Louie Zamperini lived a life that led to Christianity

 

The structure of the book Unbroken gives the reader the idea that the protagonist, Louie Zamperini, lived a life full of obstacles. These obstacles challenged Louie’s faith, character, and spirit. Louie would never give in to the pain, his hope and pride would not let him fail himself, his family, or his country. The structures of Unbroken made the book lead up to the climax near the end of the book when Louie devotes himself to Christianity.

As a child Louie would be bullied and harassed by many of the other children. He would never run away, never back down from a fight. This left Louie often times coming home bruised and battered. Louie was always a mischievous child, but had a good since of right and wrong, showing that trait of repentance even as a child, long before his religious transformation. Louie had a low self-esteem as a child do to this harassment, and needed to overcome his bullying to be able to move on with his life.

Louie as a track runner was dedicated, and determined to succeed. As a young Italian runner, his goals were often easily met. His obstacles as a track athlete were often to beat as personal record. When he was sent to the air force, his goal was to bomb an entire island. Louie, like most World War II soldiers, was trained to hate the Japanese.  Feeling remorse and forgiving the Japanese after the war was hard for the bombardier.  Later in his life Louie’s hatred for the Japanese giving him a virulently hatred for the Japanese.

Living on the raft was hard for Louie, Phil, and Mac. The three men lived with little food and water. Sharks contently circled the raft, sometimes in the distance a far off plane could be seen by t he men.  The obstacle on the raft was not overcome by brute strength, but by mental toughness. Whilst on the raft Mac passed away, while doing what he could to defend his friends. The other two companions do to their extensive amount of survival knowledge and mental discipline survived their days on the raft. Louie and Phil must overcome the malnutrition they suffered from and find their will to live.

Once their days on the raft were up, the prisoner of war camp was the next obstacle for the soldiers. It was especially hard on Louie. He was constantly singled out, harassed, and beaten. Louie had to overcome the bird, a man whom was often used for discipline at the prisoner of war camp. The bird would torture Louie every day. It would take a lot of will power from Louie to overcome his anxiety from the Bird. Louie must overcome not just the physical beatings of the Bird, but the psychological obstacles that haunt him as well.

All of this emotional distress built up and consumed Zamperini. He would never be the same person that he was when he left Torrance. If Louie would let them break him, if he would let them control his life, he would be a broken man. He must overcome his fear of the bullies, his fear of the bird, and his fear of death. Living a life of fear, is living a hallow life.