The Importance Of Human Resilience In Boys In The Boat By Daniel James Brown

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The ability to overcome tough obstacles in an individual's life is known as human resilience. The book “Boys in the boat”, written by Daniel James Brown, is about a young man named Joe Rantz, who is on the rowing team for the University of Washington. He had to overcome many challenges regarding his past, but it didn’t stop him from gaining a spot on the United States Olympic crew team. He helped lead his team to victory, despite the hardships of living alone as a teenager. The second story “Night”, is a personal narrative written by Elie Wiesel. When he was a teenager, his family, and many other people of their Jewish community were put into concentration camps. He shares his terrifying experiences, along with relationships he had in the camps. …show more content…
For example, according to Daniel James Brown, “Joe was no stranger to pulling for himself. He’d been forced to do so at an early age.” (23) Earlier in the story, Joe was left behind by his family, and had to take care of himself. This implies that Joe’s abandonment by his family made him more resilient and better prepared to endure the intense training of the rowing team. It also signifies how Joe didn’t need as much support through the tough practices and excruciating races as others on the team. Another example in this book is the conversation between Joe and his father right before his family left. (Brown 43) Joe found himself alone, with no food, money, or anyone to help him. This made Joe feel abandoned and hurt. Although it made him feel neglected and forgotten, this experience helped him become a stronger person later on. The last example, according to Brown is, “He still had to wear his ragged sweater to practice almost every day, and the boys still teased him continuously for it”. (68) This implies that Joe feared the other boys because he was made fun of all the time for being so poor. He became more resilient to bullying in the future, which helped him in life. Joe Rantz showed how he used fear and family to become more

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