In Unbroken and Seabiscuit, Hillenbrand tells inspiring stories about two legendary American heros. In Unbroken, Louie, a World War II soldier, is forced to fight for survival after an airplane crash. In Seabiscuit, Seabiscuit, an underestimated race horse, rises to each challenge and perseveres in times of defeat. Hillenbrand’s use of figurative language, syntax, theme and selection of detail is similar in both of theses books; however, there are subtle differences due to a change in the purpose, audience, and story. In both Unbroken and Seabiscuit use similar syntax structure to create nail-biting suspense. When pressure is rising before an important event, Hillenbrand will often hint to what is going to what happen next with foreshadowing. …show more content…
Hillenbrand uses many similes and metaphors in both novels when trying to compare the impact or intensity of a situation. For example, In Unbroken, when Louie was suffering from an increasing alcohol addiction “reaching for his flask became as easy as slapping a swatter on a fly” (Unbroken 347). Hillenbrand’s use of figurative language differs between Seabiscuit and Unbroken in terms of using more hyperboles and understatements in Unbroken. Hillenbrand does this to illustrate the catastrophic effects of war while also not letting the disheartening side of war become overpowering. She tries to keep Louie’s story somewhat lighthearted and focuses on how Louie rose from difficulty, as opposed to the direness of the situation. For example, when the maniacal bird beats Louie for the first time Hillenbrand chooses focus not on the beating but that “Louie steadied himself again [and] raised his eyes to the corporal’s face” (Unbroken 238). Also, Unbroken uses many allusions to its title “EXAMPLE QUOTE HERE” whereas Seabiscuit does not. Hillenbrand also uses vivid imagery when that draws the reader into the story. She describes with immense detail and often uses personification or metaphors to do so most effectively. For example, in Seabiscuit, Hillenbrand is sure to mention that Seabiscuit’s final race track had “arches of acacias, columns of jonquils, and giant gardenias with fifteen …show more content…
This tone, however is not appropriate for the dire, life threatening situations in Unbroken and is therefore used solely in Seabiscuit. For Hillenbrand states “it became unclear who was stalking whom” when describing Howard’s relationship with the press (Seabiscuit 132). This lighthearted wit is woven throughout Seabiscuit, helping to keep the reader interested and the story enjoyable. In Unbroken, Hillenbrand uses a more serious, emotional tone. She pours emotion into every sentence allowing the reader to easily connect with Louie. For example, when Louie is at the prisoner camp, Hillenbrand writes that Louie was “sickened and starving, his will fraying away” and that all Louie had was “the faint hope of the war’s end, and rescue, to keep him going” (Unbroken 291). While Seabiscuit’s story and struggle is easy to connect to, the fact that he is a horse makes it difficult for the reader to emotionally be immersed in what Seabiscuit may be
Entering the battlefield in World War II, Louie was in plane crash during a search-and-rescue mission. He became a castaway for 47 days until he was captured by the Japanese. In the POW camp, Louie faced many problems but stayed resilient. Most of his problems included the Bird, a vicious corporal who targeted Louie. One day, Louie was blamed for theft and the Bird demanded every prisoner to punch Louie. Louie took his beatings with resiliency. For example, in Unbroken it states, “ For the next few punches, Louie stayed upright. But soon his legs wavered, and he collapsed. He pulled himself up, but fell again with the next punch, and the next (Pg. 209)”. This quote shows Louie’s resiliency since it shows how Louie would get up after every punch. He wanted to show that the Japanese soldiers could not shatter him. He also wanted to show that he could take every punch the Bird inflicted on him. Another example is when Louie is forced by the Bird to hole a beam over his head. Louie showed he was unbreakable during this act. The quote states, “ All he knew was a single thought: He cannot break me. Time ticked on, and Louie still remained, the beam over his head, his eyes on the Bird’s face, enduring long past when he should have collapsed.(Pg. 213)”. This quote shows how Louie is resilient since he would not let the Bird break him. It also shows how Louie wanted to show the Bird he was more capable than he
The novel Unbroken is about Louis Zamperini. The book starts out with Louie's older brother Pete being worried about Louis because he always gets himself into trouble. To try to turn Louie's life around his brother intruders Louie into running. Louie starts to practice and becomes very good at running. He becomes such a good runner that he makes it to the olympics.
Unbroken is the story of the life and hardships faced by Louie Zamperini. Starting as a troublesome child Louie is a constant problem to all around him. He turns his ways around and turns to running where he is rewarded greatly, qualifying for the olympics. After his reign of fame, Louie joins the air corps where he struggles with fear and boredom. During one mission his plane fails and he and two other crew mates are stuck stranded in the ocean.
Seabiscuit: An American Legend is the first book-length work published by Laura Hillenbrand. The book takes place between 1929 and 1940, a time in which the world was functioning through a tough time. One thing that happened during this period was the stock market crash and during this time people had little hope and desire. I think this story represents heroism and hope to people during this time.
In the first half of the historical nonfiction novel, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, Louie Zamperini endures many hardships in his life. These struggles make me feel sorry for him and the trouble he is in. As a child, he was unable to fit in, his peers considered him “a bad kid”. Louie would unfortunately steal things on the streets, and consistently get into fights with others, commonly for no reason at all. However, the positive side to his actions, was the speed and running ability he built up. I felt relieved when his brother encouraged his participation on the school track team. In a nutshell, Louie was a natural star. His large, skinny frame and long frame gave him ideal running characteristics. No longer was Louie a bad kid, he was a
"At times he regarded the wounded soldiers in an envious way. He conceived persons with torn bodies to be peculiarly happy. He wished that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of courage." (Ch.9, Pg. 61) Jim Conklin, Wilson, and the tattered man are not only alike in some ways, but also have differences. The purpose of this essay is to tell you the similarities between the tall soldier, the loud soldier, and the tattered man, how they are like or unlike Henry Fleming, and what roles these major characters seem to play in the novel.
