Louie Zamperini’s Survival In The Camps Prisoners of war (POWs) can feel invisible by the captors. Louie’s experiences are like no other. As a troubled child Louie brawled with others and was thought to be feebleminded. His brother Pete saw potential in Louie, and made him into a star athlete. When nineteen he participated in the Berlin Olympics and took 8th place in the 5000m race. Years after the Olympics, Louie was sent to war, where he becomes a POW in Japan. In the book Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, Louie Zamperini was in captivity where he showed his two most important traits, courageousness and resourcefulness. First of all, the personality trait courageousness means to be brave. In the book Louie had to be brave when he was in the camp being tortured by the deranged guards. One example how Louie was vigor, is when the Japanese guards would beat on him so “[he] took the stick” (140). He was tired of being beaten for nothing, so Louie stood up for himself. Another example is when …show more content…
Louie had to be clever when he was trying to survive dying of starvation and helping the other POWs. In Unbroken, Louie would “[use a] broom to slide newspaper to himself” (166) and give it to another captive that can translate. He did this because the POWs wanted any dire information about the war. Additionally, Louie volunteered to shave the guards where they were “offering one rice ball per shave” (166). Also, Louie volunteered because he knew how to survive starvation Louie had to earn the rice balls. Another way how Louie was resourceful is when he saw “a discarded apple bow” (165) to make a fire for the captives. This was resourceful because the captives were cold and Louie used what he remembered from boy scouts which made both of them jubilant. Finally, Louie helped the captives and himself from starvation by finding clever ways to overcome
He was now stuck on a raft with two other survivors, Phil and Mac. This setting changed Louie’s life. He was forced to adapt in order to survive. He was forced to eat raw fish and get drinking water from the few times that it rained. Unfortunately, Mac didn’t make it and died. It took 47 days for the, to be rescued only by a Japanese navy ship. They were sent to a Japanese POW camp where the conditions were brutal. This setting forced Louie to adapt again. A quote from the story says, “The same attributes that had made Louie the boy of terror of Torrance were keeping him alive in the greatest struggle of his life.” This setting taught Louie the skills of survival, resilience, and perseverance. He was beat constantly by the guards. On one occasion, Louie was punched about 250 times by everyone in the camp to show him
He joined the Army and went on a search mission and crashed into the ocean he then was gone for 47 days to then be captured and put in a POW camp by the Japanese. He had no food or water on board he was captured he lived in terrible condition, hard labor, little food, beatings, and emotional torture. Louis was treated as if he were Nothing , but Louie resisted to saying anything and 2 of the traits he relied on most where rebellion and resilience.. Louie was very rebellious Louie and other prisoners, sense they couldn't do major things to rebel they did smaller things that would make them feel like a human. The Bird said ¨why you no look in my eyes?¨(173).
Louie was able to survive in the raft because of his brother Pete, his Olympic experience and he was smart and papered, to a degree. Pete influenced his survival because before Louie joined the war Pete helped train him for the Olympics, when Pete pushed and encouraged him to never stop and to always keep his head up, which help Louie not give up on the raft and keep fighting for his life. The text states on pages 15, “from that day on Pete was all over Louie for him to train,” this proves that Pete pushed Louie, which thought Louie to never stop and to always keep going. The Olympic experience helped Louie survive because it thought him to take the pain and keep going. The text states on page 44, “…as he neared the final turn he saw a tiny
Louie survives, even when a sadistic guard nicknamed “the Bird” who especially attacked Louie personally. The Bird singles Louie out and tortures him mentally and physically abuses him the most of everyone, including the infamous scene where Louie is forced to hold a large wooden log above his head until told other wise and if he dropped it a guard was ordered to kill him on the spot. After the war is declared over, American planes dropped food and other supplies to the camps including Louie’s. Back home being a very different man malnutritioned and unable to run, Louie reunites with his family, who have all worried themselves almost to death about him being missing or presumed dead. Later Louie married Cynthia Applewhite. They have a daughter, but Louie now has an alcohol addiction and has flashbacks of the war and his time spent on the raft and in the prison camps he was trapped in. Louie still cannot run or find a new career; he only wants to murder the Bird because of what he did to him and because he singled him out to inflict pain upon. When Cynthia files for divorce, Billy Graham comes to town and starts some tent preaching
At first Philip had no idea how to do anything like this. “ You ugly black man, I told you I can’t do this.” pg. 57. As seen this shows that Philip wasn’t very handy with his hands or smart enough to make a simple rope. After Timothy died Philip was on his own and fixed the ropes and stuff. “ I cleaned up the camp.” pg. 128. This shows how Philip got his full on smartness because he was able to do it all on his own he just needed time and motivation. In part of the book Philip heard a plane and he started the fire. The plane left and Philip figured out the planes couldn’t see the smoke so he threw berries in the fire because they were oily and would make the smoke
Laura Hillenbrand’s biography titled Unbroken recounts the life of Louie Zamperini and major events that occurred throughout it. Hillenbrand’s purpose was to emphasize the inspirational story of heroic Zamperini as he qualified and participated in the Olympics, as well as describe the endless struggle of pain in the plane crash and in the Japanese POW camps. She also portrays the importance of dignity and resilience and how without it, the chances of surviving the cruel events Louie experienced during World War II would have been minimal.
