Unbroken

Havilyn, Sam, Jack, Krithika, and Sara

Background Information  image
  • World War II
  • Hideki Tojo, Frankiln Roosevelt, and Harry Truman
  • The Attack on Pearl Harbor
  • Bombing of Hiroshima 
  • Bombing of Nagasaki 
  • Executive Order 9066

Franklin Roosevelt

U.S. President 1933-1945

“Yesterday, December 7, 1941-a date which will live in infamy-the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”-Franklin Roosevelt

Harry Truman

U.S. President 1945-1953

“We must work to bind up the wounds of the suffering world-to build an abiding peace, a peace rooted in justice and in law.” -Harry S. Truman

Hideki Tojo

Prime Minister of Japan 1940-1945

“It goes without saying that when survival is threatened, struggles erupt between peoples, and unfortunate wars between nations result.” -Hideki Tojo

Setting and Characters image
There are lots of setting in this book but the main ones include Torrance, California, The Pacific Ocean, and the Japan. Most of his time in the war was spent in prison camps including Kwajalein, Ofuna, Omari, and Noaetsu. After the war he came back to America.

Louie Zamperini

Main Character

Allen Phillips

Louie’s friend and second survivor

Cynthia Applewhite

Louie’s Wife

Mutushuiro Wantabe

“The Bird”

Relevant Passages imageRelevant Passages image
Relevant Passages from Unbroken

“In 1930s elite distance running, it was exceptionally rare for a man to run a last lap in 60 seconds, even at a mile. In the 5,000 well over three miles, a final lap in less than 70 seconds was astonishing. Louie had run his last lap in 56 seconds.”

This passage was relevant because it shows that all the hard work and good habits Louie had gotten finally payed off. He stopped getting in trouble and finally had a goal in life.


“As Oahu’s airmen died in droves, a ritual began. When a man was lost, his friends would open his footlocker, take out his liquor, and have a drink in his honor. In a war without funerals, it was the best they could do.”

This passage is relevant because it shows that the soldiers were used to their friends dying everyday and it was something normal to them that they had to get used to.


“Francis McNamara had begun his last journey with a panicked, disastrous act, consuming the only food they had. But in his last days, in the struggle against the deflating raft and jumping sharks, he’s given all he had left. It probably hastened his death, but it may have saved Phil and Louie. At the end of his brief life, Mac had redeemed himself.”

This passage was relevant because Mac had started off as being kind of useless on the boat and unhelpful. By the end of it, he had proven his worth and died honorably.


“Slavery swallowed men’s souls, but the POWs scored little victories. On the barges, they’d sneak to the galleys and stuff food into their clothes. The guards’ lunch boxes kept vanishing; an overseer’s cigarettes, set down as he turned away, were gone when he turned back. The POW’s stole anything they could, risking their necks for something as trivial as a pencil box. The box itself was nothing; the theft of it, a tiny act of defiance, was everything.”

This passage is relevant because it showed that even with all the dignity taken from them and what they were risking, they still acted defiant against something they did not believe in.




In the book our group members connected with many parts of the book. We connected with the themes of Friendship and Death. Also, the reuniting of friends and family.

  • Friendship
  • Death
  • Reuniting of Friends/Family

Why would Louis forgive the Bird after all he has done to Louis?
How has Louis’ trauma over the years in the camp affected his life after being out of the camp?
Describe how Louis’ life is like before he was sent to the POW camp and when he was in the camps. How is life different when lose freedom and many privileges?
Summary and Review imageSummary and Review imageSummary and Review image
Unbroken follows the life of Louie Zamperini, an Olympic runner, and his experience as a Japanese Prisoner of War in WWII. I would definitely recommend this book because of the emotional and unique story of a terrible time in history.

https://books.google.com/books/about/Unbroken.html?id=-kNK2cNXlEQC&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button

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