Louie Zamperini; Olympic runner, American Bombardier, and former POW of Japan. It was thanks to his older brother that Louie ever ran in the Olympics and met Hitler. But after giving up on his dream of running in his second Olympics, it was his and his crews’ plane crashing into the pacific that really began Louie’s remarkable life story. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand tells the unbelievable true story of reliant and dignified Louie Zamperini from Berlin to Japan to Los Angeles. To be dignified is to be worthy of respect, and Louie wasn’t afraid to play one of those roles after being captured. “Louie knew what would happen if he won, but cheering aroused his defiance...(he) crossed the line… Louie didn’t see the guard’s club coming at his skull…His …show more content…
eyes opened to the sight of the sky, ringed in his friends’ faces. It had been worth it.” (p.158) After the Japanese guards figured out that Louie was once an Olympic runner, they brought in an Olympic runner of Japan and forced them to race, with the audience being a mix captives and guards.
Louie wasn’t expected to even cross the finish, so when he did the guards were furious. Louie wasn’t surprised by their actions though. He was still proud of having been an Olympic runner, but had never needed to acknowledge his past in it up until being discovered and singled-out. Not only was his pride regained in this race, but his fellow POWs’ pride as well. “...Ofuna officials issued a decree: all escapees would be executed, and for every escapee, several captive officers would be shot. Louie, Tinker, and Harris were prepared to die, but they couldn’t risk other men’s lives. They abandoned their plan.” (p.168) After prisoners escaped a nearby POW camp, the officials knew they couldn’t afford to let the prisoners have any hope of escape. Louie, Tinker, and Harris had been planning just that, but weren’t willing to risk anyone else's lives, there …show more content…
were too many contingencies. Louie and his new friends were leaders, who wanted their fellow POW’s to survive the war. They are respected by the other soldiers for their prowess and choices. “Other prisoners told him to give in or the Bird would beat him to death. Louie couldn’t do it. When he raised his eyes, all that shone in them was hate. A battle of wills had begun.” (p.181) The Bird is annually beating and harassing Louie because of his slight defiance and his Olympic status. Louie is too head-strong to “bow down” to someone like the Bird, and will not do so until the Bird gives up. He would not be relegated to someone as inhuman as the Bird. At the same time, to be resilient is to be able to withstand and recover from difficult conditions.
Louie, along with Phil, survived the perilous journey through the pacific, and continued to persevere even though they had never fully recovered from from the crash of their plane, which became the beginning of a long road. “Four more times the Japanese strafed them, sending Louie into the water to kick and punch at the sharks.” (p.121) The three survivors (Louie, Phil, and Mac) spotted a bomber plane, and hoped it was their chance of rescue. So when the bomber started shooting at them, and they came to the realization that it was Japanese. Louie jumped into the water to avoid fire, and jumped out to escape the sharks. He would not allow himself be shot by the enemy or eaten by sharks. He was very weak at the time, but fought, jumped in and out, and repeats because he is not willing to die so easily. “At last, nearing the final turn, he saw a tiny gap. He burst through, sprinting to the lead, and with his skins steaming blood and chest aching, won easily.” (p.43) Louie is running in the Minneapolis NCAA Champion, over 5 years before joining WWII. His coaches warned him that other runners would try to injure him amidst the race, which Louie dismissed as gossip up until it started happening. With a cracked rib, shoe spikes in his feet and cut up shins-he won the race. Even with every racer against him, and physically assaulting him whenever they could, Louie knew he could still
win. He ran with pain, knowing full-well he could have just exited the track. He was already determined to beat his time, and no matter what stood in his way, he would do just that. “He tasted oil, fuel, and blood. He was drowning. Louie flung out his arms, trying to find a way out.” (p.100) Trapped in the wiring of his crashed plane as it sank, Louie passes out. Something re-awakens him along with his resilience. He begins searching for an escape from the plane. His resilience doesn’t fail him even while drowning. Without thinking about his crew, or the plane that had doomed them, he begins to fight his way to the surface. Whether he was on a track in Minnesota, or a track in Berlin. Whether he was taking off on plane runways in Hawaii, or stealing maps from generals in POW camps. Louie’s resilience never left him, in fact it only became stronger. For some being an Olympic runner is miraculous enough on it’s own, but for Louie it was just the beginning of a very long, and precarious road. From the resilience he showed while running a race in which the other runners sabotaging him, to the resilience he showed against The Bird, Louie would not allow his pride to be scarred. He remained dignified through all the challenges he faced, and earned respect from men of all ranks and all sides of the war. To be destined for “greatness” is not to be of a “great” past.
