The Bird Symbol in Unbroken

One of the worst Japanese war criminals, Mutsuhiro “The Bird” Watanabe is the novel’s epitome of evil, representing humankind’s utmost capacity for violence. In the wild, birds often are seen to represent freedom, so the Bird’s nickname emphasizes the freedom he has in comparison to the POWs, specifically with regards to his unrestricted freedom to torture the prisoners without consequence.

The Bird Quotes in Unbroken

The Unbroken quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Bird. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Now he was condemned to crawl through the filth of a pig’s sty, picking up feces with his bare hands and cramming handfuls of the animal’s feed into his mouth to save himself from starving to death. Of all of the violent and vile abuses that the Bird had inflicted upon Louie, none had horrified and demoralized him as did this. If anything is going to shatter me, Louie thought, this is it.

Related Characters: Louis “Louie” Zamperini, Mutsuhiro “The Bird” Watanabe

Related Symbols: The Bird

Page Number and Citation: 291

Explanation and Analysis:

Louie had no idea what had become of the Bird, but he felt sure that if he could get back to Japan, he could hunt him down. This would be his emphatic reply to the Bird’s unremitting effort to extinguish his humanity: I am still a man. He could conceive of no other way to save himself. Louie had found a quest to replace his lost Olympics. He was going to kill the Bird.

Related Characters: Louis “Louie” Zamperini, Mutsuhiro “The Bird” Watanabe

Related Symbols: The Bird

Page Number and Citation: 361

Explanation and Analysis:

No one could reach Louie, because he had never really come home. In prison camp, he’d been beaten into dehumanized obedience to a world order in which the Bird was absolute sovereign, and it was under this world order that he still lived. The Bird had taken his dignity and left him feeling humiliated, ashamed, and powerless, and Louie believed that only the Bird could restore him, by suffering and dying in the grip of his hands. A once singularly hopeful man now believed that his only hope lay in murder.

Related Characters: Louis “Louie” Zamperini, Mutsuhiro “The Bird” Watanabe

Related Symbols: The Bird

Page Number and Citation: 373

Explanation and Analysis:

The Bird Symbol Timeline in Unbroken

The timeline below shows where the symbol The Bird appears in Unbroken. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...them for fear that they are plotting against him. Instead, the prisoners call him the Bird because it carries no negative connotations in case he finds out about the nickname. At... (full context)

...defiance of the Geneva Convention’s law that protects POW officers from having to work, the Bird makes the officers, including Louie, into slave laborers, forcing them to clean the toilets in... (full context)

...from the sadistic Japanese doctors. But Kano could do nothing to protect Louie from the Bird’s violent attacks. (full context)

Watanabe’s attacks intensify. When the Bird demands that Louie look him in the eyes, Louie refuses, prompting more vicious attacks. To... (full context)

The appearance of the bomber makes the Bird even more vicious. On one occasion, the Bird runs into the barracks, calling for everyone... (full context)

...B-29 bombers over Tokyo, destroying the city. Whenever a B-29 flies over the camp, the Bird cracks down on the prisoners, beating them and prohibiting them from small enjoyments like singing... (full context)

...the Japanese Red Cross. He meets one of the POWs who tells him of the Bird’s cruelty. By New Years, the Bird receives order to transfer to a distant isolated camp.... (full context)

After Watanabe leaves, the kind guard Yukichi Kano takes his place and the Bird’s reign of terror ends. William Harris arrives in the camp with a group of new... (full context)

...in front of a shack in the compound. Suddenly, the door flies open and the Bird runs at the prisoners. Louie collapses from shock and fear. (full context)

Louie would remember that moment when he saw the Bird as the darkest of his life. But the Bird is overjoyed to see him, thinking... (full context)

...a factory. When the the Japanese guard charged with overseeing the officers complains to the Bird that the officers are lazy, he punishes the men, making them carry tons of coal... (full context)

...full rations and suffering from dysentery, Louie fears he will starve. Desperate, he asks the Bird for work. Savoring the request, the Bird makes him clean out the pig sty with... (full context)

When the men return to camp, the Bird claims that the officers must have been involved in the theft. As punishment, he makes... (full context)

