Unbroken Essay

Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken falls into a greatly interesting biographical category, bellying a compelling and immersive narrative of endurance when facing adversity, supported from associated historical sources. This all helps to create a sort of patchwork, contributing uniquely to going through the different sections, or “acts,” to Louis Zamperini’s life; from childhood days of delinquency, which would become channeled into an exceptional running career, spurned quickly by the call to World War II as a pilot, bringing about his captivity and torture at the hands of the Japanese. This encompasses the bulk of the story, with due emphasis given to the fallout of after the war ends, but the reasons for this being so effective is that Hillenbrand …show more content…
Instead, it devotes sole focus on Louis, Phil, and Mac, deviating only to show the utter hopelessness of their situation, like when their search party is forced to give up and basically leave them all for dead. There might not be the singularly antagonistic presence of “the Bird” to hold them under threat, like he does for many of the remaining chapters, but the forces of nature seem almost more unrelenting by comparison. Between their impossible living conditions aboard a pair of life rafts, depending on meager portions of food and water to fight hunger and thirst, as well as dealing with storms, sharks, and other constant dangers, this seems a trial by fire of which there is no escaping from, and Hillenbrand expertly builds upon this with an overarching sense of dread, isolation, and a disconnect from the previously established narrative stylings. Louis and Phil have to rely on hearsay as grounds to speculate on whether they can feasibly even make it out alive, and Mac, despite his failings, is not painted as wholly villainous, so much as he succumbs to human weakness and dies before his time. In contrast, Louis and Phil somehow succeed in lasting, as things