Unbroken is a true story of a war hero who defied all odds of living during World War II. Laura Hillenbrand promotes the memoir by stating it is "An Olympian's journey from airman to castaway to captive." There are many literary techniques used to explain the story to the reader in a more unique way that makes the story their own or more relatable. In the memoir, Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand promotes three techniques to make the eventful and complex story a page turner, irony, symbolism, and the four elements of humor. To begin, irony is one of the most common techniques used in memoirs. Irony is the difference between how something appears to happen, versus what it actually is trying to promote. The three most common forms of irony are verbal, dramatic, and situational. In the introduction, Hillenbrand writes, "A month earlier, twenty-six-year-old Zamperini had been one of the greatest runners in the world. Now his body had wasted to less than one hundred pounds and his famous legs could not lift him(page 2)." This is the beginning of situational irony in the book because it informs the reader that the famous track star's life was about to go to waste after a terrible event. Later on, Louis …show more content…
The four elements of humor include a hyperbole, understatement, comic irony, and a parody. The most common form of humor in Unbroken are understatements. Before the war, Pete, Louie's brother, claimed "I have to walk around with my shirt open so that I have enough room for my chest (page 29)." This is an element of humor because Pete is exaggerating to make his victory humorous to his brother. Later on, Zamperini's crew members find fun in poking at their misfortunes. When the crew was assigned to the B-24 Liborator, the men called it "The Flying Brick (page 54)" and "The Constipated Lumberer (page 54)." These names provided comic relief in a time of worry or nervousness because of the Liborator's flying
Elie Wiesel has experienced a horrible tragedy. When he repeatedly says over and over “Never shall I forget…” he emphasizes his fear of what he has seen. He drills into the reader how traumatized he is. This creates sympathy and makes the reader feel worse for Mr. Wiesel. Dramatic irony gives the reader an advantage over the characters. This form of irony is where the reader knows something that the characters do not. “(Poor father! Of what then did you die?)” (page 11) During this scene in the book Elie's father has given the news to the other Jews that they are all required to wear the yellow star. His father said “‘ The yellow star? So what? It’s not lethal…’” (page 11) This is ironic because the star is what killed nearly all of the Jewish people. Hate killed a countless number of innocent people because of their beliefs. This is the dramatic Irony. Everything that Elie Wiesel uses to create his autobiography makes it more that just a page taught
Irony is a useful device for giving stories many unexpected twists and turns. In Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour," irony is used as an effective literary device. Situational irony is used to show the reader that what is expected to happen sometimes doesn't. Dramatic irony is used to clue the reader in on something that is happening that the characters in the story do not know about. Irony is used throughout Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" through the use of situational irony and the use of dramatic irony.
There are three principal sources of interest in narratives: suspense, mystery, and irony. In the narratives “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Ronald Dahl, irony is a primary source of interest. Irony is defined as a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result. In both of these cases, the use of irony by the authors greatens the impact the pieces have on their audience. In both “A Rose for Emily” and “Lamb to the Slaughter”, the authors have numerous pieces of irony throughout their respective stories; this use of irony creates a better reading experience for the reader.
There are three main types of irony to familiarize yourself with: dramatic irony, situational irony, and verbal irony. Firstly, lets start off with situational irony. Situational irony occurs when the expected outcome does not happen. Situational irony is used in stories to add humorous effects. For example, in the Most Dangerous Game, when Zaroff, the man who hunts people for entertainment, tells Rainsford, the unwilling victim of Zaroff, “We’ll visit my training school… It’s in the cellar. I have about a dozen pupils down there right now” (PG). Basically, Zaroff is not referring to a training school, he is referring to a prison where he keeps his unwilling victims who will eventually be hunted. This quotation shows how dramatic irony affects the tone and the
Irony is one of the most powerful elements of figurative language. It creates a feeling of foreshadowing and sometimes humor in a rather unique way. Irony is a way of telling a story in that something happens that seems the opposite of what one would think. There are plenty of examples of the three types of irony in Night by Elie Wiesel. This essay will discuss the times verbal, situational, and dramatic irony were used in Night.
The definition of irony is a contrast between two things. One example is verbal irony. It is a contrast between what someone says and what one means, while dramatic irony is a contrast between what the characters know to be true and what the readers know to be true. Many writers use irony in their short stories to prove a dramatic point, or just to develop a story for upcoming use. These short stories by Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” (140), Susan Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers” (183), and Stephen Crane’s “The Blue Hotel” (229), spin a tale of symbolic irony. Each tell a tale paradoxical twists with sublime contradiction where one is led to believe one side of an event, yet it is dragged down a twisted trail of mental sarcasms coupled with death. It is a known fact that many tales of irony require many major events to twist the order they are written in to create a viewpoint that stride away from the main topic or where the author wants the reader to end up.
