Summer Reading: Unbroken

"Unbroken", by Laura Hillenbrand, is a book speaking of the life of a man named

Louie Zamperini, and his march through life. THroughout the book, Hillenbrand tells the
reader about Louie's early years growing up, as well as his experience during World War
II. She illustrates to the reader of the hard life Louie grew up living. Hillenbrand's
purpose when writing the book "Unbroken" was to show a real example, through the life
of Louie Zamperini, of perserverance through hardship, as well as the horrific reality of
prisoner of war camps during World War II. Throughout the book, Hillenbrand writes
thorugh the perspective of Louie, and illustrates to the audience of the struggles he has
growing up, and the horrors and hardships he encounters during the war. In the book,
Hillenbrand shows to the reader one good example of perserverance, when Louie and his
crewmates, Mac and Phil, were stranded in the ocean after the B-24 Liberator was
crashed into the Pacific. It was only the three of them who had survived the crash, and
were sent to spend the next 47 days struggling to survive the ocean. "Extrapolating from
these figures, they made educated guesses of when they'd reach the Islands. Phil guessed
the forty-sixth day; Louie guessed the forty-seventh. If their figures were right, they were
going to have to last about twice as long as Rickenbacker. That meant surviving on the
raft for almost three more weeks" (Hillenbrand 166). Louie, Phil, and Mac would not
have survived as long as they had without perserverance to carry them through, and that's
one solid point that the author wanted to get across to the reader. Throughout their
horrific voyage at sea, Louie and his mates were barely able to hold on to the little bit of
life they had left. However, Louie and PHil managed to survive because they had hope,
and that ounce of hope that they had was enough to drive them to perserver through it and
to survive. Louie had all the reason in the world to give up; he was constantly battling
with sharks, having to maintain the raft, trying to keep them fead, all with no clear sight
of survival. yet, Louie faught through it all. Through but just one event of many in the
book "Unbroken", Hillenbrand proves to the reader that even the most seemingly
impossible of tasks can be achieved through the perserverence of oneself and others, no
matter the circumstances at hand. Hillenbrand also drives point through the book. She
tells the reader's of the experience Louie has in the P.O.W. Camps and shows just how
horrific in reality they were. Louie was thrown into three prisoner of war camps, each
worse than the last. Hillenbrand even writes on Louie's first experience when being
locked up on the Islands. She writes on how Louie was beaten by mobs of people when

they stopped by on ships, and how guards would beat Phil and Louie as well. And
through these experiences Hillenbrand proves to the reader of just how unimaginably
horrific the P.O.W. Camps were during World War II, and continues to show how
perserverance and hope were able to save Louie from breaking and giving up.
Hillenbrand's purpose through "Unbroken" is to bring inspiration to her readers of Louies
struggles, to bring more encouragement to the reader to face their own hardships in life
head on.