Leading to World War II, Japan had declared war on the United States by bombing Pearl Harbor after ending negotiations. Louie Zamperini was one of the many affected by war. Louie was an Olympic runner who then decided to join the military. When Louie and the rest of his crew were sent on a search and rescue mission, their plane crashed in the middle of the ocean. After about 47 days, Louie and his friend Phil were the only survivors from that plane. They had landed in Japan in which the Japanese found out that they were Americans. They were then taken into prison camps in which they were treated brutally. Meanwhile, in the United States Japanese-Americans were being sent to internment camps because they were considered enemies since they came
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Louie and Miné both tried to resist being ignored, getting isolated from others, and getting their self-dignity lost. On his way to a prison camp, Louie tried to humiliate the Japanese. Hillenbrand mentions that “One of them asked if Japan would win the war. ‘No’ said Phil… ‘America’ replied Louie”. They knew that staying loyal to their country would anger the Japanese because they felt confident about the war and were sure Japan would win it. Though the POW’s were low on self-esteem, they tried to gain some pride in themselves by stealing things. Hillenbrand states that “...the men were fed so little and worked so hard that they felt they had to steal to survive.”(Unbroken 250).Since the guards wouldn’t give them enough food, they went rebellious and stole food from the guards. On top of that, they also did any work assigned to them at a slow pace. Additionally, POW’s at Ofuna were not allowed to speak to each other. Hillenbrand states that to resist this rule they used Morse code “...hiding their hands from the guards’ view and gesturing to each other in Morse code- fists for dots and flat hands for dashes”(Unbroken 198) Since they were not allowed to talk verbally they would communicate physically. Simultaneously, Miné was moved into an internment camp against her will and wasn’t allowed to bring many of her belongings, so she made sure to take her sketchpad. “She put her artistic
Louie and Miné both tried to resist being ignored, getting isolated from others, and getting their self-dignity lost. On his way to a prison camp, Louie tried to humiliate the Japanese. Hillenbrand mentions that “One of them asked if Japan would win the war. ‘No’ said Phil… ‘America’ replied Louie”. They knew that staying loyal to their country would anger the Japanese because they felt confident about the war and were sure Japan would win it. Though the POW’s were low on self-esteem, they tried to gain some pride in themselves by stealing things. Hillenbrand states that “...the men were fed so little and worked so hard that they felt they had to steal to survive.”(Unbroken 250).Since the guards wouldn’t give them enough food, they went rebellious and stole food from the guards. On top of that, they also did any work assigned to them at a slow pace. Additionally, POW’s at Ofuna were not allowed to speak to each other. Hillenbrand states that to resist this rule they used Morse code “...hiding their hands from the guards’ view and gesturing to each other in Morse code- fists for dots and flat hands for dashes”(Unbroken 198) Since they were not allowed to talk verbally they would communicate physically. Simultaneously, Miné was moved into an internment camp against her will and wasn’t allowed to bring many of her belongings, so she made sure to take her sketchpad. “She put her artistic