A rowdy, clever and troublesome kid, Louie started his mischievous behavior at the young age of five. Smoking discarded cigarette butts on his way to school and drinking wine at dinners, Louie progressed to stealing and committing dangerous feats that could cause severe damage to himself and others. ‘“You …show more content…
Guards beat for no reason, especially a guard they called The Bird. Bird had beat Louie with a belt until he was deaf in one ear for no reason. POWs were freed from their misery and strife after Japan and Germany were defeated by the allied forces. Running from the camp that had once held him captive, Louie was cheered on by the other camp survivors, he was nursed back to health. When Louie returned home, he was traumatized from what he went through. The Zamperini’s treasured a record of Louie’s transcriptions, however, when played back, Louie began shaking violently and saying, ‘“Take it off! Take it off! I can’t stand it!”... Sylvia snached up the record, and Louie yelled at her to break it. She smashed it and threw it away” (342). His family stared at him in horror, and he was terrorized by the Bird in his dreams every night. He married a woman, Cynthia Applewhite, only two weeks after knowing each other. He would sleep walk abusively, and smoked for five years to cope with his crippling stress and trauma. He joined Cynthia at a religious services, and During one service, he remembered what he had promised God on the ocean when they were stranded: ‘If you save me, I will serve you forever’ (382). Throwing away all of the items that caused his last five ruined years, he woke a new man the next day, and the Bird would never return to him. Regaining his strength and trust in himself, he shaped himself to be a better man, and it takes a lifetime of bravery to let go of a poisoned