When talking about heroism you have to define what hero really is. So what is a hero? Is it risking your life in order to save others or is it saving yourself? Is being a hero simply saving someone? One definition of heroism is doing something that risks something to yourself voluntarily without expecting something in return. That is exactly what Louis Zamperini did but he also did more than that. He forgave the people that had done him wrong. He refused to get part of suffering for the sake of his loyalty to America which definitely cost him. In fact, it caused him a punch in the face from EVERY single prisoner on the Japanese camp. In the book Louis was told that if America won the war the people in the camp would be killed which was obviously including him, but if Japan won they would be free. And at that point …show more content…
That is what true heroism is, after all the things you go through to be able to forgive them for what they had done to him. Another reason why he is a true hero is because he was loyal to his country.
Quotes:
“That night, the sense of shame and powerlessness that had driven his need to hate the Bird had vanished. The Bird was no longer his monster. He was only a man” (Hillenbrand, 379).
“As he bobbed in a fog of nausea, someone came to his bunk and handed him five letters. They were from Pete, Sylvia, and his parents, all written many months earlier, Louie tore open the envelopes, and out came photographs of his family. It was the first Louie has seen or heard of them in nearly two and a half years. He clutched the letters and hung on” (Hillenbrand, 304).
“Louie stood, eyes on the Bird. The beam felt heavier and heavier, the pain more intense. The Bird watched Louie, amused by his suffering, mocking him” (Hillenbrand, 295).
“A lifetime of glory is worth a moment of pain. Louie thought: Let
resilience would not have been possible. Although, he still did suffer a lot of trauma, as most survivors of these situations do. ? It is common medical knowledge that all physical trauma, of whatever degree or duration, lose their effects when the psychologically traumatizing event ceases to operate? (Niederland 1). This quote connects to Louis because he suffered a traumatic experience in the concentration and the trauma changed him.
While there, Louie is seemingly selected as a target by a man named Mutsuhiro Watanabe, nicknamed “the Bird”. The Bird seems intent on making Louie’s life miserable through consistent beatings and abuse. This constant, terrible mistreatment that Louie was involuntarily forced to tolerate supports a theme of determination prevailing over pain and misery. Though Louie is often crippled and almost unconscious after the end of his suffering, he always picks his head back up and moves forward in the name of perseverance. ( transition )
This is an act of heroism. He thought, he protected, and he
He muffled his sobs so the guards wouldn’t hear him” (Hillenbrand 182). This was just the beginning of Louie’s suffering as a POW. After time, Louie along with other POWs were transferred to another camp. Louie become a target to a man referred to as the Bird.
Louie didn’t want the Bird to see him in pain because he wanted to take control and turn the power around. He needed to be resilient and stay mentally strong. Later, for stealing, the Bird had made every man in the camp punch Louie and a few others in the
The American politician, diplomat, and activist Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built”. In the Biography Unbroken by Lauren Hillenbrand, the main character, Louis Zamperini, sets a great example to represent this quote. Louis shows his confidence by once the “bad kid”, soon Louie realizes he needs to change his ways with the help of his brother, Pete. As a soldier in World War II, he faced many challenges with his crew and within himself. Over time
Even though war affected Louie negatively, his resilience and agency assisted him as well as his optimism in resisting dehumanization during captivity. Louie had to resist several attempts of making him feel invisible and making him feel like he was less than human by being resilient, optimistic, and having agency, along with many other POWs. First of all, Louie resisted the Bird’s several attempts to break him down emotionally. This is shown in the text, when the author stated, “The Bird demanded that Louie looked him in the eyes; Louie wouldn’t do it. The Bird tried to knock Louie down; Louie wouldn’t fall.
Louis Zamperini lived a life filled with strife. From a troublemaking boy to a prisoner of war, he faced many conflicts. His journey in World War Two is especially fraught with struggle and obstacles. Through sheer determination, Louis Zamperini survived a plane crash, a war camp, and the haunting memory of his time in war. After his plane crashed due to engine malfunction, Zamperini had to survive forty-seven days at sea with two other men.
After his plane went down over the Pacific, Zamperini was captured by the Japanese and taken to several POW camps were beating and cruelty were regular. From being a star Olympic athlete, to WWII veteran, to Japanese POW camp survivor, Louis Zamperini’s story is a story
In the story, “on Birds, Bird Watching and Jazz” by Ellison, the interesting theory as to how Charles Porter Jr. got his nickname as “Bird “ is told using humor in his stories along with a careful choice of syntax and his diction. In the first paragraph, the author uses alliteration,”...and despite the crabbed and constricted character…” to give us an insight on the figure he is speaking about. The author also chooses these words to build up an impression and then breaks it by saying Parker was a most intensive melodist. In the second paragraph of this story, Ellison establishes what a nickname does and how it would originate. Continuing on, Ellison introduces a new fact to the audience, that jazzmen were labeled as cats because they were legends.
He married and was trying to move past his experiences as a POW. However, nightmares and flashbacks of The Bird haunted him. They made him focus on revenge and anger. One night while sleeping, he had a vision that he was strangling The Bird, but it turned out to the his pregnant wife. This PTSD caused Louie to become divorced.
This was until Louie noticed a bird flying, got an idea, and slowly inched his hand closer and closer to the bird. All in one go, Louie closed his hand, and while the bird is pecking he closed his hand and then snapped the bird 's neck. In order to get the meat from the bird, Louie
The men of the group, much like John in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” consider themselves more capable than the women and refuse to consider Mrs. Wright as anything other than irrational. The men leave the women to their “trifles” on the first floor, where they discover a broken bird cage, and the bird’s body, broken, carefully wrapped in a small, decorative box. They realize that Mr. Wright had wrung the neck of his wife’s beloved bird and broken its cage. Mrs. Wright, once known for her cheerfulness and beautiful singing, she stopped singing when she encountered Mr. Wright. Just like he did with the bird, Mr. Wright choked the life out of his wife until, finally, Mrs. Wright literally choked the life out of her husband.
The Raven The famous line by shakespeare will last as long as time. “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. ”this line makes one think differently about a rose. Edgar allan Poe also makes us think differently about a simple thing like a Raven, by changing their perception of what a raven really is.
To me, a hero is someone who gives everything they have to assure the happiness of others and a hero is also someone who gives up his life or her life so someone else could live. In all honesty, a hero isn’t really what we think a “hero” is based on definitions and what the movies or even comic books have told us. Anyone can be