Prisoners Of War: Louie Zamperini

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Some prisoners of war and internees including Louie and Miné face many challenges that cause them to feel isolated and dehumanized. During WWII Louie Zamperini, an American POW in Japan, and Miné Okubo, a Japanese-American internee, both fought dehumanization and isolation to regain their visibility and dignity.They both were Mistreated by captors in different ways, but they both were isolated and dehumanized.Even through all the feeling of dehumanization and isolation they find many ways to resist those feelings.Japanese American internees prisoners of war were made to feel invisible but they tried to resist it. Prisoners encounter many challenges that cause them to feel invisible. Louie had been given rice balls and few tiny cups of tea. …show more content…

Louie knew he might die in the camp. He wanted to find a way that he could record what he had endured and who he had been. “A captive gave him a tiny book he’d made from rice paste flattened into pages.” (Hillenbrand 155).Louie was resisting to live through this experience as a prisoner of war of war and no one knowing what they did. He wanted to be able to remember it because he knows that himself and the other prisoners are worth a lot more than what they are treating them. Louie also resisted feeling invisible another way. The prisoners had rules on who they talked about. Especially when it was about the guards. They figured out a way that they could speak. “Men scribbled notes on toilet paper and hid them for each other in the benjo.” (Hillenbrand 154).Louie is not able to talk to other prisoners about the guards so the prisoners would write notes. Louie is resisting the rules that the guards have. Lastly, miné lived under very strict rules at Tanforan. Anyone entering or leaving the camp had to go through a mandatory search. There was a lot of things not allowed, but Miné wanted to document what went on in the camp. “ Internees were not allowed to have cameras..she put her artistic talent to use making sketches of daily life inside the fences.” ( The Life of Miné Okubo 5). The guards are very strict and will not let miné have a camera. She is resisting

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