Adversity In James Brown's Boys In The Boat

In the novel Boys on the Boat by Daniel James Brown the main character is

Boys in the Boat tends to focus on one rower and his internal struggles in particular - Joe Rantz, who became an indispensable member to the team despite his humble beginnings. He suffered through a difficult childhood and was described as “poor as a church mouse” (129). He deals with the shame and embarrassment his financial situation puts him in - he wore “his ragged sweater to practice almost everyday, and the boys still teased him continuously for it” (91). For a row team to be successful, every member must work in unison and have trust in each other. Readers can see how difficult this is for Joe at first - knowing his past and internal struggles makes you wonder how he could possibly learn to depend on the other rowers. But throughout the book we see character growth in Joe. He learns from his mentors, begins to trust his teammates and gains confidence in

The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown is a true story which illustrates the importance of grit and perseverance in the face of challenging situations. Throughout his troubled upbringing, Joe Rantz faces depressing and unfortunate events. When he was young, his mother dies, and his father remarries a harsh woman, Thula, who treats Joe dreadfully. His father can't hold a job, and his family keeps moving from town to town, which negatively impacts his social life. Eventually, Thula threatens to end the marriage with Joe’s father unless Joe leaves the family. Joe’s father accepts Thula’s request, and he abandons Joes when he is only fifteen years old. Yet in the midst of living independently at such a young age, Joe perseveres through the challenges and achieves his life’s dreams. When he is left with almost nothing, his drive to succeed ultimately leads to his triumph at rowing and to his winning of an Olympic gold medal in Berlin.

Financially Joe is better, Joe is a politician, businessman, mayor, and landlord in Eatonville, Florida. But that’s not enough, she want to be treated right and showed off in public, but Joe doesn’t treat Janie like a human being. Joe treats Janie like an object rather than a person, he try to control her as much as he can. After 20 years of marriage, Joe is getting older and older, Janie had enough of it. She made her appearance known when she broke out of silence and told the townspeople how Joe treats him. After months later Joe become more ill and in the verge of dying. Janie watched Joe died in his

To begin, Joe becomes self sufficient and begins to have trust issues after his family leaves him for the second time. Harry and Thula, his dad and stepmom, influence Joe’s emotions to the reasons why they abandoned

“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). The willpower to overcome adversity drives an unstoppable ambition. In The Boys in the Boat by Daniel Brown, a young man defied all odds to defeat resistance from life and the water to win the gold. Joe Rantz overcomes personal and emotional challenges throughout his childhood and college life in order to achieve his dream.

In the novel The Boys in the boat life was much different in the 1930's then today. Aspects that struck me the most deeply in the 1930's was that parents in the 1930's didn't shelter and protect their kids as much as they do now. In the novel it states " He went back upstairs and told his son he would have to move out of the house. Joe was ten" ( Chapter 2, p.31). This was a paramount moment in Joe Rantz life. His father Harry Rantz chose an abusive stepmother over his helpless ten year old son. Harry Rantz betrayed his son, which affected Joe Rantz perspective of the world. Another aspect in the 1930's that struck me deeply was that children had to be independent at such a young age. In the novel it states " "For Joe, who had spent the last

This notion underscores Joe's passionate desire to find justice, as well as his unwillingness to accept these horrific actions. Joe's need for justice is deeply rooted in the trauma he and his family endured throughout his mother's assault. As Joe witnesses the suffering and emotional toll the event has taken on his mother, his desire for retribution intensifies. The assault shattered any sense of security within the tribe and left most grappling with fear, uncertainty, and a desire for vengeance and justice. Holding the perpetrator accountable becomes a paramount focus for Joe, driving every thought and action he makes, reflecting a fundamental human instinct for justice in the face of injustice.

Brown uses honest resources to gather the information he needed to create the story of the rowers, telling it in great detail. He attended Diablo Valley College, the University of California at Berkeley, and UCLA. He taught at San Jose State University and Stanford before he became a technical writer and editor. His main interest in writing is to bring compelling historical events to life as vividly and accurately as he can. In order to write The Boys in the Boat, Brown spoke to Joe Rantz himself and his daughter. “ In the several months during which I was able to interview Joe before he passed away, he shared not only the fundamental facts of their story but also, sometimes in exquisite detail, many of his specific feelings and

Joe comes to realize his loss and overcomes it by “starting a new life”. The Andersons cannot “start a new life” or live their life with Martha's existence being utterly

An example of this is when he becomes aware of how capable he is at rowing. When most of the boys are dropping out during training, he notes with satisfaction that he his still pushing forward, even though he is physically hurting. Joe states that, “The hurting was taking a toll, and that was just fine. Hurting was nothing new to him.” Joe believes in his abilities by this time in the novel and has great perseverance.

Janie would always respect Joe even though he was a jerk to her at times. She would put up with ever he had to say and she never talked back. Eventually, one day Janie was so fed up with it and decided to strike back verbally. Joe was haggling her a bit as he usually does. He was accusing her of cutting a cigar wrong.

The Boys in The Boat opens up with the author, Daniel James Brown traveling to Joe Rantz’ house to speak to him about one of the books that the author had written. At this point in the story the author is in a mountainous location. Later on in the book the reader learns that Joe picked up a fondness for wood, more of an appreciation if anything. So the reader can conclude that Joe had decided to live in a forested area because he likes trees. The book then jumps backwards to 1933 in Seattle, Washington. The author sets up the atmosphere and setting of the cloudy city flawlessly while also showing the reader that the protagonists are living in a very hard and depressing time.

Although I don't normally read nonfiction books, this book, The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown, is amazing. Taking place shortely after the begining of the Great Depression, this book tells the tale of nine, young, hardworking men from the University of Washington who work together on their school's rowing team. It summarizes relivent events in their lives from childhood to their winning of the 1936 Berlin Olympics, held under the supervision of Adolf Hitler and his team of Nazis with their rowing team. In the place where I currently am, the author has just finished describing the childhood of the men. From what I've gathered so far, a theme I believe overcomes the book is the idea of pain and suffering leads to hard work. All of the

So he stands up for himself, which shows he is strong. Joe-Boy is a bad friend, he was teasing Vinny about the dead boy in the text it says “ Are you going to let your mom control your life or what”? And” you going to jump down and touch the dead boy’s face beneath the rock”. That shows that he is getting out of Vinny’s comfort zone, which makes him a mean friend.