Unbroken By Laura Hillenbrand: Character Analysis

Louie Zamperini has a lot to his name. A 4:08.3 mile, 56-second final lap in the 5000m, spoke with Hitler himself, these are achievements common people can’t come close to accomplishing. Louie was uncommon. In the book Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, Louie shows his resourcefulness as well as his determination to make his way through the roughest time of his life. When they caught the first fish and they had food first time in a week, “Louie had demonstrated that if they were persistent and resourceful, they could catch food, and he and Phil felt inspired.” (Hillenbrand, 113) It shows how Louie is very resourceful and determined at the same time because he got robbed a hook multiple times but he kept trying and trying and it paid off, inspiring

At one time Louie snatched the bird by the legs and killed it by its neck and they were very excited to feast but then depressed when they smelled it. Louie, using his brain thought of a way to use it, “Louie used the pliers to tear the bird open... The men recoiled: the bird reeked… At least they finally had bait… Louie tied a small hook to a fishing line and baited it with albatross meat.” (Hillenbrand, 113) This shows that Louie is resourceful because he realized they couldn’t eat it so he made something out of nothing by making it bait for other fish they could eat. Louie made a canopy to protect from the sun while on the raft, “On the fortieth day, Louie was laying beside Phil under the remains of Phil’s ruined raft, which Louie had made into a canopy.” (Hillenbrand, 129) This shows again that he made something out of nothing and that Phil’s ruined raft was something that finally could block out the treacherous sun from their blister filled bodies. In the beginning of Louie’s military career, his plane’s brakes were unavailable due to no hydraulics. They eventually made it to the base but had to land somehow, “Louie had an idea. What if they tied parachutes to the plane, pitched them out the windows at touchdown, and pulled the rip cords.”