“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.” (QuotesGram). During the darkest moments in someone's life, someone may believe that they have nothing at all. In reality, they only need to have one thing, and that is hope. Louis “Louie” Zamperini was an Olympic runner and World War II veteran. During the war, he was sent out with an unreliable B-24 plane, often referred to as a “Flying Coffin,” in an effort to find missing soldiers, but his plane crashed in the ocean. This launched an unfortunate chain of events that left a permanent dent in his life. He was imprisoned at four Japanese camps during this dark chapter in his life. Instead of giving up, he uses hope and resilience to endure the most difficult …show more content…
On page 147, Laura Hillenbrand illustrates what Ofuna is like with the phrase, “his bed was a straw mat with three paper sheets. The windows had no glass, the walls were particle board, the ceiling made of tar paper,” which describes the slipshod living quarters he had to live in for several months. She also makes apparent his abuse by his captors. In one example, she mentions his captors forcing exercise (148-149). In another example, she uses the expression “[soldiers] stabbed him with sticks...Once, driven to his breaking point by a guard jabbing him,” (140) to explain to her audience another hardship Louie had to endure during his time in captivity. She expresses his resilience to their flagrant dehumanization with the phrase “Louie yanked the stick away. He knew he might be killed for it,” (140). This example illustrates the theme of the book by showing that Louie recognized that he couldn’t go on without standing up for himself. These samples of text show the physical torment that Louie withstood while a captive in …show more content…
An example of one of Louie’s internal conflicts came when he was imprisoned at Kwajalein. Even during this bleak time in his life, he recognized that his only possessions were the clothes he wore and the diminishing hope that he had. Hillenbrand told of how he regained his desire to live through the quote “[a]s he lay in misery, he heard again the singers from the raft. He let their voices wash over him, finding reason to hope,” (140). Although this explains a single method of how Louie remained hopeful, there still were many more. Secondly, Louie had hope when he left Ofuna. Hillenbrand expressed his rapture with the expression “[a]s he rattled away, he was euphoric. Ahead lay a POW camp, a promised land,” (170). This demonstrates how hopeful Louie was for a better life as a POW. Louie also had experience with alcoholism. At a young age, he started drinking. His drinking habits continued, but they worsened after the war. The future was hazy as his drinking began to affect his marriage. His wife, Cynthia, was persistent in getting Louie to see a minister named Billy Graham. Eventually, he gave in to her endless badgering and went to a service with her. There he learned that God could save him if Louie served God. His religion gave him reason to stop drinking and let him forget his former troubles (269). These are some examples of how Louie did not