The Boys in the Boat

Joe’s experience at the Grand Coulee dam allows him to bond with some of his teammates and teaches him about The Value of Teamwork. His job at the Grand Coulee is dangerous, so he has no choice but to trust his crew to keep him safe. He has an opportunity to interact with Johnny and Chuck outside of the hypercompetitive Washington shell house, and he bonds with them in this more relaxed environment. This is a major change for Joe, one that will allow him to become part of the rowing team and to trust and rely on his teammates in the boat. Moreover, he learns that Chuck and Johnny are nearly as impoverished as he is and can recount similar stories of poverty, hunger, and deprivation, which relates to the theme of Social Stigma and Economic Class. Joe has long considered himself different from his teammates, but he now sees they are all more alike than he could have imagined. The commonality found in these shared struggles helps Joe forge relationships with Johnny and Chuck, which will in turn strengthen their teamwork on the boat.

While mentoring Joe, Brown shows how crafty and intelligent Pocock is in his attempt to break through Joe’s hard exterior. Pocock begins by engaging Joe through manual labor, something Joe has done his entire life. Joe reacts positively to Pocock’s lessons about wood, building on what Joe has already learned from Charlie McDonald. Finally, rather than directly addressing Joe’s trust issues, which would only drive Joe further into himself, Pocock uses the wood the boats are made from to allude to Joe’s psychological walls. In an example of Human Connection: Presence and Absence, he works with the ideas of wood and nature, things that Joe feels comfortable with, to help Joe open up to other people.