Unbroken Louis Zamperini Character Analysis

After World War Two only 2.5 million American soldiers came home to their families after fighting. Out of all of these men 1 in 20 suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Unbroken tells Louis Zamperini’s amazing story of the second World War and how he survived the horrible challenges he was faced with. Before joining the military Louis was a mischievous boy from a small town in California who blossomed into a track star. He competed in the olympics and became famous for breaking several records. When he went off to fight in the war he never imagined his plane would be bombed and he would be forced to live on a small raft floating through the Pacific Ocean for weeks with only two other men and limited resources. On top of that, when he finally reaches land he is thrown into a Japanese prisoner of war

Within days of arriving at the camp Omori, Louie realized his life was about to become worse than he previously thought possible. The Bird had discovered that in his previous life Louie was an olympian and that made him perfect bait. Louie was abused several times by the Bird for no justifiable reason creating an even greater uneasiness in Zamperini’s life. In this passage he describes himself looking for a lion as if he is prey. Lions are considered to be the king of the jungle and Watanabe could be considered king of the camp. This quote symbolizes the wildness and fear stimulated by the Bird and how extreme the anxiety is that Louie has inherited. Not only was the Bird controlling Louie’s physical actions, he was getting inside his head: “At night, the Bird stalked his dreams, screeching, seething, his belt buckle flying at Louie’s skull. In the dreams, the smothered rage in Louie would overwhelm him, and he’d find himself on top of his monster, his hands on the corporal’s neck strangling the life from him,” (Hillenbrand 271). This quote illustrates that when a fear or