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War and Identity
Themes and Colors
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Unbroken, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Unbroken argues that belief is a powerful, even essential, component for overcoming adversity. The suffering Louie witnessed first hand during the war nearly swallowed his soul, making him lose faith in himself and the essential goodness of humankind. But in the years after the war, Louie found salvation in the religious conviction that a compassionate and benevolent God cares and guides the world even during periods of global suffering and turmoil. Belief in God gave Louie a reason to live, allowing him to recover from the psychological traumas of the war.
But traditional religious belief isn’t the only kind of belief in the book. Louie’s family had faith that he was alive despite the U.S. Army’s announcement that he was killed in action. This faith kept the family from falling apart and succumbing to unbearable grief. Similarly, before Louie found religion, his faith in himself and in his abilities gave him the confidence he needed to survive the trails of POW camp.
The book also shows that people who lack faith in themselves become cruel and violent. For example, the Japanese army’s rejection of Watanabe’s application to be an officer caused him to lose faith in himself, which Hillenbrand argues prompted him to torture others in order to derive a sense of power and significance. In this context, Unbroken illustrates that a deep-rooted faith in one’s own value is a necessity for moral decency.
Related Themes from Other Texts
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Belief and Faith ThemeTracker
The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Belief and Faith appears in each chapter of Unbroken. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.
How often theme appears:
chapter length:
Chapter
Preface
Chapter 1
1
Chapter 2
2
Chapter 3
3
Chapter 4
4
Chapter 5
5
Chapter 6
6
Chapter 7
7.
Chapter 8
8
Chapter 9
9
Chapter 10
10
Chapter 11
11
Chapter 12
12
Chapter 13
13
Chapter 14
14
Chapter 15
15
Chapter 16
16
Chapter 17
17
Chapter 18
18
Chapter 19
19
Chapter 20
20
Chapter 21
21
Chapter 22
22
Chapter 23
23
Chapter 24
24
Chapter 25
25
Chapter 26
26
Chapter 27
27
Chapter 28
28
Chapter 29
29
Chapter 30
30
Chapter 31
31
Chapter 32
32
Chapter 33
33
Chapter 34
34
Chapter 35
35
Chapter 36
36
Chapter 37
37
Chapter 38
38
Chapter 39
39
Epilogue
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Belief and Faith Quotes in Unbroken
Below you will find the important quotes in Unbroken related to the theme of Belief and Faith.
Chapter 13 Quotes
That night, before he tried to sleep, Louie prayed. He had prayed only once before in his life, in childhood, when his mother was sick and he had been filled with a rushing fear that he would lose her. That night on the raft, in words composed in his head, never passing his lips, he pleaded for help.
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In this passage Hillenbrand introduces the theme of religion to the novel. Louie isn't a particularly religious person, we've already been told--but there's a side of his personality that seems willing to have faith, against all the evidence. Here, Louie is trapped on a lifeboat, desperate for food and rescue. He prays to God for help, just as he did when he was a child and feared that he might lose his mother. His motivations aren't hard to diagnose: he's frightened and, for once, helpless.In a way, Louie's behavior here reiterates everything we already knew about his athletic prowess. Louie Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accus
Louise cried and prayed. From the stress, open sores broke out all over her hands. Sylvia thought her hands looked like raw hamburger. Somewhere in those jagged days, a fierce conviction came over Louise. She was absolutely certain that her son was alive.
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In this passage, we're told what's going on with Louie's relatives back in the United States. News that their son has gone missing reaches California, and Louie's mother, Louise, becomes horribly frightened. Louise is a religious person, and she prays to God for help with her son. Louise also finds the courage to believe that her son is still alive, even after the authorities tell her that he's likely dead. Much like her son, Louise is an eternal optimist, someone who believes in the best of all possible worlds and the ability to improve things through the force of one's Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita de
Chapter 14 Quotes
Mac had never seen combat, didn’t know these officers, and was largely an unknown quantity to himself. All he knew about his ability to cope with this crisis was that on the first night, he had panicked and eaten the only food they had. As time passed and starvation loomed, this act took on greater and greater importance, and it may have fed Mac’s sense of futility.
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In this passage, Hillenbrand contrasts the experience of Mac, a new recruit to the military, with that of Phil and Louie on the life raft. Mac is young and unused to crises, and he feels devastatingly guilty about having stolen all the chocolate on the first night in the raft. As a result, Mac becomes depressed and anxious during his time at sea--he can't force himself to envision a future in which he survives the danger and goes back home.The passage reminds us how extraordinary Louie's willpower is. Not just anybody can focus so single-mindedly on a bright future--many of Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam elige
They bowed their heads together as Louie prayed. If God would quench their thirst, he vowed, he’d dedicate his life to him. The next day, by divine intervention or the fickle humors of the tropics, the sky broke open and rain poured down. Twice more the water ran out, twice more they prayed, and twice more the rain came.
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In this passage, Louie prays to God, and his prayers are seemingly answered. Louie is getting desperate--he's going to die of thirst if he's not rescued soon. In his desperation, Louie takes solace in prayer and faith--he even promises God to devote his life to religion if there's rain. Almost miraculously, it rains shortly afterwards, saving Louie's life.Hillenbrand isn't saying outright that God saved Louie's life--she leaves it up to readers to decide if the event was a coincidence or fate. And yet the broader point seems to be that Louie finds the courage to take a "leap of faith" Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam
Chapter 39 Quotes
In Sugamo Prison, as he was told of Watanabe’s fate, all Louie saw was a lost person, a life now beyond redemption. He felt something that he had never felt for his captor before. With a shiver of amazement, he realized that it was compassion. At that moment, something shifted sweetly inside him. It was forgiveness, beautiful and effortless and complete. For Louie Zamperini, the war was over.
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Louie was unbroken during the war because he faced the terrible traumas of the war, of the Japanese camps, and of the Bird with a refusal to give in or give up. He faced all these obstacles as enemies to be beaten, and he beat them. And yet after the war he found that the skills that allowed him to beat those obstacles -- rage, refusal to give in -- were essentially eating him alive. He survived the war; it did not break him physically. But it broke him emotionally.As this quote shows, though, through religion Louie finds a way Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perf
