The Boys in the Boat

After the result is announced, the boys row to the grandstand “to polite applause” (353). They are given their wreaths and medals. Joe watches as the American flag is raised, and his eyes water. By the end of the medal ceremony, they are all on the verge of tears. That night Joe stares at his gold medal and realizes that the true prize is the connection he has forged with his teammates. Finally healing from his difficult childhood, Joe feels “whole” (355) and “ready to go home” (355).

The boys return to the US, where they are greeted with ticker-tape parades. By September, Joe is back home, once again trying to raise enough money for tuition. The next year the boys row again, this time without Bobby, who graduated. They sweep the Poughkeepsie Regatta once again, and Joe (and Shorty and Roger) graduates having “never once been defeated” (359).

After the closing ceremonies in Germany, Hitler, Goebbels, and the rest of the Nazi leadership prepare for war. Leni Riefenstahl’s Olympia premieres in April 1938, and the next day, Hitler and his cabinet make preliminary plans to invade Czechoslovakia.

Joe marries Joyce the same day he graduates. They raise five children together, and Joyce ensures Joe always has a “warm and loving home” (361).