In the book, Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, Louie Zamperini was majorly obsessed with vengeance throughout the end of the book that his life was consumed by the quest for it. Louie felt as if the Bird had stolen his dignity at the POW campsites, where he was beaten, humiliated, starved, and stripped of his powers of self-defense. Louie was overwhelmed with his anger that the only objective he sought was to get revenge on the Bird. In other words, Louie was angered about his loss of dignity at the POW campsite, he wanted to get revenge on the Bird by killing him, and how Louie eventually forgives the Bird for what he did to him. These three reasons show how Louie’s loss of self-dignity in the POW camp was pursued.
The book Unbroken details the struggles and hardships Louie Zamperini found as a P.O.W. in Japan during World War Two. Laura Hillenbrand wrote ths nonfiction novel about Zamperini's life as a troublemaking youth, a soldier, and his post bellum life as a family man and community leader. Louie Zamperini was born in Olean, New York to parents native to Italy. His family moved to Torrance, California, where he became a troublemaking youth who was always fighting and getting into trouble. Zamperini was known as a public nuisance to the town, until his brother, Pete, put him on the right track.
War is often thought about as something that hardens a soldier. It makes a person stronger emotionally because they are taught not show it and deal with it internally. People say that death in war is easier to handle because it is for the right reasons and a person can distance themselves from the pain of losing someone. However, there is always a point when the pain becomes too real and it is hard to maintain that distance. In doing so, the story disputes the idea that witnessing a traumatic event causes a numbing or blockage of feelings. Rat Kiley’s progression of sentiment began with an initial concern for the buffalo, transforming into an irate killing of the animal, and then ending with an ultimate acceptance of death. These
The true horrors of World War I are difficult to convey through traditional written word. David Malouf’s Fly Away Peter is a novella which uses relatable characters and stereotypes to provide a window for audiences to engage with warfare. This is enhanced by an array of poetic and descriptive language with vivid imagery to truly channel the anguish and confusion of soldiers in war to the audience. Juxtaposition is Malouf’s greatest asset, along with religious symbolism and allusion add subtext to the novella. These techniques allow Malouf to condemn war, create a novella of dualities and illuminate the true meaning life.
A Comparison in the Presentation of the ‘Horrors of War’ in Birdsong and A Journey’s End
In this essay, I will discuss how Tim O’Brien’s works “The Things They Carried” and “If I Die in a Combat Zone” reveal the individual human stories that are lost in war. In “The Things They Carried” O’Brien reveals the war stories of Alpha Company and shows how human each soldier is. In “If I Die in a Combat Zone” O’Brien tells his story with clarity, little of the dreamlike quality of “Things They Carried” is in this earlier work, which uses more blunt language that doesn’t hold back. In “If I Die” O’Brien reveals his own personal journey through war and what he experienced. O’Brien’s works prove a point that men, humans fight wars, not ideas. Phil Klay’s novel “Redeployment” is another novel that attempts to humanize soldiers in war. “Redeployment” is an anthology series, each chapter attempts to let us in the head of a new character – set in Afghanistan or in the United States – that is struggling with the current troubles of war. With the help of Phil Klay’s novel I will show how O’Brien’s works illustrate and highlight each story that make a war.
There is a moment in a writer’s life where they are affected by a particular event which inspires them in their literature. These events can affect them in a positive or negative way, depending on what is going on during that decade. Wars are large events in history which tend to influence the most people. Katherine Porter and her novel Pale Rider, Pale Horse were drastically influenced by the outbreak of World War One. World War One not only created a Generation of “lost writers,” and destruction, but created a time period of movement for political and social changes in the United States. As a result of all the devastation and change during the war, Katherine Anne Porter wrote her three part novel Pale Horse, Pale Rider, to illustrate her personal life being influenced by the way.
Of the many important themes that appear throughout Timothy Findley’s novel The Wars, the loss of innocence is undeniably one of, if not the, most significant. When central character Robert Ross goes off to fight in the War to end all Wars, the traumatic events he experiences strip him of his docile nature. It should be noted that this loss of innocence in Robert Ross cannot be pinned down to a single, sudden event or specific battle – rather, it is a process that unfolds slowly over the course of the novel, and it is devastating. Perhaps more significantly, however, is that the loss of innocence is strongly tied to another theme central to the novel – animals and animal symbolism. In The Wars, animals and the natural world represent something pure and untainted by the war; whereas the world of humans is war-torn and brutal. Robert himself appears to feel more at home with animals, and is timid, fumbling, and awkward in front of other humans – at least in the early parts of the novel. It is noteworthy, then, that in most landmark scenes in which some innocence is lost, an animal is always present.
Along this difficult march, the narrator reflects on the life of the dog and remembers the not-so-bad characteristics of the family pet, “During our joint ordeal I had developed a grudging affection for our pet; he who’d been so quick to defend my kith and kin against the noise of passing trucks, who took loud notice of the squirrels outside, who held fast in the foyer, hackles raised, fearlessly barking, whenever company arrived at the front door (248).”