James Brown's Boys In The Boat

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In James Brown’s nonfiction novel, Boys in the Boat, Joe develops grit when he experiences abandonment and inconsistent rowing. Joe demonstrates grit when his parents desert him, leaving him with no money, no job, and little food. Joe comes home from school and sees his family and their luggage in the car about to leave. His dad gets out of the car to tell Joe what’s going on. He explains to him that if “there’s one thing I’ve figured out about life, it’s that if you want to be happy, you have to learn how to be happy on your own” (Brown 58). Joe’s family abandoned him. Forcing him to grow up at a young age and live on his own. This is one of the biggest barriers he has to overcome. Not only does he get mentally stronger, but also physically …show more content…

Showing his dad that this wasn’t a setback for him, but an advantage for his future. While Joe was rowing with his crew, Ulbrickson realized that, along with the other boys, he was messy and inconsistent. He notices, “they [aren’t] pulling hard enough. They [have] no peppers. And they [are] sloppy. They [are] knifing their oars into the water rather than digging into it” (Brown 153). While Joe is normally a great rower, he has a hard time working with the rest of the crew. But with patience and some practice, he slowly got better and more coherent. Joe’s whole life he has been independent, his parents constantly push him away, leaving him to live on his own. Unlike rowing, where teamwork is the key to winning. Joe has to unlearn what he was taught at a young age. It is evident that Joe develops in many different ways. For example, he relearns how to work with others and shows that he can overcome even the biggest hurdles in his personal life. Overall, Joe gets mentally and physically stronger as a whole. He is abandoned, bullied, and pushed hard by his team and coaches, but he doesn’t let that get in his way. Brown uses Joe to showcase why people can’t let the past affect the

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