Book Report On Unbroken By Laura Hillenbrand

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand follows Louie Zamperini, a US prisoner of war survivor in World War II. Louie Zamperini was the son of Italian immigrants. He grew up in Torrance, California with a habit of testing the limits. Pete, Louie’s older brother, saw that Louie had a talent for running. As a result, he forced Louie to join the track-and-field team at school.

Another important fact was that as Louie was traveling across the Pacific Ocean, his plane was shot down, and his pilot and he became stranded in the middle of the ocean for forty-seven days. Both the pilot and Louie survived, but they were captured and place into prison-of-war camps. Another important fact was that during Louie’s time in the prison-of-war camp, there had been a guard nicknamed the Bird, that punched Louie more than two hundred times and even made him clean pigpens with his bare hands just because he did not like

Louie started as a young trouble boy, who then became into a man who was an airman during World War 2. During his POW experience many challenges came in the way, one of them being Mutsuhiro Watanabe also known as the Bird. The Bird was a Japanese corporal who ended up in the Omori Camp. During Louie’s experience at Omori with the Bird became his worst challenge and enemy since the Bird wanted to make Louie’s life a nightmare. The Bird tortured Louie for different reasons but that it never broke Louie.

Unbroken, a biography on the life of Louis Zamperini written by Laura Hillenbrand illustrates his experience as a POW in Japanese camps during WWII. During his time readers are heartbroken after realizing the disgusting nature of the camps. The treatment and what the guards forced prisoners to do shocked readers as well as how the camps Zamperini were in violated laws and twisted the role that camps were supposed to play during times of war. During WWII POW camps played huge roles in the aspect of war as well as in the lives of the prisoners and their families back home.

Unbroken shows you no matter what happens in life to never give up, keep fighting. This book is about a boy named Louis Zamperini who gets into a lot of trouble as a kid, but later on in, life he begins to run track and ends up breaking records and eventually he goes to the Olympics. After the Olympics, Louis joins the Air Force, while in combat there plane got shot down and they crashed in the ocean. After the crash, they were stranded in the middle of the ocean for 47 days starving with very limited food and on the 47th day the Japanese captured them and brought them to a prisoner of war camp. After getting beaten and abused in the camp the war eventually ended and they got home safely.

Steve Jobs once said, “Sometimes life hits you in the head. Don’t lose focus.” In the book Unbroken by Laura Hillenberg, Louie Zamperini was an olympic track star who later on in his life decided to go into the war to serve his country. Louie truly was a patriotic man, representing his country as an olympian and then later on in his life heading off to this war, this unknown land. Louie ended up at a POW camp where he fought for his life every single day.

After 47 days adrift at sea, the Japanese captured Phil and Louie, and are taken by them to a POW camp. At the camp Louie encountered a man named “The Bird” whose character is the direct opposite of Louie. “Louie had met the man who would dedicate himself to shattering him” (239). Through these punishments The Bird tried to weaken Louie both mentally and physically, through this Louie was dedicated to stay strong, not give in and go insane, like other POW. Prisoners of war resented The Bird Jack Brady a fellow POW stated “ He was absolutely the most sadistic man I ever met” (243).

Imagine being stuck in a cage, getting poked at by sticks, starved, beaten, and humiliated. Finally, getting stripped of the last thing you have: your dignity. Hillenbrand states, “Without dignity, identity is erased.” Unbroken is about a stubborn young Louie Zamberini, determined not to break under pressure. In the later part of Hillenbrand’s novel, Louie is captured by the Japanese and lives for over two years in hellish prisoner camps.

There were often two goals: Kill the camp officials, or escape. One plot was to kill the most evil man of all the camps, Watanabe. “The Bird” is what he was commonly referred as. The Bird was a vile man, and many men wanted him dead. The plot involved poisoning the Bird, and killing him slowly by putting it in his meals throughout the span of about a week.

The POWs tried resisting as much as they could. Something they would do was steal and sometimes try to stand up against the guards, although this would come with the cost of them being beaten. The bird was one of the guards that would beat them if they dared to move or place their hands to cover their faces. So instead of moving, they took it, taking every strength in their body to not mess up and move. Some of the prisoners paid them back by stealing.

This quote shows how Bird becomes distrustful due to the school system and the government banning books and blocking sites causing him to want to learn more. In addition, this causes him to ignore all the propaganda being spouted by the people around

Unbroken is the best word that can be used to describe Louie Zamperini. In the book Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, there are three other adjectives that can be used to describe Louie Zamperini, the main character. These adjectives are determined, compassionate, and defiant. These attributes can be proven through not only Louie’s actions, but his thoughts as well. These are the three different characteristics of Louie.

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.

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.

Although the guys insisted there were no planes available, the lieutenant had them take the B-24 Green Hornet. “There was only one ship, the Green Hornet,” “We were very reluctant, but Phillips finally gave in for the rescue mission”( Hillenbrand 96). After taking flight, the plane began to experience engine problems and began to go down. The men prepared for crash landing into the Pacific Ocean. Louie, Phil and Mac survived the crash, but were stranded on a raft.