The Boys in the Boat

Joe is a member of the US Olympics rowing team and the University of Washington rowing team; he is also the central figure of The Boys in the Boat. Joe endured an extremely difficult childhood: His mother died when he was four years old, his stepmother resented and abused him, and his father abandoned him when he was 10 years old.

Because of these experiences, Joe is both intensely independent and wary of forming relationships with others. Though he quickly falls in love with Joyce, his childhood sweetheart, he struggles to befriend any of his teammates and fails to grasp the importance of true teamwork and trust. Joe is a self-sufficient survivor by necessity; he forages for food, hangs off cliff faces, poaches fish, and wears the same sweater each day in his quest for food, shelter, and a college education. Joyce considers him the “embodiment of freedom” (65).

Joe’s teammates initially bristle at his aloofness, calling him “Mr. Individuality” and poking fun at his impoverished background. Joe responds in kind, refusing to engage with or open up to any of them. However, when Joe is temporarily demoted to a lower boat, he realizes that he misses his teammates and that their cautious camaraderie “did matter, a lot” (221). After Pocock takes Joe under his wing, Joe learns to trust, forging new relationships with his teammates as well as his estranged father and younger stepsiblings.

Ulbrickson is the head coach of the Washington crew team. He is particular and demanding of the boys, and a “stickler for detail” (15). Though some think his reticence verges on “the point of rudeness” (86), he is deeply protective of the boys on the team, eventually raising huge sums of money to send them to Berlin and carefully selecting each boy according to his strengths and weaknesses. The boys on the team have great respect for Ulbrickson, as do other members of the racing community, even his rivals. The boys carefully listen to Ulbrickson’s judgment and tips, but they know he respects them enough to listen to them as well, as he does when Don becomes ill. Ulbrickson is described as “the least talkative man on campus” (16) and rarely praises the boys, making it all the more meaningful when he does. After the Princeton Regatta, Ulbrickson thanks Pocock for all his help. Pocock remembers, “Coming from Al, […] that was the equivalent of fireworks and a brass band” (284).

Pocock builds the boats used by the Washington crew team; he also offers tips to Ulbrickson on the players’ techniques. Pocock, an Englishman, is the son of a boat builder and learned his craft from his father. He worked with his father at Eton, a posh boarding school, where he learned how to hide his working-class accent. However, he is “learned far beyond his formal education” (135). Pocock displays a “quiet humility” and “quiet eloquence” (135), and the boys respect him immensely. Pocock, who also lost his mother while young, helps Joe open up and trust his teammates.

Joyce is Joe’s high school and college sweetheart, and his eventual wife. Joyce is from Sequim, like Joe, but she had a very different childhood. Joyce grew up in a religious, restrictive environment, with a father who believed work cured all sins and a mother who refused to acknowledge Joyce’s existence when she misbehaved. She attracts Joe with her “blond curls, a button nose, and a fetching smile” (56), and her eagerness to explore everything “from photography to Latin” (65). She is fiercely protective of Joe, refusing to forgive Harry Rantz for abandoning his son and later ensuring that Joe’s life as a husband and father is warm and loving.

Bobby is the boat’s “savvy little coxswain” (152), the team member responsible for directing the others and steering them to victory. Though small and unassuming, Bobby quickly proves that he is “nobody’s fool” (153). Bobby works best when he has “something to overcome, someone to beat” (233). He uses his considerable intellect to the team’s advantage, engaging rival teams’ coxswains in a war of wills, calculated risks, and speed. One sports writer describes him as having ice in his veins, but Bobby is deeply loyal to his teammates, boosting their morale and using psychology and enthusiasm to spur them to their Olympic win.

Roger is Joe’s first close friend on the team. Roger is “loose, gangly,” with “a bit of a glowering look” (11). Determined and strong, Roger has an independent streak: He once rowed 15 miles from a boring family gathering as a child, and he befriends impoverished, scruffy-looking Joe when others pass him over. Roger is “apt to speak bluntly, almost rudely,” but he and Joe cultivate a “strand of affection and respect” (72) early in their freshman year.