In the non-fiction book Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, the main character, a World War II bombardier, Louie Zamperini faced many adversaries, similarly, in the novel Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, a farmworker during Great Depression, George Milton faces a trying relationship with Lennie Small. Both Louie and George demonstrate fortitude when they endure many struggles. In the book, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, Louis Zamperini, a US bombardier during World War II, faced extreme challenges during his battle survival after crashing his B-24 plane in the ocean, surviving 47 days at sea, and being mentally and physically tortured as a prisoner of war (POW) in Japan, but Louie persevered because of his immense strength and courage. Louie faced physical adversity when the Green Hornet, a B-24 plane, crashed into the ocean and Louie
One good example of courage is in Homer's epic poem, “The Odyssey,” when Odysseus enters the Cyclops’ cave. In the epic poem Odysseus and his men enter the Cyclops cave and the text states “We climbed, then, briskly to the cave. But Cyclops had gone afield..." (Homer 157-158). This example demonstrates that Odysseus enters a Cyclops cave and is not fearful. Odysseus enters the cave because he sees treasure and wants to get it for him and his crew. Odysseus chooses to enter the cave even though he knew the cave was the Cyclops home and this demonstrates courage, and this is why the trait should be encouraged. Another good example of courage that sticks out is Newton Knight, who chooses to help slaves even though he lives in the south during the Civil War. In the Biography.com Editors’s article, “Newton Knight,” Knight chooses to stop fighting for the Confederate Army and goes back to his hometown to help slaves, as the text states “They saw themselves as defending the residents of Jones County from the Confederacy” (Biography.com Editors 1). Therefore, this example demonstrates that Knight chooses to fight against the Confederate Army even though he lives in Mississippi. It takes a lot of courage to go up against the Confederate Army even though he lived in the south and almost everyone was against him. It should
Louie Zamperini is a very inspiring character. From a troublemaker thief to a record breaker to a hero he turned himself around. It’s not about the mistakes you make in life its what you do about them and that was the biggest takeaway from this book.
The 8th amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment in the United States. However, this amendment did not protect Louie in the Japanese prison camp where he was repeatedly beaten and tortured. Louie, the main character of the novel Unbroken, was a normal, naughty and rebellious kid when he was growing up. Afterward when Louie developed into an adult he became a pilot and was sent on a mission to find a lost plane, but instead his plane crashed into the Pacific ocean and he was stranded. Louie and two other guys were forced to live on a raft out at sea for 47 days until Louie and Phil floated into a boat and were captured. They were taken to a Japanese internment camp and there their
In the biography Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, a troubled adolescent boy named Louis Zamperini revolves his life around his running career. Starting at such a young age, running had many impacts on Louie’s life. The high demand of training kept Louie distracted from making unintelligent choices he had previously been making. Running changed the young teenager he was and the man he was going to become.
It was apparent, throughout the story, that Louie was a survivor. There were countless events throughout the story in which Louie´s ability to survive is seen clearly. One of these occurred when Louie clocked the fastest time for the mile in NCAA history. Louie was able to do this despite being spiked, clubbed, and trapped from moving forward in the race. This is apparent when Hillenbrand writes, “He burst through, blew past the race leader, and, with his shoe torn open, shins streaming blood, and chest aching, won easily”(44). Another example of his survival trait appearing strongly in the story occurred in the raft. After lying in a raft for weeks, Louie was still
Courage is a trait that has been possessed by a lot of leaders in history, from presidential leaders to civil right leaders, to even athletic coaches, courage is used in every leadership position and is a very important trait when wanting to become a leader. Courage takes a lot of self-work you must be fully committed to your values and what you believe in before you go out and get a career like Job. Frederick Douglas escaped slavery and later became a main leader of the anti-slavery movement through all his published writings. Courageous leaders also make time for their peers and their employees because courageous leaders not only believe in themselves but believe in the team that works for them. Courage is also shown through sports form coaches to players. They are required to sacrifice some of their beliefs so their team can be one unit and work as one. They show courage day in and down out, standing up for what they believe in and their team which speaks volumes within an organization. Courageous leaders seem to be the most effective type of leaders because those types of leaders relate to you or has a common interest. These leaders preach what they believe and stick to it even through tough times when it calls for them to step outside their box.
A courageous action most often is associated with reaching a goal or task of importance, despite the dangers even risks associated with it (“Courage”). For any specific act to be considered truly courageous it must be reasonably thought about and determined that the goal is well worth the risk or danger (“Courage”). Courage so often can be put with words such as heroic, and bravery although with courage there can be a fine line between courageous acts and plain foolishness. All this can make people believe that courage only applies to physical actions. There are two kinds of courage moral and physical in many cases they are both displayed in a single courageous act; however, bravery must come before all else, because they are associated with reaching a task of importance regardless of risk.
Dick Gregory’s family experienced financial struggle, especially with no father figure in his life. The only income he received was from shining shoes and selling papers. He lacked attention at home because of the competition from six siblings. When the pipes froze and there was no water to wash his only pair of clothes, he went to the local grocery store and was granted the leftover water from the melted ice in the soda machine. Frequently, the fire went out at night, causing Gregory to wear damp clothes to school the next day. This caused him to be sick quite often. The meals he experienced at home were not very satisfying. “You can’t really make a meal of paste, or put it on bread for a sandwich, but sometimes I’d scoop a few spoonfuls out of the big paste jar in the back of the room” (Gregory 164). Gregory