Unbroken Quotes

Haunted Olympian
In the book, Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, it follows a Olympian named Louie Zamperini, and his journey. Louie Zamperini was born in Olean, New York, his family later then moved to Torrance, California. Louie is: rebellious, resourceful, among many other things. Louie is who he is because of how he grew up, and the obstacles he overcame. Louie Zamperini shows rebellious and resourceful characteristic traits through his actions.
Louie’s rebellion not only hurt him, but also helped him on his journey. He drank his parent’s wine at the age of 8, which is an act of rebellion. “He began drinking one night when he was eight; he hid under the kitchen table, snatched glasses of wine, drank them dry, staggered right off the front porch, and fell into a rose bush.”(7) Louie did a lot things that got him hurt. He let kids in through the back of the gym into the basketball games. “Finally, someone discovered Louie sneaking kids in the back door.”(13) His rebellious side got to him and when he got to Torrance High he was seen more as a dangerous young man than a rebellious teen. In one of the multiple POW camps Louie was in, he had gotten a journal. “Louie had another private act of rebellion. A captive gave him a tiny book he’d made from rice paste flattened into pages.”(155) In this book he knew shouldn’t have

wrote in it. He wrote down everything that had happened in the camp, from his beatings to the food they ate. His rebellion traveled with him through his journey, they didn’t just stop in highschool when his brother, Pete, started to change Louie.
He was very resourceful, he used what he knew and had learned to survive. When Louie, Phil, and Mac were in the raft he set rules. “Louie established rules. Each man would get one square of chocolate in the morning, and one in the evening. Louie allotted one water tin per man with each man allowed two or three sips a day.” (105-106) He used what they had in the raft to get them as far as they could with their resources they had. Louie gathered watered when they were in the raft because they no longer had clean, ‘non-salt’, water. “Louie grabbed the air pump cases, tore the seam, spread the fabric into bowls, and let the rain pool, sucking it up and spitting it in the cans.” (112) It may be gross to think of spitting into others water, but Louie knew they needed clean, ‘non-salt’, water and so that is what he did. When he was in the bathroom, he found a knothole that led to the ‘kitchen’ and it covered by a bag of rice. “Remembering the Omori sugar thieves, he searched camp, found a hollow reed, and sharpened the end.” (205) He remembered about what happened and used his learnings to get food, to feed the POW’s and himself. Louie was able to survive, making it through the POW camps by using his resources.
Laura Hillenbrand, the author of Unbroken, shows that Louie Zamperini is rebellious and resourceful with his actions.

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

forever.