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,
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.
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
He uses his rebellion to get through the POW camps. He also used what he learned along the way to help him. Louie really knows he has to believe in himself. Louie Zamperini once said, “I think the hardest thing in life is to forgive. Hate is self destructive. If you hate somebody, you’re not hurting the person you hate, you’re hurting yourself. It’s a healing, actually, it’s a real healing...forgiveness.” (Louie Zamperini.) On July 2nd, 2014, Louie Zamperini died of natural causes, but his message of forgiveness will carry on
When Louie was a teenager he wanted to find ways to stop people from bullying him. His father helped him learn to defend himself with a punching bag and homemade barbell (Unbroken 9). He soon defeated his bullies. This toughness also helped him during his running career. During a NCAA meet, some runners tried to sabotage him in the middle of a race. The men used the spikes on their shoes to stab and cut Louie. Though he was bleeding and in pain, his toughness helped him to win the race and set a new NCAA mile record of 4:08.3 seconds (Unbroken 44). This would never equal the toughness Louie needed to survive at the POW camps. At these camps, he was locked in small, confined spaces, beaten, humiliated and forced to work hours to just receive small rations of food. Louie could have easily given up and accepted his impending death; instead, he kept his head held high and did not give up. His toughness kept him ready to take on whatever life threw his
After being interrogated, Louie was asked by a friend how he knew about the plane he described (that he knew nothing about), and he replied with “it was a lie,” surely knowing that if he was caught he would most likely be killed, but he did it anyway (141). When “Louie was asked who would win the war” by a Japanese sailor, he responded with “‘America,’” showing how he refuses to side with Japan, despite the fact that he will be severely punished (145). Louie sometimes lied in a way that would benefit Japan. For example, “to ensure his message aired, he decided to speak positively about his captors,” though he was certainly not treated well by the deranged guards (187). This is evidence of Louie’s emotional strength, speaking highly about the people who left him despondent. Knowing that he would be punished for his actions, Louie had a snarky attitude and lied to his captors, not caring what the effect would be.
Unbroken, written by Laura Hillenbrand, is the biography focused around Louis Zamperini an Olympic athlete, soldier and most notably a POW survivor. During his time as a POW he was abused, tortured, malnourished, and used as propaganda in the fight against the allies during WWII. Propaganda was a huge influence in the war it was motivation to the people to stand up and fight and increase productivity throughout the country, it provided stimulus vital to keeping the war alive and in check.
Tom Longboat was a fantastic runner and had a different training style which he got called lazy for and was told he didn't care. Even though in today's world his style of training is what we use. After winning the Boston Marathon, Longboat got lots of criticism from the newspapers being called a "redskin," "obstinate" and "the original dummy" (Kelly). One newspaper congratulated his trainers for "having such a docile pupil. "Longboat didn't let all the criticism bother him and just pushed it aside and kept running, many times he would address it as people just being jealous. On many occasions, Longboat was discriminated against for being indigenous and accused of using narcotics because of his
Most people thought Louis would amount to no more than your everyday beggar on the street. Already Louis had accomplished so muchLouis trained for the Olympics while at Southern California. He knew he wanted to be great, so he put fate in his own hands. Training vigorously, he made the Olympic cut. During the Olympics, he pushed himself harder than he ever thought possible, running a fifty eight second lap.
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
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.
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.