Unbroken Research Paper

Louie Zamperini, when asked what he would do if he had to go through his experiences again, replied that he would “kill himself”(page number). In fact, most of the people involved in any war end up hurt either physically or mentally. Louie Zamperini was captured in WWII by the Japanese and survived 2 years in captivity. In Louie’s story, the two emerging mental side effects caused by war are jealousy and anger. After the war, Louie felt much anger toward his captors. This overtook him, leaving him more injured than he was in the camps. In the camps, he had his defiance and his resiliency. When he got back, he could not resist the urge to drink, and he did not recover very quickly. In the book Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand conveys the fact that war is an extreme event that can have very negative effects on those involved. Envy is a very dangerous feeling that can tear lives apart. In the POW camps, the guard Mutsuhiro Watanabe was envious due to war
After the war, Louie suffered from PTSD, causing him to hurt himself and others around him. Louie’s dreams were lorded over by the Bird, causing Louie’s life to fall apart. Louie’s problems consisted of “drinking heavily, slipping into flashbacks, screaming through nightmares, lashing out” (261). These were all because of PTSD, therefore, indirectly, because of the war. Also, Louie “chased (Cynthia) down and grabbed her by the neck” (263). This is one instance where the war affected Louie so much that it began injuring his family members. Louie lost everything “but his alcohol and his rage” (264). This shows that the war devastated his whole life, even though he survived. Louie walked and talked anger and hatred toward his captors and that rage spilled into his actions toward his family. Some people may think that, as long as the soldier gets back alive, his life is fine again. Louie’s life was a direct contradiction of that