Unbroken: World War Ii and Greatness Essay

Unbroken Unbroken, written by Laura Hillenbrand, tells a true story of a young man’s journey to achieve greatness. By experiencing a rough childhood, joining the Olympic Games and surviving the Japanese prison war camps, pushed him to reach his full potential. As Bo Bennett once said, “A dream becomes a goal when action is taken toward its achievement”. While some people are predisposed to greatness as they are born with certain genetics, others work hard to achieve as certain situations bring this desire out in them. In life, there stand a select amount of individuals who seem to ‘have it easy’ in everything that they do. In life, people come across other girls or boys in class who seem to easily score high on exams, even though they do not have to study very much because he or she has a photographic memory. These select few have a gift that not all can have. Their genes allow them the extra ability to excel in sports or academics much easier than the rest. These predisposed greatness in people, as they are born with certain natural abilities, allows them to achieve success in specific areas. For example, Louis Zamperini has a natural knack to run fast. He ran so well that he received a spot on the U.S.A. Olympic team! On the other hand, some people seem to lack the ability of predestined greatness as their personality does not care to succeed. Predisposed traits contribute greatly to a person’s natural abilities whether one becomes naturally more successful or remains inactive. More commonly, specific situations bring out great hidden abilities in a person. For example, Louis would not have known he could run outstandingly if it weren’t for his younger brother, Peter, asking the principle for some leniency to allow Louis to participate in track and field. Louis, a troublemaker, never followed the rules. For his punishment, the principle originally banned him from sports. Allowing him to participate gave Louis the opportunity to discover his great aptitude of running, which later allowed him to break school and state records. As Napoleon Bonaparte once said, “Ability is of little account without opportunity”. If this situation had not occurred, Louis would have never become such an amazing athlete. Joining the team encouraged him to work hard to achieve his goals. Like Louis, playing volleyball has presented me with opportunities that have led me to become the player I am today. Volleyball has taught me that hard work pays off. I grew up learning that if a person works hard and plays hard, one can do anything. Furthermore in the story, Louis promises God that he will do His will if he survives crashing his plane called The Green Hornet, being stranded at sea for forty-six days with barley any food and water, and being captured behind enemy lines. As a prisoner of war, Louis was tortured and taunted by the Japanese guards during World War II. Almost beaten to death on several occasions by one specific guard known as “The Bird,” he had continuous nightmares about The Bird beating him. This continued to occur even after he survived the prison camps and was safely back home in the United States. Soon after, he

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