The Boys in the Boat

At 10 years old, Joe is abandoned by his father and stepmother and is forced to fend for himself. He takes up residence at his schoolhouse. One day his teacher takes the class into the woods and shows them a cauliflower mushroom, or Sparassis radicata. The teacher explains that though the “rounded, convoluted mass” (37) appears unappealing, it can be “delicious when stewed” (37). Joe is amazed to discover that free food is all around him, and that he “just might find something valuable in the most unlikely of places” (37). Though the mushroom appears odd, it is immensely valuable.

The mushroom mirrors Joe’s initial status on the crew team: He too appears odd to his teammates, with his single sweater and guarded nature, but he proves indispensable to the team. Joe, like the cauliflower mushroom, is a diamond in the rough, and it requires a thoughtful person—like Pocock, Ulbrickson, or Joyce—to “recognize a good thing […] no matter who else might just walk away and leave it behind” (37).

Four-leaf clovers pop up several times in the novel, as they are one of Joe’s personal symbols. After an adolescence spent foraging, Joe develops an “uncanny knack for finding four-leaf clovers” (68).