Joe Rant's The Boys In The Boat

When people are struck with hardships in life, the way they react reveals their true character. Having a certain mindset can greatly influence how they handle problems, differentiating one person from another. Many can feel discouraged and feel like giving up when they hit a rough patch. In other cases, the will to be in a position better than where they are at the moment gives them the motivation to succeed. Adversity can have a positive effect on the development of an individual's character, providing them with the drive to overcome their current situation.

I had the pleasure of reading an outstanding, best seller book called, The Boys In The Boat Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown. This book is about the life of Joe Rantz, and the “boat.” Joe was born in Spokane. At the age of three his mother passed away. With the start of the Great Depression people had lost their jobs, homes, and had nowhere to go. He went though some hard obstacles including being left behind at the age of fifteen. Joe said “The whole thing was over in five minutes” (www.gritfire.com). Mr. Rantz also becomes self-reliant by finding his own way. He also learns how to rebuild trust with his father, and to others.

Throughout The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Joe Rantz shows the traits of a common protagonist. Joe grows throughout the book as a person and an athlete in order to eventually push himself to win the gold medal at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. This book is a great example of how despite his setbacks it didn't stop him from living his life and chasing his dreams in winning the Olympics.

The Boys in the Boat is a narrative telling the story of Joe Rantz and his rowing team’s journey to win the gold medal in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. During this time, America was in its worst stages of the Great Depression. Also, Adolf Hitler had risen

Firstly when Joe abandoned his home he had to survive. But during his time period it was during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. The conflict was if he could get past this, stay in school, afford anything to eat and even learn to row. Another conflict is when he makes it into The University of Washington, joining the rowing team, he has to get along with seven other guys on his team. After all of Joe’s hardships,practice and perseverance he is able conquer all of these obstacles. Joe and his crew came out of nowhere and became undefeated rowers. They beat other universities for example California. They did so well they got into the Olympics. All the other American rowing teams had lost in the competition. Except Joe’s team, it was the last race and the flag had dropped and they pushed forward as they gained on Germany and Italy. They pushed to first and took home the gold, everyone was so surprised that Germany had been

1.) “If you simply kept your eyes open, it seemed, you just might find something valuable in the most unlikely of places. The trick was to recognize a good thing when you saw it, no matter how odd or worthless it might a first appear, no matter who else might walk away and leave it behind.” -The Boys in the Boat (pg. 37) by Daniel James Brown

Adversity will be overcome when one becomes brave , determined , and has the willingness to fail.As being born without a arm, baseball player Jim Abbott, had a long journey ahead of him.Or the brave runners who ran the Boston Marathon after two bombs went off at the finsh line. last year.Even Malala Yousafzai, a young who got shot in the head by the taliban because she thought that girls all girl should get an education.All of these people remember to maintain in control , be brave , and accept failure when overcoming adversity.

People have to have a lot of despair and courage to take that resolution. However, there are extreme situations in life, and not everyone can face

As Joe dedicates himself more to the rowing team that he is a part of, his coaches realize there is a team aspect missing. For a while when the team was rowing together some days Joe would perform wonderfully and other times the

“The Boat” written by Alistair MacLeod tells a story about a father’s life and how he lived as a fisherman. The narrator is an adult man who looks back on his life of when his father was still living because even though he got a university education, he now wants the life his father had. He expresses how his father always wanted him to become something bigger and better then what he became. The author, Alistair MacLeod, used many different writing techniques within this short story. The symbolism of “The Boat” expresses inevitability through the little hobbies the father/husband does through his boring routine life, obligation through the father/husband’s commitment as a fisherman to provide for his family, and imprisonment through his

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 Varsity team lost to the Junior Varsity team because of their individualistic mindset. The coach of the Army Crew team admits to putting together the best crew athletes together on the Varsity team. As “Making Star Teams Out of Star Players” discusses, putting the best individuals together seems appropriate on paper, but often ignores the soft skills necessary to work together as a team. Because the coach focuses on the individual talents of the Varsity Crew team he creates an air of competitiveness within each member, instead of how they can work together. The goal of the team is not greater than that of the individual and no one wants to be the weakest link so they overcompensate their own skills. Every member of the Varsity crew team believes he is compensating for the other members and blames other members for the failure of the team, which shows a lack of team mentality and strong leadership. Through overcompensating, as stated in the case study, that throws off the balance of the boat because one member being off pace causes slower speeds. Also, through pitting the Varsity team against the Junior Varsity team it adds to the divisive culture within the whole Army Crew team.

While diverse groups each exhibit immense talent and strength, a universal truth is that all people struggle at some point in their

Faced with an unfamiliar problem, Coach P, of the West Point Crew team, had a JV boat that was consistently outperforming the Varsity team on different measures. Upon preliminary analysis, it appears that the problem is simple: the selection of the varsity team was flawed and many of the athletes were misjudged and subsequently misplaced. However, the coach analyzed this possible flaw through seat races and even decided to demote varsity rowers to the JV team and JV rowers to the varsity team; the unlikely outcome was that the JV boat would win by even more, meaning that the demoted rower actually made the JV boat faster. This unlikely outcome revealed a deeper flaw within the Varsity team’s attitudes and motivations that sharply contrasted with those of the Junior Varsity team.

The story takes place during The Great Depression, a devstating worldwide economic depression in the 1930s and amidst the imminent doom of an impending war. One of the two main characters, Joe Kavalier, is a young Jewish boy from Prague. As a child, Joe is trained to be an escape artist. In his first attempt at showcasing his escapist talents, Joe Kavalier practices an underwater escape trick in a river near his home. After a few minutes underwater, Thomas tries to save Joe and is pulled into the river himself. After almost drowning Joe and Thomas are pulled to safety by his teacher, Kornblum. This is first time Joe’s escapes death. Joe again is forced to face escape when his family scrapes together money to send him to America. Their goal is to send Joe away from a world collapsing. In Europe, being Jewish is a death sentence. After a series of