Dehumanization And Isolation Of Louie Zamperini - 1329 Words

War can be loud and visible or quiet and remote. It affects the individual and entire societies, the soldiers, and the civilians. Both U.S. prisoners of war in Japan and Japanese-Americans citizens in the Unites States during WWII undergo efforts to make them â€Å"invisible.† Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken hero, Louie Zamperini, like so many other POW’s, is imprisoned, beaten, and denied basic human rights in POW camps throughout Japan. Minà © Okubo, a US citizen by birth, is removed from society and interned in a â€Å"protective custody† camp for Japanese-American citizens. She is one of the many Japanese-Americans who were interned for the duration of the war. Louie Zamperini, as a POW in Japan, and Minà © Okubo, as a Japanese-American internee,†¦show more content†¦Furthermore, communication with the outside world is impossible. To the world, including Louie’s family, he vanished. Initially declared missing at sea and later declared dead by the U.S. military, he becomes invisible to the outside world. However, Louie does what he can to resist these efforts. The Bird forces officers to work, even though it’s against the rules of war. Thus, the officers find their own way to resist by ruining the leather and depriving the Bird of seeing them miserable. The officers who worked in the camp â€Å"deliberately stitched leather improperly† (247). The POWs were later sent out to work outsi de of the camp,, but they resist by sabotaging everything can get their hands on, â€Å"At the worksites, Omori’s POWs were waging guerilla war. At the rail yards and docks, they switched mailing addresses, and changed the labeling on the boxcars, send tons of goods to the wrong destinations. They threw fistfuls of dirt into gas tanks and broke anything mechanical that passed through their hands† (248). This example is evidence of resisting invisibility since the POWs are sent out to do work that would support the Japanese war effort†¦ an act that would be considered that of a traitor. The POWs find a way to