The Boys in the Boat

Back in Seattle, the Washington and California varsity teams prepare to race. Washington squeaks through to victory, and Joe witnesses how Ulbrickson coaches his boys. Others, including Pocock, have begun to take notice of the freshman boat and their rough, unrefined skills. All three of Washington’s boats travel from Seattle to New York for the Poughkeepsie Regatta, where they will race against elite Eastern teams for the first time. For Joe, it is yet another reminder of his poverty and “how short he fell in matters of sophistication” (109). Rowing came to the US by way of races between teams from Harvard and Oxford College in England, so the sport is imbued “with an aura of elitism that has lingered to this day” (111). The Washington boys, sons of “farmers and fishermen and lumberjacks” (112), are racing against the sons of senators and presidents.

The weather in Poughkeepsie is oppressively hot, and the boys row poorly during practice. Yet, during the freshman race, Washington takes the lead and glides to an easy victory, and their skills catch “the attention of race fans around the country” (117). The varsity boat, however, suffers a heartbreaking loss to Cal.

Meanwhile, in the rest of the country, the Dust Bowl has ravaged the Midwest, sending Oklahoma farmers packing and displacing thousands of people. Labor disputes rock the city of Seattle, where “a pitched battle raged for days” (121). Nonetheless, there are indications of hope. President Roosevelt himself travels to a little Washington town to announce the building of a dam near the Grand Coulee canyon. For many Washingtonians, this is “the first real hint of hope” (123).

That summer Joe returns to Sequim, hoping to raise enough money for his next year at Washington. A game warden puts a stop to Joe’s lucrative fish poaching business, so Joe hires himself out to Charlie McDonald, a local logger. Fascinated by the growth rings in the trees they fell, he becomes “intrigued by the idea that he could learn to see what others could not” (126). Joe arrives back at the Washington shell house to rumors that the freshmen boys will be elevated to varsity status, given their amazing performance the year before. This irks the new seniors, who don’t want to be passed over, having devoted three years of their lives to the team. Ulbrickson takes over training the new sophomores, laying down strict rules for bedtime, schoolwork, and diet.

Joe learns that his father, stepmother, and half-siblings have been living in Seattle since they abandoned him years earlier. He and Joyce visit their house but are turned away by Thula. Joyce is furious and wonders how Joe can endure such cruelty with grace, but Joe insists that he must make his own way in the world. Back at the Washington shell house, tensions mount over rumors about the varsity team assignments, and Ulbrickson’s practice schedule is destroyed by a massive windstorm that halts practice for two weeks. Despite these tensions and teasing from the other boys, Joe considers the shell house his home. He has found purpose here, and he enjoys the atmosphere inside the building, including the light slanting through the doors, the shells stacked on their racks, and the steam hissing from the radiators.

Back in Germany, Leni Riefenstahl completes her film, The Triumph of the Will. Goebbels balks at her growing influence in the Nazi party.