Unbroken

Hillenbrand’s subtitle for Unbroken is “a World War II story of survival, resilience and redemption”, and all three themes combine into one overarching message of human dignity. As Louie struggled to survive circumstances of unmitigated suffering, he was able to preserve his own dignity and to help others in a similar situation do the same.

Louie’s story illustrates that men who maintained their humanity and dignity, despite being subjected to horrific inhumane treatment, had a much stronger chance of surviving their ordeals. On several of these occasions, the author explains that the key to survival is the preservation of human dignity. Long after his physical body should have been physically capable of staying alive, Louie and others managed to survive by committing small acts of rebellion which kept their spirits unbroken and their individuality intact. Nicknaming the Japanese guards, for example, helped remind the men that the guards were fallible human beings who temporarily had power over them. By expressing their disrespect for the Japanese guards through the use of amusing nicknames, Louie and his fellow POWs maintained a sense of their own power over their captors. As well, Louie acquired a journal and pencil from another captive of Yokohama, and he admitted that “this small declaration of self [mattered] a great deal” to him (204).