...a work detail, the officials send Louie back to half rations. After Louie begs the Bird for work, the Bird commands him to watch over the camp’s goat. The Bird says... (full context)

As punishment, the Bird makes Louie carry a thick, six-foot beam over his head. The Bird says that if... (full context)

...the strength he has to hold up the beam. In a flurry of motion, the Bird charges towards him and rams his fist into Louie’s stomach. The beam falls Louie’s head,... (full context)

Each day, Louie grows thinner and weaker. One day, the Bird approaches Louie and tells him that tomorrow he will drown him. After spending the day... (full context)

...them from testifying about the guards’ war crimes. A week before the kill-all date, the Bird disappears from the camp and the guards tell the prisoners they will soon march into... (full context)

...worries that the guards will still kill them. Five days before the execution date, the Bird returns. Louie thinks that he looks changed, but cannot pinpoint the difference. (full context)

...have a chance to take revenge on him. On the day of the announcement, the Bird, knowing that the Allies would charge him with war crimes, stole a bag of rice... (full context)

...news and magazines to the POWs. A celebration of eating and smoking commences. With the Bird gone, Louie gives up his desire for revenge. Throughout the camp, forgiveness reigns and the... (full context)

...goes up to his boyhood room and falls asleep. That night, he dreams of the Bird. (full context)

In the Japanese metropolis of Kofu, the Bird hears on the radio his name on a list of war criminals. He decides to... (full context)

...full of interviews, fancy dinners, and speeches, but at night he dreams only of the Bird. At one speaking engagement, Louie begins to drink more than normally in order to calm... (full context)

In Louie’s life, the Bird continues to haunt his dreams. Louie withdraws from his wife and friends and into training... (full context)

...prospect of the Olympics, Louie’s depression deepens. During the day, he obsessively thinks about the Bird and his nightmares only get worse. Drinking heavily, Louie becomes enraged easily, beating up strangers... (full context)

...helped arrest one of his wartime captors, Louie starts fantasizing about finding and killing the Bird. Louie feels as if vengeance is the only way to save himself from his spiraling... (full context)

...wife, and their live-in servant. The officer leaves, not realizing that the servant was the Bird. (full context)

...his son on a trip through major cities. In the cities, no one recognizes the Bird, which gives him the hope that he can visit his family, who he hasn’t seen... (full context)

Watanabe returns to the farmer’s village. The Bird works as a waiter in the farmer’s son’s coffee shop. After a young woman falls... (full context)

...the dead body. She says it’s her son and the Japanese government announces that the Bird is dead. (full context)

Living in Hollywood, Louie does not know about the announcement of the Bird’s death. Drinking heavily and consumed by a desire to kill the Bird, Louie is unable... (full context)

...bring himself out of his rage and alcoholism. One night, while dreaming of killing the Bird, Louie wakes to find himself strangling his pregnant wife. He stops himself and lies back,... (full context)

...That night he dreams of Satan hunched over his bed, holding the same belt that Bird used to beat him. (full context)

...sink. For the first time since arriving in the U.S., he doesn’t dream of the Bird that night. The next morning he finds an old Bible and goes to sit under... (full context)

At the camp, Louie learns that the Bird had killed himself. All Louie feels is compassion and forgiveness for the man whose life... (full context)

...producer, Draggan Mihailovich, who is making a film on his life tells Louie that the Bird is still alive. (full context)

...its relationship with Japan so they dropped the charges against the war criminals. When the Bird returned to his family in Tokyo, they received him with open arms. The Bird told... (full context)

...makes a small fortune by starting an insurance agency. In 1995, in his mid-seventies, the Bird feels ready to publically discuss his role as a prison guard. Perhaps motivated by guilt... (full context)

...setting up a meeting between him and the Watanabe during the Olympic Games, but the Bird refuses. Unable to offer his captor forgiveness, Louie writes him a letter where he details... (full context)

...past his former prison, he has no bad memories of the war or of the Bird. He feels only joy. (full context)

Unbroken

Laura Hillenbrand

The Bird Symbol Analysis

The Bird Quotes in Unbroken

The Bird Symbol Timeline in Unbroken