Unbroken (summary of character)

“Never let the pass effect the person you are today” In the process of growing up there’s always a story be told, especially when you’ve became different person than you were in the past. In the book “Unbroken” by Laura Hillenbrand, Louie Zamperini has done a lot of wrong in his childhood years that has made a lot of people view him differently. A few years later, Louie enters Tolerance High School and that’s when he and others began to put the past behind them.

When growing up Louie had a difficult life in California. “At five, he started smoking, picking up discarded cigarette butts while walking to kindergarten”. “He began drinking one night when he was eight”. This can show that Louie Zamperini had a difficult time in his childhood. In addition, “when a teacher made him stand in the corner for spitballing, he deflated her car tires with toothpicks”. Louie has also been bullied along the way of his wrong doings. “He tried buying their mercy with his lunch, but they pummeled him anyway, leaving him bloody”. Louie did absolutely nothing, but took the hits.

When Louie was becoming a rising ninth grader all he wanted was to have a new start. Because of all of his wrong doings as a young child, it actually followed him to high school. Now Louie couldn’t participate in any sports nor any social activities, but when his younger brother Pete heard about Louie’s punishment he persuaded the principal to let him join a sport and it was a success. With all of the options standing in front of Louie, he chose Track and Field.

When Louie had first began Track and Field he was actually horrible, but with the help from his brother Pete, he became one of the best milers in the nation. “Every time he ran, he was becoming faster and faster”. He even tried out for the Olympics in Berlin and he placed 2nd at the trials, many people called it a tie with his competitor, but the judge called it as a clean finish. The principal and others began to respect Louie and then forgave him for all of his wrong doings in his childhood because of how hard he worked to get where he was at that moment.

Summer Reading

During the summer break of 2013 I’ve read multiple books, but I think two books really stood out to me. I’ve read books that are about making making a difference in society. The main character in each story has something different in themselves which makes them unique. Each character stands up for what they believe in and they won't let nothing knock down their confidence.

The first story is “Warriors don’t cry” by Melba Pattillo Beals. In Melba Beals “Warriors don’t cry” sixteen year old Melba Beals was one of the nine teenagers that integrated an all white school called Central High School in 1957. Melba was excited about her education, it’s just the student’s behavior at Central High that turned her down. Melba was taunted by many students and adults that had a different thoughts about equality. 

In school Melba was a warrior because she let nobody take control over her. She used the act of persevering to get throughout her day. She was called many names that made her temper go up, but she knew getting mad or into a fight will result in her getting kicked out of the school. In addition, Melba was receiving death notes which resulted in her getting injured in gym, acid being sprayed in her eyes etc. Melba has taught me to always have courage, faith, and refuse to back down when in a problem and it should encourage others to do the same.

The second book I’ve read is “Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card. The book Ender’s Game introduces a young child that has made a serious difference in his society. Where he's from you can only have a certain amount of children which is two and Ender is a third. Government officials wouldn’t allow that, but they had a deep and different feeling about Ender Wiggin. When a man named Colonial Graff stepped in front of Ender's home to inform him about attending Battle school. Ender was worried about leaving his family behind especially his brother Peter and his sister Valentine, but they encouraged him to go off. Therefore he was recruited to defend Earth from alien species known as the buggers. First Ender was apart of the launch crew, second he was apart of the Salamander Army then traded to the Rats army. Ender had noticed that the children in the launch crew was treated unfairly and so Ender decided to do something which was to give them all lessons on everything that he learned in the battlefield. Colonial Graff then gave Ender the opportunity to become a commander in the Dragons Army. 

Ender practiced so much with his team that he actually became one of the best crews to complete a substantial amount of task given.Throughout Ender’s career he also had to deal with being bullied and nobody would take him seriously because of the number of child he was. Many people called him a thirdie, but that name hasn’t stopped him from succeeding as a soldier. Ender was even traded from the Salamander army into the Rats army because the commander disliked Ender, the commander noticed that he was improving in battle without any official training. In fact Ender has spent so much time in the Battle room that he actually defeated the Buggers with confidence and without notice.

These two stories that I’ve read during the summer has taught me so much about how to take care of situations without getting overwhelmed. In addition, I've learned to persevere through difficult situations that can hurt. Finally, these stories taught me it’s okay to be different and stand up for what I believe in such as equality.