As the Canadian social democratic politician and Baptist minister, Tommy Douglas once said, “Man can now fly in the air like a bird, swim under the ocean like a fish, he can burrow into the ground like a mole. Now if only he could walk the earth like a man, this would be paradise.” In the book Unbroken, written by Laura Hillenbrand, defying the many odds against him, Louis Zamperini showed us that with being faithful, you can conquer your problems. Some of the many struggles Zamperini had to go through, included pushing to become a better person, surviving a plane crash resulting in 42 days stranded out at sea, becoming a POW for two years, and coming home to find that not only his past haunts him, but his present. As a teenager, Zamperini
The Brave and Forgiving Louie Zamperini survived on a raft in the middle of the ocean, for 47 days, with a finite supply of water, and no food! Louie was born in 1917, and was a troublemaker from the beginning. Louie’s older brother, Pete, encouraged Louie to run. Eventually Louie was on his way to the Olympics in Japan. However, fate had different plans for Louie, instead of Louie going to the Olympics, he was stranded on a raft for 47 days in the middle of the Ocean, and was sent to brutal POW camps for 2 1/2 years.
When Louie was young, he was a rebel, stealing liquor, and being the towns arch nemesis. Now Louie is a man, competing in the Olympics, and fighting for his country and even for his own life. Louie hadn’t listened to the police or anyone that tried to help him growing up. He had always broken laws, stolen from people, and drank liquor under bleachers trying to disguise it as milk. Every Time Louie had been caught by the police and had been brought home to his parents, Louie’s dad would hit him with a belt hoping that would teach him not to do it again. Unbroken, the book written by Laura Hillenbrand, focuses on parts of Louie Zamperini’s life who was a risk taker, and optimistic.
In Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand we plunge in to the life and battles of Louie Zamperini’s life. In his voyage through childhood, adolescence, soldier life, World War II, and his later years we see many traits of his identity. His friendships, his competitiveness, his resourcefulness, his honesty etc.… All of these great characteristics, but the ones that resonates with me the most and makes me admire him are his determination and with that his persistence. That determination that helped him continue and power through many hardships, this is what truly makes him admirable in my eyes. Through Hillenbrand’s writing this trait is well developed.
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand is a book that talks about the life of Louis Zamperini, a Olympic athlete who was a POW during the Second World War. This books talks about Zamperini’s childhood growing up in on the West Coast and focusing his rebellious nature on the sport of cross country. He ran in college and got qualified for the Berlin Olympics in 1936. Once the Second World War started he became a bombardier for the Air Force. His plan crashed in the Pacific Ocean when he was out on a rescue mission, and he and 2 other people on the plan survived 47 day at sea in a rubber raft.
Irony is a literary device that comes up multiple times throughout the memoir. This specific example is the most ironic one in the book because although their family had been poor throughout their entire lives, Jeanette’s mom had owned a plot of land worth over one million dollars, and had never taken advantage of selling it and becoming
In the book “Unbroken” written by Laura Hillenbrand is the full story of Louie Zamperini’s life. Published on November 16, 2010 by A Random House Trade publisher in New York that is a non-fiction. Hillenbrand, who could not travel to meet Louie because she has Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, interviewed Louie over the phone for seven years. The book is five out of five stars for me because I truly am in love with the story of Louie and how devoted this book is to his whole life. This book shows you can start with little and make yourself rich from that.
Unbroken was made into a book in 2010 by Laura Hillenbrand and later adapted into a movie in 2014. It is a story about a young Olympian named Louis “Louie” Zamperini who made it into the 1936 Berlin Olympics. He later gets drafted into the air force and fought in World War II only to get stranded in the ocean and captured by the Japanese. The book and the movie both cover the same main topics and are over the same events, but they aren’t both the same. The book goes into more detail than the movie in many instances; however, sometimes the movie shows a more detailed and powerful scene when compared to the book.
In the stories “Story of an Hour”, “Everyday Use”, “The Necklace”, and “The Lottery” it is evident that irony was quite a large part of the short story. There is situational irony, which is when the situation turns out differently than expected. Also, dramatic irony is present, which is when you as a reader knows more than the character. The authors seem to base their whole story around irony to surprise their readers.