Phil's Character Analysis: Louie

He was one of the only survivors in the plane crash and was what literature calls a dynamic character. A dynamic character is a character in a story that changed from what they were in the beginning. Phil went from a tough soldier to a scared-for-his-life prisoner of war. He remains confident and good-spirited on the raft. Despite not bearing any responsibility for the crash, Phil’s strong moral conscience makes him feel guilt for the dead crewmen (LitCharts, int.). He was Louie’s pilot and one of his great friends. He endured very much, almost as much as Louie, and his name should go unheard.

Louie’s life in the army wasn’t going to be easy and chapter 8 proves that true. The men who he gained close relationships with and highly respected him were involved in a plane crash over Pearl Harbor. Ten men were killed and this scared Louie. Again, he began to lose sight of his reason to live. To cope with the pain, he began to listen to music and drink

Maddy Milanoski ELA Grade 6 10/19/2015 The Cay Chapter 3 Open Response The historical fiction story The Cay by Theodore Taylor is set in Curaçao In the beginning of World War 2. Phillip, a 12 year old boy flees the country with his mother, only to find himself separated from his mother, and on a raft with an older mysterious black man “Timothy”. In Chapter 3, Philip was characterized as selfish, frightened, and racist. In contrast to mrs. actions and words show that he is optimistic, resourceful, and reassuring. Philip acts frightened yet Timothy is optimistic. When Philip was on the raft, he said “that lonely sea, the sharp pains in my head, and the knowledge that I was here alone with a black man instead of my mother made me break into tears”.

Louie along with two other men survived the crash. The three men were stranded for forty-seven days. “Two weeks had passed. The men’s skin was burned, swollen, and cracked.. Their bodies were digesting themselves” (Hillenbrand 155); this quote expresses that the men are suffering with no food or water, their bodies are growing smaller by the day. As time passed, one of the men passed away and was thrown overboard. After forty-seven days of suffering, Louie along with his raft mate, were captured by the Japanese. The two were sent to a Prisoner Of War camp. Louie says; “All I see, he thought, is a dead body breathing. Louie dissolved into hard, racking weeping. 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. Time after time, he was given deadly tasks, and beaten. The book says; “Any resistance from Louie, even shielding his face, would inspire the Bird to more violence. Louie could do nothing but stand there, staggering, as the Bird

If people give up all the time individuals will never get far in life or become successful, but if people try their best until people get better or at least try, people are less likely to fail. To begin, in the realistic fiction novel, Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, there is a kid named Brian Robeson whose parents are divorced. So he gets on a plane to go see his dad, but usually stays mainly with his mom. When he goes on the plane for the first time since the divorce his plane crashes in the middle of a forest. Brian has to learn how to survive in the wilderness and hope he gets saved. The novel has two themes displayed through the novel. One theme is to never give up. Another theme is when an individual is scared to do something they can overcome

Unlike Louie and Phil, Mac was less determined to live and had little hope that they would survive. While Louie and Phil told each other memories, Mac usually sat there in silence and grieved. “He shared few memories, and though the other two encouraged him, he couldn't imagine a future. To him, it seemed the world was too far gone” (Source B; Hillenbrand, 28). Mac had no source of motivation nor a way to motivate himself to live. Eventually, “Mac's body grew weaker, following his broken spirit” (Source B; Hillenbrand, 31). With no ambition to continue wanting to live, Mac perished after one month at sea. Mac’s lack of determination not only made him different from Louie and Phil but also showed how he lacked the characteristic of being

When Louie was sent to the prison camp where Watanabe was, it began his slow descent into the worst part of his entire life. By being beaten and enslaved through no fault of his own, this was a very trying time for him. Louie shows his agency by reminding himself constantly that he can be stronger than Watanabe and not bend to his will. He shows this with the quote “All he knew was a single thought: he cannot break me”(Hillenbrand 213). Louie’s rebellious side was also shown in his time in the camps, forming a meeting with other officers to capture and kill Watanabe. He shows his rebellious side against Watanabe as well when he, within the previously mentioned group,

Louie Zamperini was stranded in the middle of the ocean, on a raft for 47 days, then endured over 2 abusive years in POW camps. Louie was born a troublemaker and became a troublesome boy, but his brother, Pete, led him into the career of running, which loomed in his life until he passed. Later, he enlisted into the army and his bomber went down, Louie and Phil made it to Japanese camps, unlike the third crewmate, and luckily survived the harsh treatments of the camps for 2 years. Louie came back to America and decided to live his life to the fullest and take nothing for granted. In the novel Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, she uses Louie’s real life experiences to show his two most important traits: courageousness and determination.

