Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand reading Response

Reading Response One: 

Unbroken, By Laura Hillenbrand

          Over the summer, I read a book called "Unbroken." It was the story of Louie Zamperini, a man who defied everything, rules, convention, and did the impossible. It's about his life and how as a boy he was the "bad kid" of the neighborhood, who then went on to become an Olympian, and then the story of his time as a soldier in Wold War Two. Throughout his life, Louie Zamperi was always incredibly determined, whenever he had a goal he worked and worked to complete it. I begun to see determination as a theme throughout the book. It played a role in each "chapter" in his life, as a boy, then when he became a runner, and then during his time in the war.

          Louie Zamperini grew up as an impoverished Italian immigrant living in Torrance, California. As a kid, Louis was incredibly determined to be noticed. When Louie was a teenager he fought and stole to get attention. In school, he was brought to the principals again and again. As a kid he never did anything wrong, and as a teen Louis knows that he's doing the wrong thing and yet he wants to be noticed so badly that he'll break the rules anyways. I think that this shows that one of Louis characteristics is determination and when he wants something, he won't stop until he has it.

          Later on in Louie's life, his brother realized how fast he was and in high school encouraged him to join the track team in hopes that it would keep him out of trouble. Louis agreed to join the team and suddenly began to excel. Later, he became known as one of the fastest in his age group. Louie began to start thinking of the Olympics. He knew it would be almost impossible but he started to train for hours every day with Pete, who swatted him with a stick to keep him moving. He worked incredibly hard, and when he got to the Olympic tryouts and was to compete in the Olympics in 1936. Louies training for the Olympics shows his determination because such a feat was considered impossible and yet it was something he wanted, and so for that he spent hours and hours training until he completed his goal.

         

          Lastly, I think that Louie showed his determination when he was at war. In the war, his plane crashed and Louie survived along with two others. They survived on a raft without food or water, except for what they caught, for 33 days, outlasting the previous record by six days. On the raft Louie shows incredible determination through his will to survive. He lives through absolute torture, while being a leader and encouraging the other, and probably is the reason why Russel Allen Phillips survived the crash. He told the others that they would make it back, and meant it. Even at times when the other two on the raft seemed about to die and had given up, he kept on trying to make it through. All of this shows incredible determination.

         I think that in the book Unbroken, the character shows incredible determination in hard times. He shows determination throughout his entire life, in his childhood, in his Olympic career, and later on while fighting in World War Two.