After his plane crashes, he’s at risk of being lost at sea forever. As a young man, WWII puts him at risk of losing his life in battle. As a child, his juvenile delinquency puts him at risk of being lost to the prison system. At each stage in his life, from adolescence to old age, Zamperini is at risk of being lost and/or imprisoned forever. The overarching theme of Hillenbrand’s biography is Louie Zamperini’s ultimate physical and spiritual salvation. Still, this book gives a realistic glimpse of every major phase of Louie Zamperini’s life. According to Hillenbrand, every event and situation described in her biography has been verified and corroborated by “interviewing POWs and airmen and studying statistics, squadron histories, diaries, prisoner affidavits, and other materials.” Some passages in the book can read like dry recitations of data. Because of this, Hillenbrand painstakingly documented this biography to create an extensively factual account of Zamperini’s life. The three most important aspects of Unbroken: Unbroken is a true story. Major Symbols: Food, the Olympics, the ocean, POW camps, B-29 bomber planes Major Thematic Topics: Redemption, human dignity, human cruelty, survival, forgiveness Main Characters: Louis “Louie” Zamperini, Pete Zamperini, Russell Allen “Phil” Phillips, William “Bill” Harris, Mutsuhiro “The Bird” Watanabe, Cynthia (Applewhite) Zamperini Settings (secondary): Kwajalein POW camp Ofuna interrogation center Omori POW camp Naoetsu POW camp Settings (primary): Torrance, California WWII’s Pacific Theatre mainland Japan He spent the rest of his life leading a nonprofit organization that helped at-risk boys and also worked as an inspirational speaker. In 1949, through the ministry of Reverend Billy Graham, Louie became a Christian and began a full recovery from his emotional wounds, which included finding the strength to forgive his captors. ![]() ![]() Finally liberated in 1945, Louie returned to America, where he married-and struggled with alcoholism and untreated post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). During the next two years, Louie endured physical and psychological torture at the hands of his captors. They were captured by Japanese troops and sent to POW camps in Japan. Ultimately only Louie and one other man survived more than a month lost at sea. While on a search and rescue mission in 1943, Louie’s plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean. After performing admirably in the 1936 Olympics in Germany, Louie joined the Army Air Corps of the United States and became a bombardier in WWII. The son of Italian immigrants, Louie Zamperini grew up in Torrance, California, where he overcame a delinquent childhood to become a rising star in track-and-field. He survived being lost at sea and years of horrific abuse as a prisoner of war (POW) in Japan. Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken tells the life story of Louis “Louie” Zamperini, an Olympic runner and military aviator in World War II (WWII).
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