Louies tough journey is explained in a book called Unbroken written by Laura Hillenbrand, which displays his two traits of being enterprising and strong-willed. Louie Zamperini shows his trait of being enterprising through the novel because he’s very resourceful. In the first chapter already
Miraculously, Phil and Louie are able to survive life on the raft and make it to land. However, they end up over enemy lines. The Japanese then capture them and imprison them, where they are tortured endlessly for years until the war ends. Louie suffers severe posttraumatic stress disorder and battles with alcoholism. It’s not until Louie goes to a sermon and rediscovers god that he is saved and is free from the war memories in his mind, finally redeeming himself.
Louie on the verge of death alongside with Phil on the life raft, “Louie prayed. He had prayed only once before in his life in childhood, when his mother was sick and he had been filled with a rushing fear that he would lose her. That night on the raft, in words composed in his head, never passing his lips, he pleaded for help” (Hillenbrand 142). In the most desperate of times Louie asks for the best for himself as well as his crew. After being held captive for two years as a POW, Louie is left with a distorted mind that is filled with monstrous images.
Louie went through many hardships during, and after the prison camp. Through the whole time, though, Louie was resilient and strong. He was making a positive situation out of a negative one. Louie’s experiences show how humanity can learn from their difficult experiences and use that knowledge to help others
He was very particularly fond of speaking on cruise ships, sorting through invitations to find a plum voyage, kicking back on the first-class deck with a cool drink in hand, and reveling in the ocean. Louie, being concerned that accepting fat honoraria would discourage schools and small groups from asking him to speak, declined anything over modest fees. He made just enough money to keep Cissy and her little brother, Luke-in diapers, then later in blue jeans, and finally college. Over the years, Louie received an absurd number of awards and honors. For example, the Lomita Flight Strip, which had been renamed Louie Zamperini Field while Louie was languishing in Naoetsu, was rededicated to him not once more, but twice.
Although he faced many hardships throughout the course of his life, Louie managed to stay strong and continue on to spread his heroic life story of survival, resilience, and
In Unbroken, the primary character who manages to retain his individuality despite facing extreme adversity is Louie Zamperini, an Olympian turned POW. He manages to not conform to the Japanese authorities who captured him in a variety of ways despite constant abuse at the hands of his captors. According to Wade, “Louie's face was so swollen that for several days he could barely open his mouth. By Wade's estimate, each man had been punched in the face some 220 times" (Hillenbrand 295). In other words, Louie Zamperini is captured and transported to Naoetsu, a brutal POW camp, where he was subject to frequent beatings such as the aforementioned one.
In the end of the story he left a man named Louie Zamperini with PTSD and many scars from the daily beatings from Watanabe and the people Watanabe forced to hurt Louie. Watanabe is known as a vampire from the statements from Thomas C. Foster’s book with his characteristics of selfishness and brutality for his own pleasure, not thinking of what he was doing to Louie. Later on in the novel Unbroken, a symbol of freedom and slavery is shown within the text just as explained in Thomas C. Foster’s book How To Read Literature Like a Professor For Kids chapter 11, “Is That a Symbol?”. Louie Zamperini in the beginning of the book was an air force bomber who was fighting for America. Louie had been stationed in Hawaii about 2,000 miles away from a group of the Japanese Islands.
Louie always tries to be the best and he continues to beat world records, some of which had been established decades in the past. Louie always pushes human limits. Whether that be completing a final lap in 50 seconds, or concluding a race where he was critically injured. Louie was so successful and full of perseverance that he is an idol to many today. His willpower, and “can do” attitude show he has grit and that he can do whatever he puts his mind too.
She did an absolutely wonderful job of creating this time period with just her words and it’s one of my favorite things about this book. The As a boy, Louie Zamperini was always in trouble, but with the help of his older brother, he turned his life around and channeled his energy into running. He set his first record in high school, “He ran a field of milers off their feet, stopping the watches in 5:03. Three seconds faster than Pete’s record.”(17) He moved on from high school and set his eyes on the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Louie “lived and breathed the 1,500 meters and Berlin.”(22) Louie couldn’t get into what he could do best which was the 1,500 meters because “he couldn’t force his body to improve quickly enough to catch his older rivals by summer.