Conflict In Hillenbrand's Unbroken

Literary Analysis
Conflict arises in several aspects of life. We often have conflicts with ourselves, with other people, and even with nature. These three main conflicts, which bring Louie to redemption are seen in Hillenbrand’s Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. These conflicts are between the man and nature, Louie and the Bird, and the internal conflict as Louie struggles with alcoholism
One conflict seen in Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption is the conflict between man and nature, which Louie, Phil, and Mac faced while lost at sea. As the men spent countless days at sea their points of view about the situation “were becoming self- fulfilling” (Hillenbrand 155). The

men were, in their own ways, trying to cope with their reality. They “willed a happy ending on their ordeal and made it their expectation … they created something to live for” (153). They wanted to think more about how their lives would be once rescued. Under circumstances rarely survived two of the three men were captured by the enemy. Not yet knowing what his fate would be Louie “ate slowly, savoring each crumb” (179). After forty seven days on the raft “it was his first food in eight days” (179). Louie and Phil surviving several weeks at sea with little to no resources touches on the first part of the title of this book.
Another conflict seen in Unbroken is man against man. Louie faces one of his biggest obstacles once he meets the Bird. As exhausting and degrading as the POW camps were “from the moment Watanabe locked eyes with Louie Zamperini … no man obsessed him more” (244). The Bird personally victimized Louie and “continued to beat him, every day” (258). Louie feared the Bird’s personal attacks more than anything. After a couple of months without the Bird watching his every move and beating him relentlessly, he was moved to another POW. “Louie’s legs faded, the snow reared up at him, and down he went” (281) at the sight of the Bird once again. Even years after the war “he [Louie] couldn’t stop thinking about the Bird … he was afraid to sleep” (359). Mutsuhiro Watanabe never really left Louie and his time dealing with him references the second part of the book, resilience.