The theme of pride is central to many pieces of popular literature. Pride can be thought of as a high opinion of oneself and/or one's actions. While a sense of pride can be a positive motivating force for achieving great results, it can also be an all-consuming force that leads to negative results. Two stories that reflect the divergent outcomes of Pride are Daniel Brown's The Boys in a Boat and Pierre Boule's The Bridge on the River Kwai. In the first novel, pride leads to high achievement, while in the second story, pride becomes exhausting and harmful. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay A very proud group is found in the novel The Boys On The Boat by Daniel Brown. The Freshman Eight Sweeps is a group of young men proud of their blue-collar backgrounds who work together and persevere through hardship to eventually win a gold medal at the 1936 Olympics. The main character in this book is named Joe Rantz, originally from rural Seattle and has lived without family since the age of 10. The reader follows his journey of hardship as a young man to gain admission to the University of Washington where he joins the crew team. Joe and his teammates are passionate about the sport and are so successful that they eventually compete in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. What sets Joe and his teammates apart from other rowing teams is that they come from a blue-collar family. They are proud of their background and also of representing the state of Washington in this predominantly Ivy League sport. Pride also drives them to beat their well-trained Aryan opponents in the final competition of the Olympics. Pride in their humble beginnings ultimately fuels their rise to a gold medal. In this case, pride is beneficial. Young people get to take a lot of pride in their background, their work ethic, their college, and the idea of ​​what their country represents while having the United States emblazoned on their jersey. Finally, the team is proud of their mentor, Mr. Peacock. Almost all athletes aspire to be like Mr.Peacock and respect his wisdom, knowledge and experience. They thrive in his presence and argue with him in their minds. Without pride, this boat would be nothing more than a country luberjack. In the novel The Bridge on the River Kwai, pride is also a pertinent theme. However, in this story, the pide becomes destructive and harmful to the main character. The book revolves around a prison camp during World War II. The reader is introduced to a proud officer named Colonel Nicholson. He and his men are forced to build a bridge to the “Great Japanese Empire”. Initially, Nicholson feels too proud as an officer to take part in this laborious task. However, as the story progresses, he takes charge of this project and ultimately wants to make the bridge as good as possible to prove that British engineering is far superior to British engineering. the efforts of his captors... By the end of the book, Nicholson is truly rejoicing at the completion of his bridge and hopes that it will remain in his name for some time. His pride in his engineering gets the better of him as he struggles between the ruin of his creation and his patriotism as his side, the English, want to destroy the bridge. Nicholson actually rejects this idea and kills his own people while destroying the bridge. This entire book is a great example of how too much pride can and does consume everything.