Denise De Costa
Professor Beverly Whitson
English 52
November 12, 2012
The Strong Will Survive
No one knew what obstacles or challenges they would have to face, when first placed on this earth. Some of us were born with a silver spoon in our mouth, or in to parents that had lower income and had to survive off on what they had. No matter what the situation might be, we would all have to face challenges in our lives. Some challenges may be easy to overcome, and in some challenges you might feel there is no way out. The one thing that is for sure in life is The Strong Will Survive, and that was Louie Zamperini did in his life. The book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, written by Laura Hillenbrand, truly described in great detail what true survival was all about. #1 New York Times bestseller Unbroken has been hailed as the Best Nonfiction Book of the Year by Time Magazine. This book was incredible and I could not stop reading it once I started.
Unbroken took me back to a time way before I was born, but Hillenbrand did such as amazing job that it felt like if I was there living Zamperini life. Sam Anderson of New York Books Magazine shared my same feelings as he described, “It is amazing, unforgettable, gripping, harrowing, chilling, and inspiring. It sucked me in and swept me away. It kept me reading late into the Night.”
What’s fascinating to me is that Hillenbrand came across knowing about Zamperini when she was doing research on other bestselling book Seabiscuit. Back in the 1930s both athletes has shared the sports pages. Zamperini was not that interested, because he has just finished another autobiography, called Devil at My Heels published in 2003. Zamperini described Hillenbrand as a writer of genius: "And I just can't believe the research. She knew more about my life in prison than I did." Deidre Donahue of USA Today made a great point that, "Writer Laura Hillenbrand doesn't write about what she knows. She writes about what she can never have in this life."
Year was 1943, three men had been on the raft for 27 days
- Rebellious, someone going against the rules. Louie was always go against the rules, breaking into the neighbors homes and would steal their food.
- In high school Louie became a bullie, tormenting the students,teachers and also police officers. He had a a short temper and to would out on the smallest situations.
- Broke into a local familys house and stole everything out of their icebox "pg 6"
- Stoppped up the pay telephone coin slot with tissue paper, and would steal the coins staked up inside. "pg 6-7"
- Stole pies from Meinzers Bakery (pg 6)
6) Once Louies' brother Pete saw the gift that he had in running he pushed him into running track, and it was very magical after that. All summer Louie had ran and once he started tenth grade he planned on putting his previous training to work. One of his beggining victories was in February 1933 " He won and 880-yeard race, breaking the school record, co-held by Pete, by two more seconds" (17). Another victory he had back in 1933 when he won the UCLA Cross Country two-mile race. , "One Victim, wrote a reporter, had been hailed as "the boy who doesn't know how fast he can run" (19). His defeat came in the 1936 U.S. Olympic 5000-meter final run when he lost to Hockert and " All I had," Louie would say " I gave it." As Louie flew around the last bend, Hockert had already won, with Lehtinen behind him. Louie really tried hard but was not able to pull through and get the win.
7)
a) Russell Allen Phillips - Was a quite guy born in Greencastle Indiana in 1916, and was brought up in a profoundly religious home. He was recessive and sometimes no one would realize he was in the room for a long time. Louie and Phil became close friends because they were in the same bomber crew together.
b) Kunichi James Sasaki "Jimmie" - Was someone Louis meet while going to USC. "Jimmie wasn't what he seemed, didn't
