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The incredible life of louis zamperini essay
The incredible life of louis zamperini essay
Essay on louie zamperini
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Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand is an unforgettable, action-packed, non-fiction novel that should be read in schools all over the world. Non-fiction action novels like Unbroken are beneficial for school curriculums in part because the events taking place in the novel actually happened with little or no added embellishment by the author. Just knowing that the person in the story actually experienced the events being recounted leaves the readers with an insightful look into history and how events such as World War II actually occurred. The trials and tribulations in non-fiction, action novels keep students invested in the curriculum by sending them on an emotional roller-coaster. Readers begin to feel their hearts race and their eyes swell as the …show more content…
The life and events Louis Zamperini experienced are so incredible that one cannot help but feel the adrenaline, anger, and sorrow he must have felt. As Louis battles starvation and the constant torture of his captors, readers want nothing more than to rush to his aid in times of pain, cry with him in times of anguish, and cheer him on when all hope seems lost. While in Kwajalein, an island used to torture prisoners of war, readers travel alongside Louis, cheering him on as “the guards sought to deprive [Louis] of something that had sustained [him] even as all else had been lost: dignity” (Hillenbrand 212). One of the guards’ favorite humiliation tactics was forcing each of the 200 or so prisoners “to walk down the line striking [Louis] with his fist” (Hillenbrand 158); if the punch was not hard enough, both Louis and his men would be clubbed continually on the head. As readers become emotionally invested, the story becomes less about a stranger and more about a lifelong friend. The emotional connection readers develop for Louis makes the visual that much harder to endure, for every blow and hardship Louis faces makes readers feel as if they are helplessly watching a friend in need. Such enthrallment in a novel makes for such an excellent read and an overall outstanding non-fiction action …show more content…
From start to finish, the novel emphasizes the importance of will power and determination. Will is unbreakable; you can put humans through hell and take everything from them, but as long as they make the consistent choice to remain determined and driven, the will power they possess will remain. Unbroken teaches readers that nothing is impossible. Far too often do we make such miniscule problems in life seem unbearable; however, Unbroken allows us to answer the constant question of “compared to what?” In times where Louis is forced to do things like “crawl through the filth of a pig 's sty… to save himself from starving to death” (Hillenbrand 128), one often wonders how selfish and ungrateful we truly are. Surely we can wait a few more hours before eating our next meal. The daily trials we encounter are nothing compared to the daily torture Louis endured, and his story seemingly puts our lives back into perspective. Unbroken is a remarkably powerful book because it opens up the eyes of readers and allows them to take away messages that seemed so obvious before. From a very early age we are taught to never give up and to keep your hope alive; however, we never truly understand what that means. The story of Louis Zamperini allows readers to reflect on the situations in life they deem “unbearable” and “impossible,” only to come to realize how shameful it is to complain
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,
...it may help us arrive at an understanding of the war situation through the eyes of what were those of an innocent child. It is almost unique in the sense that this was perhaps the first time that a child soldier has been able to directly give literary voice to one of the most distressing phenomena of the late 20th century: the rise of the child-killer. While the book does give a glimpse of the war situation, the story should be taken with a grain of salt.
War is cruel. The Vietnam War, which lasted for 21 years from 1954 to 1975, was a horrific and tragic event in human history. The Second World War was as frightening and tragic even though it lasted for only 6 years from 1939 to 1945 comparing with the longer-lasting war in Vietnam. During both wars, thousands of millions of soldiers and civilians had been killed. Especially during the Second World War, numerous innocent people were sent into concentration camps, or some places as internment camps for no specific reasons told. Some of these people came out sound after the war, but others were never heard of again. After both wars, people that were alive experienced not only the physical damages, but also the psychic trauma by seeing the deaths and injuries of family members, friends or even just strangers. In the short story “A Marker on the Side of the Boat” by Bao Ninh about the Vietnam War, and the documentary film Barbed Wire and Mandolins directed by Nicola Zavaglia with a background of the Second World War, they both explore and convey the trauma of war. However, the short story “A Marker on the Side of the Boat” is more effective in conveying the trauma of war than the film Barbed Wire and Mandolins because of its well-developed plot with well-illustrated details, and its ability to raise emotional responses from its readers.
World War One or “The War To End All Wars” was one of the most devastating events in the history of humankind. When looking back at such a gruesome war it is understandable that we might dwell on the key battles and tactics, which are often summarized by statistics on death tolls. However, we often forget that statistics create an illusion that warps our perception of death. As Stalin put it “One death is a tragedy, a million deaths is just a statistic”. In the novel “The Wars” by Timothy Findley, the author draws away from traditional war stories by showing a true appreciation for life that truly touches the reader on a human and emotional level. Timothy Findley narrows in something anyone can relate to: a loving mother worried about her son risking his life in a war. This mother in the “The Wars” is Mrs. Ross, who represents the home front while her son, Robert Ross, fights for the British in World War One. As the book progresses and Robert gets further into the death trap known as the “Great War”, Mrs. Ross becomes increasingly obsessive and connected to her son as his fate becomes more clear.
