Unbroken

(Intro)
After I read the book Night, I told my mom about it, and she recommended a different book to me about WWII, but this time the situation was a little different. She told me the book was called Unbroken, and gave me a quick summary of the story. My mom said it was about Louis Zamperini, who was an American Olympic track runner, who was drafted into the army. Then she went on the describe that one day Louis's team went out on a mission and never returned, and she finished there, not wanting to give to much information away. Immediately I began to read the book because I was hooked from what I had just heard. The book was so similar to Night that I had to read it because Night was such a great story. I hope the book really lives up to my expectations.

(Middle)
So far, so good. Unbroken is a great book, full of so much tension and action, it's a perfect combination. However, the book does its job in getting the point across about the brutality of the Japanese Army. To fill you guys in on what has happened, Louie has joined the army, and when on a mission, their plane crashes in the ocean. Louie and three others survive, and are stranded out at sea for 47 days! He and the others learned how to survive on such little supplies for a long period of time. Eventually, Louie and his friend floated to an island, an island that was under the control of the Japanese. They were discovered by a Japanese ship and brought to shore. There they were thrown into a Prisoner of War camp, with at least 100 other Americans. It was there where Louie met his demise, "The Bird". The Bird was the Japanese general who led the camp, and right from the start, Louie was on The Bird's bad side. 

"We’d line up while each noncom was forced to walk down the line striking an officer with his fist.  After each punch, the Bird shouted, “Next!”  It became a maniacal chant: “Next-next-next...”  When our men hit easy he’d club them on the head.  We’d whisper, “Look, hit us once.  Hard.”  Then we’d go down and the Bird was satisfied.  So were we, preferring to be hit by our own men than by anyone Japanese" (Hillenbrand 139). This is just the beginning of the cruel actions that the Bird did on the American troops. Sometimes, Louie would get beaten for over 10 minutes. This really shows how there really is no limit on what we believe is morally correct. To the Bird, he was doing the right thing and teaching Louie a lesson. However, Louie wouldn't be taught. No matter how hard he was beaten, he wouldn't go down until he would black out. That;s how brutal the Bird was in the POW camp. I can't wait to keep reading. 

(End)  
What a great story! No doubt that Unbroken is one of my favorite books, and Louis Zamperini is one of my favorite people. So many time in the story Louie could've given up. He could've given up on track when he wasn't good enough. He could've given up on the raft and realized he wasn't going to make it. He could've given up when the Bird would beat him time and time again. He could've given up when he would wake up screaming after the war, dreaming of the Bird still beating him. However, that wasn't the type of person Louie really was. He was determined and resilient. I think that resilience is one of the most evident and strongest themes in the book. Louie showed unbelievable strength in every aspect he could. 

In my opinion, the part of the book where he is the most resilient is in the end of the story, after he is liberated from the POW camp. Back home, he deals with a serious case of post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD for short. He became depressed, and each day sank deeper and deeper into a whole that already was extremely deep. Many times he though about killing himself, but he never got around to it because of how resilient he was. Instead, he took up prayer, and going to church, and preaching to the Lord. This was probably the best thing he could've done because later, the dreams of the Bird went away, and he began to patch up the whole of depression that he once had. In the end, Unbroken is a phenomenal book for anyone in the class because of the lessons it teaches about history and resilience. 


Below is a video of Louis Zamperini discussing his story. Enjoy!