Unbroken Essay

Unbroken is a story of survival during World War 2. The author, Laura Hillenbrand, describes how it was for Louis Zamperini to pull through beatings, tormenting, and just being able to breathe. This book is a nonfiction story on the life of a air force soldier whose plane, the Green Hornet, crashed into the Pacific Ocean.
Louis Zamperini was a thieving boy in his childhood. Living in the shadow of his older brother Pete, he would steal food out of windows, restaurants, and shops. In his teens, he learned to channel his energy into running. Since he knew many useful strategies, Pete volunteered to train him. Eventually, Zamperini devoted his life to making the cut for the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany. He ran the 5,000-meter race and

finished in eighth place. Despite his loss, Zamperini’s fast final lap caught the attention of Adolf Hitler, who later asked to shake Zamperini’s hand. After the Olympics, he was a record-setter on the University of Southern California’s track team.
In the fall of 1941, Zamperini enlisted in the U.S.

Army Air Corps and was eventually stationed in Hawaii. In May 1943, he was serving as the bombardier on a B-24 that was searching for a missing plane when his own plane endured mechanical problems and went down in the Pacific. Of the 11 people onboard, only the 26-year-old Zamperini, along with the pilot and the tail gunner survived the initial crash. The three men stayed alive in their small raft by drinking rainwater and eating the occasional birds and fish they were able to catch, all while hiding from the Japanese and the onward threat of shark attacks. After a month at sea, Francis McNamara, the tail gunner, died. On their forty-seventh day in the raft, Zamperini and fellow survivor Russell Allen Phillips, having drifted around 2,000 miles since the crash, were picked up by Japanese sailors when trying to escape out of site on an island. For over two years, the two men were held in a series of prison camps, where they were repeatedly beaten and starved. They got three sips of water a day, a handful of grungy soup for breakfast and dinner, and an occasional wad of rice thrown through the window. Guards would force them to humiliate themselves by doing the can-can, singing, and putting his head into the latrine bucket. As an ex-Olympian, Zamperini was considered a useful tool by the Japanese and saved from execution; at the same time, however, he was singled out for particularly vicious and painful forms of torture. An

example would be being tilted back in his chair, his mouth shut, and having water poured down his nose. The defiant American managed to survive and was released after the war ended in 1945.
Back home in California, Zamperini drank heavily and was haunted by his experiences in captivity.

His wife, Cynthia had left him and took their infant daughter, Cissy, with her for their safety. Then, after being inspired by evangelist Billy Graham to convert to Christianity in 1949, Zamperini went on to become an inspirational speaker, forgive his captors. Zamperini went to visit his captors in a prison unit in Japan. After this life changing event, Zamperini had been released from his nightmares and flashbacks. He also had been released from his urge to go out and murder The Bird. He was also at peace to find that The Bird wasn’t with the captive prison guards, but already

dead.
Unbroken was a very inspiring book for me. It takes you through time and how lucky we are to be in America today. I would recommend this book to anybody who is interested in biographies, history, and nonfiction. Unbroken was a good book, and once you get through it, you will be sure to love it.