Mccarthyism In Unbroken

Unbroken

“Then he found himself thinking of something Pete once said: A lifetime of glory is worth a moment of pain” (36). Louie Zamperini joined the Air Force during WWII and was assigned to search for survivors from a plane crash, but ended up crashing in the middle of the Pacific himself. Starving and deterred, Louie floated for a total of forty seven days and finally rafted into a Japanese boat where he was swept away into Japanese camps, some POW camps, some not. After a few years of being in the camps, the Americans won the war and Louie was sent back to America. In the book Unbroken, written by Laura Hillenbrand, Louie Zamperini is best defined as a resilient and defiant person. Louie had many examples of being resilient. One of
these examples would be when the Green Hornet, a plane, had crashed. Hillenbrand wrote, “This is death. Then he felt the water still on him … he had survived” (100). Louie had passed out but he woke up and struggled to the surface and broke free. He had survived the crash after passing out, waking up alive and gulping in water, oil, fuel and blood instead of air. Basically, he snapped back after almost dying. Another example of Louie’s resilience would be when he was floating on the raft in the middle of the Pacific and tried to catch a fish. Louie had stuck his hand into the water so that “when the pilot fish moved under his hand, he snapped his fingers shut and yanked it from the water, jubilant” (116). Louie and his friends were starving so Louie took it upon himself to catch food for them and helped them try their best to recover from starvation. One last example would be when Louie was trying to train for the 1948 Olympics after being rescued and sent back to America. He had hurt his ankles at the POW camps but “he was coming all the way back” (253). Louie was steadily trying his best to start running again so that he could race in the Olympics. In other words, Louie was trying to overcome his injury and “snap back.” All in all, Louie was resilient throughout his entire life. Louie also has many examples of being defiant.
First of all, In Ofuna, a POW camp, the captives were not to speak at all unless they were interrogated or talking to a guard. Therefore, “...Louie and the others whispered in code…” (154). The POW’s would not give in to the Japanese, so they were looking for ways to “win the war.” As a result, every act of rebellion was a small victory. Also at Ofuna, Louie realised that the camp was teeming with defiance when he was given a book. Hillenbrand said that “...he kept a diary, forbidden at Ofuna” (156). Louie knew that diaries were forbidden but he went on writing in it anyway because every bit of defiance was treasured. Finally, Louie was asked by the Japanese to make a broadcast that would dishearten the Americans. Louie kept on declining the offer so “they ordered him to do it. He said no” (191). Louie was given an order to do the broadcast and he refused to do it, therefore, he was being defiant. Looking in the dictionary for the word defiant would result in the words, “showing defiance,” which fits the bill for Louie. The most defining characteristics of Louie Zamperini, from the book Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, are resilient and defiant. When Louie was a kid, he was always getting into trouble, but he was resilient so he started running and was a troublemaker no more. Louie also had a long record of defiance from stealing food to talking at the prison camps, which doesn't seem like much, but every act of defiance was his way of fighting the war. Throughout his life, Louie Zamperini had the chance to break, to die, but through his resilience and defiance, he was
unbroken.