Olympic Brand By Laura Hillenbrand Essay

On May 27, 1943, the eleven crewmembers of the Green Hornet crash-landed in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, leaving the three surviving men stranded. For the next two years, Louis Zamperini, one of the survivors and the bombardier of the plane, would become a prisoner of war to the Japanese and suffer countless tortures. Though the Geneva Convention theoretically administrated the treatment of prisoners of war, not all POW camps adhered to its rules. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand chronicles Louis’s story and depicts how the differences in culture of two nations affected the lives of the thousands of American soldiers imprisoned in Japan during World War II. Louis was captured by the Japanese after he survived for forty-seven days on the open ocean with minimal supplies.

As he was serving the army in World War II, he was captured by the Japanese, and was sent to Ofuna, a POW camp. At this camp, he had to endure brutal torture for years. Louie was struggling with his physical and mental state at this camp, but he stayed true to himself, and was able to keep his dignity. At the POW camp, Louie was forced to race a Japanese runner. (Hillenbrand 151)

Henry John Patch, the last surviving soldier of world war two quoted saying that, “war is organized murder and nothing else”(“Patch Harry”). Louis Silvie Zamperini, was a Olympic distance runner, who was faced with being a US prisoner of war survivor in World War II and had to go through unspoken atrocities, that traumatized him for life. Laura hillenbrand, novel Unbroken tells the life of Louis Zamperini an Olympic runner and military aviator life, and the agonizing and horrific abuse that he had to face at the hands of his capures after being stuck at sea for 47 days without any supplies, and all he had to rely on was his mental strength. Louis started off as a young man who had so many opportunities that were going going for him in his life,

Louie started a camp for boys named “Victory Boys camp”. He would take boys who had been in prison or juvenile school and be a mentor and attempt to put them down the right path for their life. He also spoke of the free gift God gives to everyone of eternal life. “He went easy on Christianity, but laid it before them as an option. Some were convinced, some not, but either way, boys who arrived at Victory as ruffians often left it renewed and reformed.”

When Louie was imprisoned in the Labor camp in Tokyo, He led an uprising with 100 other prisoners, he led them to a victory which took over the labor camp. This shows he is a hero. He was willing to take a chance to save all these people that were in the same position that he was. After the war, he started to give back to the people. When Louie was young, he stole numerous things from people.

He was going to be a runner and he was going to go all out” (16). At this point Louie could use his legs and resilience for something productive. In the face of fear and the pressure of his older brother, Louie excelled at running; using his stress to achieve something

Unbroken The author wrote this story to inform the reader of the life of Louis Zamperini, while also telling the story in an entertaining way. Hillenbrand demonstrated the main idea throughout the book by using rhetorical devices such as diction, syntax, imagery, and tone. Hillenbrand’s use of these rhetorical devices contribute to the book Unbroken by emphasizing the main character, Louis “Louie” Zamperini’s, life before, during, and after becoming a prisoner of war.

The love for his country is exemplified by the way fulfilled his duties with total dedication, and competence. Other characters that sets Louie apart is his optimism , courage,and fearlessness as a warrior. Throughout the entire story, Louie knew he could get away with anything(He felt invincible) The book describes the true story of the overwhelming odds ,and terror of war that Louie must face with his fellow soldiers Mac, and Phil.

In Hillenbrand’s gruesome novel, Louis Zamperini faces the toughest of challenges, some that are purely indescribable and difficult to comprehend for the average human, but his ability to persevere and accomplish the unheard of demonstrates his character’s ability to tackle adversity head on. After a victorious landing on a Japanese island, the men are transferred to POW camps, where they assume they will face their deaths. Both men are taken special interest in, but Zamperini especially because of his Olympic past. Zamperini first meets the “Bird” at a new POW camp and realizes that a real life nightmare has entered his life. Zamperini, anxious and angry, is unsure of how to react, “Louie was on his own.

Unfortunately, he and his friend Phil were captured by the Japanese and put into prison camps. Louie needed to show resilience and resist the captors attempts to make him feel worthless. Laura Hillenbrand, the author of Unbroken, uses character to show the theme when tough situations arise one must be resilient in order to transform the bad into good or even better. When Louie was a prisoner in the camp, he needed to resist the dehumanization and beatings he had been given by the Bird.

Louies family was thrilled to see him. To Louies family it seemed as if he carried very little emotion from being in the prison camps. Hillenbrand wrote, “They spoke easily, as they always had. No one asked about prison camp. Louie volunteered a little about it, and to everyone’s relief, it seemed to carry little emotion for him”(342).

Overcoming Dehumanization “Louie watched the sky and hoped the Americans would come before the Bird killed him” (181). This is one of the many examples of how the way POWs were treated in these camps influenced many lives negatively. Like many other Prisoners of War, Louie Zamperini survived several difficult conditions. He had to resist several attempts of dehumanization. In Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand uses both internal and external conflict to show that war has profound and varied effects on individuals.

“Dignity is as essential to human life as water, food, and oxygen. The stubborn retention of it, even in the face of extreme physical hardship, can hold a man 's soul in his body long past the point when the body should have surrendered it” (Hillenbrand 189). In the novel Unbroken, written by Laura Hillenbrand, Louis “Louie” Zamperini goes through several life-threatening experiences. After being a troublemaker as a child, and an Olympic athlete, Louie straps up his boots and becomes a bombardier for the Army Air Corps. After a traumatizing crash and a forty-six day survival at sea, Louie is taken captive by Japanese officials.

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.

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