Childhood In Homer H. Hickam's 'Rocket Boys'

The book, Wilder Boys by Brandon Wallace, is an amazing story about two boys named Jake and Taylor who try to find their dad who left them when they were young. In the beginning of the story Jake and Taylor’ mom gets sent to the hospital because her boyfriend hurt her. Jake and Taylor then realize that they will not be safe with Bull who is their moms boyfriend and they go out on an adventure to find their long lost dad.

Homer H. Hickam Jr.’s memoir, Rocket Boys, focuses on the mine and its significance towards the lives of the people of Coalwood. The mine represents the life of the people of Coalwood. Homer Hickam Jr., also known as Sonny, has his life completely controlled by the mine. His dad, the mine superintendent, constantly pushes Sonny to pursue a job in the mine. Sonny’s future lies in his parents’ hands. His dad, aware of the popularity of mining in Coalwood, strongly suggests Sonny to start preparing for his future. On the other hand, his mother encourages him to pursue his dreams and follow his heart. His father has a good reason for wanting Sonny to follow in his footsteps. All the men that Sonny knows in Coalwood are miners while the women are

In October Skys, Sonny and the Rocket Boys faced nearly impossible odds and persevered through all of the obstacles they encounter. They were truly amazing young boys with courage, determination, and a will to do what they had their minds set on no matter what life threw at them.

Anne Frank once said, “The final forming of a person’s character lies in their own hands.” While their childhood and the opinions of others have some impact, a person has just as much power to decide who they want to be, as proven in the memoirs Rocket Boys by Homer H. Hickam and The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. These protagonists are validation that despite outside pressures, a person can grow up to be anyone they want to be. Similarly, for Homer “Sonny” Hickam of Rocket Boys, working in Coalwood’s coal mines seems essentially inevitable, since the town focuses on a small range of activities. Hickam states that, "Only coal mining was more important in Coalwood than high school football. Sputnik, and anything else, was going to always

As aforementioned, with each house in Coalwood came a miner in that household. Sonny’s father was among one of the many miners in Coalwood, but in fact held a higher authority. He was the mine superintendent. Therefore, naturally everyone in the town of Coalwood assumed that Sonny would grow up to be a miner just like his father. Nevertheless, that was not the case as Sonny’s

In his popular song “American Kids”, Kenny Chesney tells the story of what the dysfunctional life of an average American kid is like. No matter what your experience is growing up in suburban American, you can likely relate to at least a few of the exclusively American activities. The modern American dream, at least for many yet to enter adulthood, the American dream simply consist of being able to live a good, fun, and adventurous life, before entering the daunting task of being grown. In the modern day, things like college and high school and for the most part guaranteed so long as you are willing to work for it, where for many decades things like college were something that only a small number of people ever were able to do. However the largest theme of the American dream, optimism, still for the most part thrives today, “We were teenage dreamin', front seat leanin'” always waiting for the next thing, the next person, the next adventure.

Dillard wrote An American Childhood to show the reader the life of a wealthy American girl in the 1940’s. She wrote of the situations she faced as a child for others who are facing them so they can see that they are not alone. With words she sketches the images of growing up. The hope and thrill and courage. These “stupid kids” (pg 48) regularly have new tricks up their sleeves and games to play. Whether they are playing sports or throwing snowballs at moving cars, the children are up to something. When they are throwing the snowballs, they are surprised when a “car pulled over and stopped,” (pg 46) and when “a man got out of it, running.” (pg 46)

"If I grow up, I'd like to be a bus driver." If -- not when. Sentiments like this echo hauntingly through the pages of Alex Kotlowitz's account of his two-year documentation of the lives of two brothers, Lafeyette and Pharoah Rivers. The boys are afforded little happiness and too much grief, trying to survive from day to day in their appartment at the crime-ridden Henry Horner Homes housing project on the outskirts of Chicago. When Kotlowitz approached the boys' mother, LaJoe, about writing the book about her children, she agreed with him, but felt the need to set him straight. "But you know, there are no chlidren here. They've seen too much to be children," LaJoe told Kotlowitz.

This Boy’s Life shows that boys need reliable adult role models in their lives. Discuss.

A theme is the underlying meaning or essence in a work of literature. In the memoir, Rocket Boys, Homer H. Hickam Jr. masterfully places themes throughout the story to arrange the structure and development of the novel. These themes are carried out through the conversations of the main characters: Sonny, Homer Sr., Elsie, Sherman, Jim, Quentin, O’Dell, and Roy Lee. These main characters are profoundly influenced by the themes of the memoir; these themes shape their lives according to how each character uniquely views them. A few dominant themes in Rocket Boys are curiosity, hard work, achieving your dreams, and the conflicts between an

The theme of growth and maturity is portrayed heavily throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain which centers on Huck Finn, a rambunctious boy whose adventures with a runaway slave build him into a mature young man. The novel is a bildungsroman because it depicts the development and maturing of a young protagonist. In the first part of the story, Huck is seen as very immature. He struggles between doing what he wants and what society would have him do. On the raft, Huck realizes what his own beliefs are because of the people he meets in his journey. Huck?s biggest transformation is through his relationship with Jim. Although Huck isn?t a wonderful person, by the end of the book he

Mark Twain once said, "We are creatures of outside influences -- we originate nothing within. Whenever we take a new line of thought and drift into a new line of belief and action, the impulse is always suggested from the outside." In the memoir This Boy’s Life, by Tobias Wolff Jack shows that he is a creature of outside influence. Some examples of this are that he copies what his friends do, he doesn't try to shape his own life, and he is heavily influenced by the male figures in his life.

The tree-lined country road narrowed into a winding track, and decelerating slightly, Booker carefully navigated the bumpy dirt trail. Horshack’s directions were vague at best, hurriedly whispered down the phone in a panicked voice, and Booker could not help but wonder what horrors the young freshman had experienced at the hands of his elders to leave him so terrified. But now was not the time to reflect on the abhorrent behavior of parental bullying; his focus was on Tom and giving him the peace of mind he so desperately sought. If he could achieve that one goal, his mission would be classified a success, and then he could concentrate on building a friendship with the man he adored.

To start this paper it is best to being with any relevant background information during this period in adolescence. During this point of life I was a brother, a son, a friend, and a student. Both my parents were working; my father was active duty Air Force and my mother worked on base. My brother, my only sibling, had recently left to go to basic training, and we had just moved from Georgia to Massachusetts. Also during these three

Though not much is known about J.D. Salinger’s childhood or family, a plethora of his works include overall themes of family and how different aspects of childhood can affect someone in the future (Wenke). In his novel, Franny and Zooey, this theme is an important part of the story (French). The story begins with Franny Glass’ story, told in third person by an unknown narrator. She’s taking a weekend off from college to meet her boyfriend, Lane Coutell, to eat lunch and spend the weekend with him for his college’s football weekend. At lunch, Franny has a mental breakdown and tells Lane about how she hates all of the fake people she encounters. She meets many poets and they all write about what will interest people and not about what they actually feel. She finds beauty in the things that actually have important value to people rather than something that means nothing. Lane also questions her on the little green book she always carries around. She avoids the question until she can’t and explains she got it in her college library, which she is obviously lying about. She proceeds to go to the bathroom and pass out. When she wakes up, Lane can tell something is wrong, but he no longer questions her. Then it switches to Zooey’s story. It is narrated by the second eldest Glass sibling, Buddy Glass. Zooey and his mother, Bessie, are struggling to get along. She continuously questions him, and she babies Franny and only speaks of Seymour, his brother who committed suicide, and