Unbroken By Laura Hillenbrand: A Brief Analysis

During World War II, a period of complete violence and outbreak between nations, there are many heroes that have endured through harsh brutalities. In Laura Hillenbrand’s monumental book Unbroken, she writes about the real life story of Louie Zamperini. As a young child, Louie was very mischievous and dangerous.” Hillenbrand states,” He hit one kid so hard that he broke his nose. He upended another boy and stuffed paper towels in his mouth… Louie beat one kid so badly, leaving him unconscious in a ditch, that he was afraid he’s killed him (pg 10).” When attending Torrance High, Louie then started to focus on running. He was very talented at it and people called him the Torrance Tornado. He found himself beating records and finally involved

With Louie’s dreams broken, he was involved in the war. Throughout his war experiences, Louie faces a time of extreme hardships and brutalities, later making him mentally ill postwar. However, even throughout these difficulties, many people can reflect from his experiences and learn many life lessons that Louie shows in his experiences.

In Louie’s experiences, one of the things he shows to readers is to show endurance and to stay persistent. In one event, Louie and 7 other crew members on the Green Hornet (the name of the plane) all crash: “The engine wouldn't start. The plane kept dropping. Green Hornet was doomed. The best Phil could do was try to level it out to ditch. He grunted three words into the interphone: ‘Prepare to crash.’ (pg 118).” In this moment that Louie and the crew members crash, Louie is drowning but eventually makes it up to shore. He finds his friend Phil and the tail gunner, Mac and they all live the on rafts. While in the rafts, they have to struggle when Mac has also eaten all their chocolate and all their water is done. However, Louie shows his endurance throughout their lives stranded in the sea. even without