The Boys in the Boat

“But it’s not just about me. It has to be about the boat.”

When Brown first meets Joe, he tells Joe that he’d like to write a book about Joe’s experiences. Joe is quick to correct Brown: Any book about the 1936 Olympics must be about the whole boat, not just Joe. This quote establishes the theme of teamwork and shows how the individual is superseded by the collective in rowing.

“The very heart of the Olympic ideal—that athletes of all nations and all races should comingle and compete on equal terms—was antithetical to his National Socialist Party’s core belief: that the Aryan people were manifestly superior to all others.”

Brown dissects the irony of Nazi Germany hosting the 1936 Olympics. Hitler, with a manifesto based on the superiority of one nation and culture above others, is the last person who should be tasked with hosting an event meant to bring nations together. Though Hitler does not believe in Olympian ideals, he sees a way to use the event as a public relations stunt for his regime.

“Home, it was beginning to seem, was something you couldn’t necessarily count on.”

Joe’s early experiences—losing his mother and being abandoned by his father—imbue him with a strong sense that home is fleeting and unreliable. Joe learns that to feel a sense of belonging is to prime oneself for heartache, so he resolves not to count on anyone or anything but himself.