Louie Zamperini and Commander John Fitzgerald show strength and resolution in the face of adversity. For example, when Louie’s plane crashed and the men were on the raft, Laura Hillenbrand wrote, “Louie was determined to keep himself and the others lucid”(114). During their journey on the rafts, Louie tried to keep Phil, Mac and himself hopeful in a seemingly hopeless situation. He tried to distract them from hunger and troubling thoughts by singing songs and talking about comforting memories of the past. Commander John Fitzgerald demonstrated his fortitude in Ofuna. Hillenbrand wrote, “Fitzgerald had never broken, and as one of the highest-ranking captives, did his best to protect the men”(152). Commander Fitzgerald felt it was his duty to protect the secrets of his country and the men who served it. His leadership demonstrated a gallant and loyal character. Finally, when Louie was at Omori, he was offered an opportunity by a radio station, “If Louie would do the broadcast, they said, he could live here”(191). Louie knew that they were conspirators trying to make him become a propaganda prisoner and that the broadcast was meant to discourage American troops. He then chose to go back to the horrible, slipshod POW camp rather than degrade and betray his country. These men exemplify people standing up in the face of adversity and the embodiment of a noble

Determination is something displayed by Louie Zamperini all throughout the novel, from his career as an athlete to his journey in the Japanese prison camps. One part in this book where Louie shows he is determined is when he strives to go to the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Instead of trying out for the mile event, he starts training

“A true friend accepts who you are and helps you become who you should be.” Steve and Nathaniel proved that friendship and happiness can be real in the novel The Soloist by Steve Lopez. The way friendship is portrayed in the novel is unexpected in such a way that we don’t see it happen often in our daily life. It is important to our society because finding a true friend is really difficult to find. True friendship is hard to find now in days because we expect many things in return from other people. However, this novel teaches us that we shouldn’t expect anything in return because many people don’t have anything to give us back but just their company and support. Meeting someone unexpectedly and becoming close to them is something uncommon in our society now in days. However, Lopez demonstrate that it can happen.

Charlie by, Lee Maracle is about a young Indian boy who goes to a catholic school. Charlie dreams about going outside and exploring but the school will punish him if he does. One a day a group of kids including Charlie sneak out to go to one of their families houses. When they get their Charlie leaves to go to his family’s cabin. Unfortunately his long journey is cut short by frost bite and he dies of hypothermia.

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. His wife began going to Billy Graham’s services, and encouraged Louie to attend as well. After Louie decided to attend, he continued to talk with Billy Graham and accept that forgiveness would be the only way for him to escape the terror of The Bird. Finally, Louie was able to look beyond the torture he has endured, and learned to believe in his Christian faith and forgive The Bird. Although, I feel Louie would have been justified in killing The Bird, I do not feel like it would have been a moral act the Louie was capable of. For a man to have endured so much pain to forgive, shows tremendous strength and bravery. I also don’t feel that Louie would have ever found true peace if he would have killed The Bird. The thought that he would have been guilty of committing the same abuse that he witnessed daily would have put him over the edge. “He felt something he had never felt for his captor before. With a shiver of amazement, he realized it was compassion. At that moment, something shifted sweetly inside him. It was forgiveness, beautiful, effortless, and complete. For Louie

Over the summer I read about a person who was a really good track star and served in World War II. Written by Laura Hillenbrand, Unbroken is a non-fiction World War II story about a young man named Louis Zamperini. The story takes place in the pacific islands and Japan during World War II Louis grew up as a restless and naughty boy, but then became a good and famous track star before getting drafted into the second world war. Louis faces the challenge of surviving on his own and enduring cruelty against Japanese leaders as a prisoner of war.

Have you ever thought of yourself as a person who has the guts to do anything, but in reality when it comes time to actually do something you back out of it? In the book Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand Louis “Louie” Zamperini had partaken in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Not long after Louie had competed in the games he had continued on his path to success to join the U.S. Air Forces in 1940, right around when World War II had begun. When Louie and his fellow crew members were flying over the Pacific Ocean in their B-24D Army Air Forces bomber one day in May of 1943, they had crashed into the ocean due to two engine failures. After crashing into the Pacific there were only three survivors; Louie, pilot Lieutenant Russell Allen