Retired track and field athlete and three-time Olympic champion Gail Devers once said, “Sometimes we fall, sometimes we stumble, but we can’t stay down. We can’t allow life to beat us down. Everything happens for a reason, and it builds character in us, and it tells us what we are about and how strong we really are when we didn’t think we could be that strong.” In the biography Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, Louis portrays what this quote expresses with his determination to never give up, even in a time of major crisis. In the beginning of Hillenbrand’s book, she described Louie as a delinquent child. He stole from others in his free time; however, he often gave anything he stole away, hinting that Louie might not be all that others claimed: …show more content…
Coincidentally, Louie came incredibly close to death when his B-24 airplane crashed into the Pacific after being hit by the Japanese army. Miraculously, Louie survived and was even able to live for 47 days floating on a raft. Eventually, locating land, the Japanese captured and interrogated Phil and Louie. Taken to many different P.O.W. camps, Louie began to lose weight and his health deteriorated. Throughout his time in the camps, he meets a violent man whom other P.O.W.’s have nicknamed “the Bird.” Once when Louie was asked by “the Bird” to carry a heavy beam for an enlarged amount of time, Louie’s only thought was, “He cannot break me” (302). “The Bird” was undoubtedly Louie’s opposite, given that his intentions are to do away with people while Louie wants to save as many soldiers as possible. All the while, he was able to maintain his determination of surviving until the end of the war just as a race horse does when trying to win a race. Louie’s determination is most definitely what helps him make it out alive. His horrifying experiences during the war only made him stronger and at the end of it he claims “If I knew I had to go through those experiences again, I’d kill myself”