Comparative Essay: Louie Zamperini and Eminem

Upon reading “Unbroken,” something I've learned is not to judge a book by its cover. “Unbroken” has been a fascinating book and is none like I’ve read before, reading about Louie Zamperini and his incredible life stories from when he was a child to an adult. Throughout the book, reading about him going through all sorts of hardships and obstacles from when he was a little boy to a man. His story is unforgettable and is inspiring to anyone who is having challenges. Marshall Mathers, “Eminem”, is an American rapper, songwriter, producer. , and one of the best-selling artists of the twenty-first century. Eminem’s music focuses on his childhood trauma as well as personal battles such as addiction. Eminem is similar to Louie Zamperini with an impactful story as well as characteristics that can connect the two. 

The first thing that stands out about both men is their childhood. Louie Zamperini’s childhood was far from simple. When he was just a little boy, he was extremely mischievous. From smoking, stealing, ‘creating small explosions,’ one thing that stands out the most is, “When a teacher stood Louie in a corner for spitballing, he deflated her car tires.” (9) Louie took on a “mischievous” route to his childhood as a resort for attention. Attention can be a cause of acting out receiving reactions whether it is positive or negative. Eminem received attention from the world in a different way. According to “cheatsheet,” they say, “He developed the character Slim Shady, who is a violent emcee with no filter…” Eminem created an alter ego that was mischievous and ended up attracting attention from all over the world. The “mischievous” side of Slim Shady comes from the “dark” place of Marshall Mathers. Eminem created a character to express himself on other sides of the spectrum.

The second thing that stands out about both men is their defiance. Louie, “Thrilled by the crashing of boundaries, Louie was untamable. In Torrance, a rebel was born” (7). Theblaze.com reported, “Rapper Eminem took a knee during Sunday night's Super Bowl halftime show, despite reports that the NFL asked him to avoid doing so.” Both men did acts of defiance by disregarding boundaries and thriving in rebellions.

The third thing connecting Eminem and Louie is their braveness. “Louie heard a scream…Louie grabbed Brooks and pulled him off the catwalk. He could see holes dotting Brooks’s jacket. There was blood in his hair…Louie dragged Brooks into a corner. Brooks passed out” (81). Thinking quickly on your feet is a hard trait to come by and especially in a moment of trama like Zamperini experienced. It was a scary moment for Brooks and Louie, being brave and removing Brooks from danger, the Brooks shortly after passing out. Eminem was put in the spotlight differently. According to “manestreetmirror”, “Eminem and these friends would participate in open mic contests at Detroit’s Hip-Hop Shop on Saturdays.” While both situations are vastly different, Louie and Eminem put themselves at risk of failure.

 Clever, quick to learn, and apply new ideas. “Told to draw the radar system, Louie drew an imaginary system to elaborate…it resembled… ‘a ruptured octopus’” (141). Not many people know what a radar system is let alone draw one to represent something. Zamperini was quick to apply this new system and being able to elaborate shows how clever he is. While Eminem did not create a replicated drawing of a radar system he was good with vocabulary. Eminem was not excellent at school and dropped out after failing ninth grade for the third time. According to “manestreetmirror”, “…I just felt like I wanna be able to have all of these words at my disposal, in my vocabulary at all times whenever I need to pull ’em out. You know, somewhere, they’ll be stored, like, locked away.” Eminem would also carry around a dictionary to study new words to use in his complex raps. 

The last thing that I will be comparing Louie and Eminem is confidence. “Louie was determined to keep himself and the others lucid” (114). That is a big task to do as well as a difficult one to accomplish. Having that much confidence in a situation that odd seems to be against you seems nearly impossible to an outsider. Zamperini and Eminem seem to be confident in difficult, and stressful situations. Eminem has experienced stressful situations from school, performing, and everyday life that are quite different compare to Louie. According to “manestreetmirror”, “His performances in the 1997 Rap Olympics in Los Angeles demonstrated this passion for language, where he placed second in the freestyle category and caught the eye of Dr. Dre, not only a fellow rapper, but also the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment, a record label of Universal Music Group.” It takes a lot of confidence to do a rap freestyle but especially in front of highly successful artists. 

Disregarding Louie and Eminems’s background they have a lot of similar characteristics. It goes to show that no matter where you come from or how you were raised, you can still maintain the same attributes as someone else who is vastly different. During my research of Eminem, I've learned lots of things that set him aside from Louie as well as the characteristics like clever, brave, confident, mischievous, and defiance that bring them together. It has been an honor to learn about both men and do research from the book, and online sources about the obstacles both men had faced from boys to men.