The Significance Of Grit In James Brown's Boys In The Boat

Grit is the path to success and is defined by having unbreakable perseverance even through hardships and destitution. Throughout Daniel James Brown’s novel Boys in the Boat, he writes about the life story of Joe Rantz during the Great Depression and how he overcomes the challenges that are thrown his way. From a young age, Joe braves the trauma of his mother’s death and his father’s neglect which forces him to carry out a lonely childhood in the absence of both his parents and anyone who loves or cares for him. Later on, however, Al Ulbrikson notices him while training and offers him the opportunity to join Ulbrikson’s crew for the University of Washington. Through the many grueling days of tryouts, he makes the school’s freshman crew and earns

Together, they will win some of the most prestigious races including the 1936 Olympics in their shell, the Husky Clipper. Joe’s experience with hardship and poverty forces him to build grit for the sake of his survival, which in turn, helps him become mentally and physically stronger. Joe’s gritty personality helps him overcome abandonment at an unbelievably young age and excel in the sport of rowing. At the young age of 16, Joe has to learn how to be independent because his father, Harry Rantz, chooses his second wife over his son, leaving Joe to fend for himself. However, Joe refuses to let his father’s actions dictate the course of his life and moves forward, and works “at any kind of legitimate work he [can] find” no matter how laborious it can be; he grows “continually stronger and even more self-reliant” because of it, he even stays “in school and [earns] good grades'' (Brown 61-62). The young boy understands that he must move on without his father and channels all the hurt into working harder, providing for himself, and excelling academically. Joe refuses to let this traumatic event define him and he