... to be placed alongside Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption and Erik Larson’s In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin as one of the classic popular history book.
Often, we find ourselves facing dramatic events in our lives that force us to re-evaluate and redefine ourselves. Such extraordinary circumstances try to crush the heart of the human nature in us. It is at that time, like a carbon under pressure, the humanity in us either shatters apart exposing our primal nature, or transforms into a strong, crystal-clear brilliant of compassion and self sacrifice. The books Night written by Elie Wiesel and Hiroshima written by John Hersey illustrate how the usual lifestyle might un-expectantly change, and how these changes could affect the human within us. Both books display how lives of civilians were interrupted by the World War II, what devastations these people had to undergo, and how the horrific circumstances of war were sometimes able to bring out the best in ordinary people.
In the short story “Chickamauga”, the author Ambrose Bierce uses a young boy to connect to his audience with what is the disillusions of war, then leads them into the actuality and brutalities of war. Bierce uses a six year old boy as his instrument to relate to his readers the spirits of men going into combat, then transferring them into the actual terrors of war.
Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel Maus unfolds the story about his father Vladek Spiegleman, and his life during the WWII. Since Vladek and Art are both the narrators of the story, the story not only focuses on Vladek's survival, but also the writing process and the organization of the book itself. Through these two narrators, the book explores various themes such as identity, perspective, survival and guilt. More specifically, Maus suggests that surviving an atrocity results in survivor’s guilt, which wrecks one’s everyday life and their relationships with those around them. It accomplishes this through symbolism and through characterization of Vladek and Anja.
O’Brien’s unique verisimilitude writing style fills the novel with deep meaning and emotion. Analyzing the novel through a psychological lens only adds to its allure. Understanding why characters act the way they do helps bring this novel to life. The reader begins to empathize with the characters. Every day, the soldiers’ lives hang in the balance. How these soldiers react to life-threatening situations will inspire the reader. Life has an expiration date. Reading about people who are held captive by their minds and who die in the name of war, will inspire the reader to live everyday as if they are currently in the
In all works about war, the element of pain is essential. Without pain, there is no real happiness. The men described in these works all endured vast amounts of physical and emotional pain on their tours serving the country and the accurate representations of their time overseas wouldn’t be able to be complete without this element.
Erich Maria Remarque's classic war novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, deals with the many ways in which World War I affected people's lives, both the lives of soldiers on the front lines and the lives of people on the homefront. One of the most profound effects the war had was the way it made the soldiers see human life. Constant killing and death became a part of a soldier's daily life, and soldiers fighting on all sides of the war became accustomed to it. The atrocities and frequent deaths that the soldiers dealt with desensitized them to the reality of the vast quantities of people dying daily. The title character of the novel, Paul Bäumer, and his friends experience the devaluation of human life firsthand, and from these experiences they become stronger and learn to live as if every day were their last.
Throughout their lives, people must deal with the horrific and violent side of humanity. The side of humanity is shown through the act of war. This is shown in Erich Remarque’s novel, “All Quiet on the Western Front”. War is by far the most horrible thing that the human race has to go through. The participants in the war suffer irreversible damage by the atrocities they witness and the things they go through.
While soldiers are often perceived as glorious heroes in romantic literature, this is not always true as the trauma of fighting in war has many detrimental side effects. In Erich Maria Remarque 's All Quiet On The Western Front, the story of a young German soldier is told as he adapts to the harsh life of a World War I soldier. Fighting along the Western Front, nineteen year old Paul Baumer and his comrades begin to experience some of the hardest things that war has to offer. Paul’s old self gradually begins to deteriorate as he is awakened to the harsh reality of World War 1, depriving him from his childhood, numbing all normal human emotions and distancing future, reducing the quality of his life.
Since the beginning of history, human society has centered around war. People throughout the ages have attempted to understand why wars occur, and the effect of war on the people who fight in them. Authors have utilized the power of language to attempt to grasp the struggle and the horror of war, and make it accessible to the public. For example, Hemingway’s “In Another Country” and Bierce’s “Coup de Grace” both provide a glimpse into different aspects of war. Although they both pertain to the idea of war, “In Another Country” focuses on the psychological trauma of war while “Coup de Grace” showcases the horror of war. This is visible in the theme, setting, and characters of both stories.
Tony Palmer, the author of “Break of Day”, tells a story that takes place in and out of war. The story follows a man named Murray Barrett who lives in the times of ww2. He ends up finding himself in the middle of it, down at Port Moresby. During the midst of war, Murray ends up coming across an injured Sid Archer, a childhood enemy and the man who stole Will’s (Murray’s older brother) childhood lover. Murray helps Sid instead of abandoning him, despite their childhood drama. In this book, Palmer really focuses on the themes of family, death, and bravery. He presents to us how complicated families can get, how people deal with death differently from others, and how there are many forms of bravery.