Book Report On Unbroken By Laura Hillenbrand

The three time Olympic athlete and inductee of the National Track and Field Hall of Fame, Gail Devers, once expressed, “Sometimes we fall, sometimes we stumble, but we can’t stay down. We can’t allow life to beat us down. Everything happens for a reason, and builds character in us, and it tells us what we are about and how strong we really are when we didn’t think we could be that strong.” In Laura Hillenbrand’s nonfiction book Unbroken, Louie Zamperini conveyed Devers’ words when, through even his darkest hours, he remained invariably perseverant, while withstanding the utmost, cruelest predicaments. As a boy who frequently found himself running away from the police, Louie’s perseverance defined him even in childhood. Louie stated, “‘...and then I ran like mad.’ He was often

In this example, Louie’s morale was boosted by Phil’s confidence in him: “I’m glad it was you, Zamp” (132). Phil portrayed that out of all the crewman on the plane, Zamperini became the man that Phil wanted as a partner on the raft which they now depend on for survival. At this point in the story, Hillenbrand revealed Louie’s resilience when confronted with Mac’s untrustworthy act: “The realization that Mac had eaten all of the chocolate rolled hard over Louie...The crash had undone him. Louie knew that they couldn’t survive for long without food, but he quelled the thought” (138). Additionally, Hillenbrand uses Mac as a foil to Louie, showing how a military soldier could be under such tremendous pressure, however, Louie endured abundantly more and stayed positive. Hillenbrand wrote, “Since the men had floated across the international date line, the forty-sixth day was July 14” (174). Moreover, Hillenbrand acknowledged that Louie had the resilient attitude to survive for forty six days. Like sticky glue clinging to an object, Louie stayed the course and fought back, even in the cruelest