The Role Of Hope In Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken

Hope is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective. A lot of hope can be dangerous. In “Unbroken,” a novel by Laura Hillenbrand, hope is the only thing that doesn’t leave this novel for the main character, Louie Zamperini. Every ounce of human strength is tested and the audience sees what makes a human unbreakable.
For miles and miles, all the American Military airman could see was water. Tangled in fear, he was only surviving off of hope. His name was Louie. When Louie was a little boy, he was a trouble maker, always stealing and breaking into houses. As he grew older, he grew a passion for running as a way to channel his defiance, which lead him to the Berlin Olympics. He broke record after record until the war came, then
It seems rather difficult to take on the task of writing this particular novel, while respectfully portraying the darkness of the plot. This novel deals with the dehumanization of innocent casualties and how dignity is stripped away like a band aid off skin. The question that so easily pops into the readers mind is “How did Louie not give up?” Zamperini spoke out about his experience: “I would have died before I’d give in. I couldn’t. I’d rather be dead” (Hillenbrand 290). The degree of risk that every man took in the prison camps was gratifying. For every moment where the reader thinks that there is no way one can overcome such vicious worthy beatings, somehow, these men overcome them. Those moments of triumph all had reoccurring symbol, which was hope. It was shocking how the Japanese were able to treat these men so sub normally, yet no man chose to give in: “ Knowing the Allies were winning was immensely inspiring, enabling men to hang on a little longer” (Hillenbrand 156). Each man was hoping that they wouldn’t starve to death. They were hoping that war would be over soon, and it is amazing that something so small and simple like a little hope, can overpower something that seems impossible. Hope is what kept Louie