Jonathan Yun
# Quote
1 “The crash of Green Hornet had left
Louie and Phil in the most desperate
physical extremity, without food, water,
or shelter. But on Kwajalein, the guards
sought to deprive them of something that
had sustained them even as all else had
been lost: dignity.” (Hillenbrand 162-163)
2 “At that moment, something shifted
sweetly inside him. It was forgiveness,
beautiful and effortless and complete. For
Louie Zamperini, the war was over.”
(Hillenbrand 332)
3 “A lifetime of glory is worth a moment of
pain. Louie thought: Let go.”
(Hillenbrand 41).
4 “Without dignity, identity is erased. In its
absence, men are defined not by
themselves, but by their captors and the
circumstances in which they are forced to
live.” (Hillenbrand 163)
My Comments
This quote shows the power of human
emotions, and how the mind can be more
powerful than the body. It shows how
important emotions are to the human and
how Louie’s survival as a POW was not
limited to just the physical toils.
Hillenbrand worked to show how much the
war affected Louie. Louie became thin and
frail due to starvation. He was unable to talk
properly due to his parched throat. He was
bleeding due to his skin cracking from the
heat. He survived shark attacks, fighter jets,
storms, frequent beatings, diseases, but no
matter what he survived being a POW with a
single purpose, to live through the end to
obtain his revenge. Louie would spend many
years after the war dealing with flashbacks,
nightmares, and alcoholic problems, all due
to the war. He was fueled by hate to capture
the Owl, and it wasn’t until this point in the
story, where he chose to finally end this
hatred, and replace it with forgiveness and
compassion. And at this point, the war
would finally end for Louie.
This quote foreshadows how much pain, a
literal lifetime of it, would occur. But what’s
more important is that this quote will come
to mind at various points in the story.
In this quote, Hillenbrand emphasizes how
important dignity is to a person. In the
chapter where this quote is found, it shows
the terrible situation the prison is in, and
shows the daily struggles. But towards the
end of the chapter, Hillenbrand shows how
dangerous it can be to lose one’s dignity in

5 “Across the bay, masses of civilians stood
in the streets, looking at the sky. As the
plane passed into the civilians’ view,
Frank Tinker heard the people shouting
[…] Louie glanced toward the south end
of camp. The Bird was standing just
outside his office, motionless and
expressionless, watching the plane. ‘It
was not their Messiah,’ Martindale wrote,
‘but ours.’” (Hillenbrand 22)
6 “What God asks of men, said [Billy]
Graham, is faith. His invisibility is the
truest test of that faith. To know who sees
him, God makes himself unseen.”
(Hillenbrand 327)
7 "Before Louie had left the States, he'd
been issued an olive-drab Bible. He tried
reading it to cope with his anxiety, but it
made no sense to him, and he abandoned
it." (Hillenbrand 82)
8 “Confident that he was clever,
resourceful, and bold enough to escape
any predicament, [Louie] was almost
incapable of discouragement. When
history carried him into war, this resilient
optimism would define him” (Hillenbrand
18)
9 The men grew thinner. Phil was gradually This quote again, shows the perseverance of
regaining his strength after his initial state Louie and how no matter the situation,
of concussed exhaustion; Mac's body
comparison to physical struggles
This is an important quote because it not
only shows what the POWs were feeling, but
what the Japanese guards were feelings. This
quote was at the end of the war, and it shows
how both the POWs and the Japanese guards
were hoping for the end of the war. The
POWs wanted the war to end in an American
victory to be free, while the Japanese guards
wanted the war to end in a Japanese victory
to be able to return home. And when they
saw the plane, a powerful new B-29
American plane, it resulted in the Americans
rejoicing for victory, and the Japanese
fearing defeat.
This quote signifies the importance
Christianity played in Louie Zamperini’s
life. The war tore his mind and body apart
each and every day he was living as a POW.
But each and every one of those days he had
faith that one day he would be rescued and
that he would be able to regain his freedom.
But at this point of the story, he chose to
make the decision to put his faith in God,
which would change his life forever.
This quote is a bit ironic in the fact that
although he abandoned Chrisianity, he
would eventually return, finding peace and
tranquility.
This powerful quote, appearing early in the
story, already gives the reader an
introduction to a recurring theme in this
book: perseverance. It shows how through
constant perseverance, Louie was able to
make it through the war alive.
whether it be a shipwreck, or a being
 grew weaker, following his broken spirit.
(Hillenbrand 136)
10 Ahead of him lay a POW camp, a
promised land. (Hillenbrand 205)
captured for two long years, he would
always keep his perseverance and hope for
freedom. This quote also shows how
dangerous it could be to lose hope. Once
Mac gave up hope to be rescued, his body
started to grow weak without the mind
supporting it.
This shows how desperate Louie was to
escape his current prison camp. Ofuna (the
camp he was leaving), was a secret POW
camp in Japan that was not given any
external support from the Red Cross. This
resulted in constant starvation, malnutrition,
lack of clean water, lack of shelter, and other
basic needs. So when Louie heard that he
was being transferred to a Red Cross
supported POW camp, he was overjoyed,
only to realize that even at the camp, the
situation was terrible.