills the reader with different perspectives about them and their experiences. While the author wrote about McCandless he is reminded of Ruess and his book Everett Ruess: A Vagabond for Beauty written by W.L. Rusho and it sparked an interesting comparison between the two. The use of storytelling and letters about McCandless and the use of Artwork, letters,
Louie Zamperini had escaped the grievance with his life and has become an advanced soul. Louie Zamperini lived in a miniature house in Torrance, California; he was a fascinating Olympian. He was also held captive as a prisoner of war. In the book Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand uses the life experiences of Louie Zamperini to show the traits of optimistic and rebellious.
Isolated and alone, many attempts from both sides, America and Japan, to force the feeling of invisibility on their POWs or Japanese-American internees. Separated from friends, denied human rights and on the brink of starvation demolishing their dignity. Louie Zamperini was a POW who was originally an Olympian athlete. He was taken captive by Japan while laying raft for over a month. Miné is a Japanese-American intern who had been condemned to an intern camp during World War Two. The experience that Louie and Miné have undergone are those that challenge the two in a very psychological way. However, they have recovered showing their resilience and how humans can recover even from scarring events.
In the book, Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, it follows a Olympian named Louie Zamperini, and his journey. Louie Zamperini was born in Olean, New York, his family later then moved to Torrance, California. Louie is: rebellious, resourceful, among many other things. Louie is who he is because of how he grew up, and the obstacles he overcame. Louie Zamperini shows rebellious and resourceful characteristic traits through his actions.
In conclusion, Synge places Christy into the world of imagination to communicate a broader message. The long false storytelling and fantasy are as important as the action because bravery of talk is an adequate substitute for brave deeds. Therefore, Christy’s imagination becomes a legacy of heroism in Mayo.