October Sky Analysis

The narrator experienced a lot of problems throughout his life but managed to emerge victoriously from most of them. Even with this, he needs to support Sonny because this was his mother's dying wish. "The death of the narrator's daughter, Sonny's failure to fit in with his own family, a stint in the navy all serve to alienate the brothers, even after their mother made the narrator promise to keep an eye on young Sonny" (Smith 22). The fact that they were born in a harsh environment, society's views in regard to their racial background, and the fact that they experienced a lot of hardships during their lives all had a severe effect on the personalities of each of the brothers.

In my opinion the narrator, is a very selfish man, he only cares about his feelings and not those around him. The narrator broke his promise to his mother to take care of Sonny, “Two days later I was married, and then I was gone. And I had a lot of things on my mind and I pretty well forgot my promise to Mama until I got shipped home on a special furlough for her funeral” (Baldwin). The narrator’s mother wanted the boys to be close, because they will only

The narrator says that he “couldn’t believe it: but what I mean by that is I couldn’t find any room for it anywhere inside me. I had kept it outside me for a long time. I hadn’t wanted to know” (Baldwin600). The narrator and Sonny haven’t spoken much since the death of their mother. The narrator wanted Sonny to stay in school and finish, and Sonny wanted to drop out and join the army or the navy, and then chase his dream of being a jazz piano player. Sonny agreed to stay in school at first, but after a while, he stopped going and eventually ran away and joined the army. After not hearing from Sonny in years, the narrator heard from him out of nowhere when he was deployed in Greece. Both Sonny and the narrator were living in New York years after the war was over. They would meet sometimes, but it would always result in a fight, and eventually the narrator and Sonny stopped speaking. Before their mother died, she told the narrator to look after his brother. She said “it ain’t only the bad ones, nor yet the dumb ones that gets sucked under” (Baldwin607). So when Sonny got arrested for heroin, the narrator felt some guilt and that it was sort of his fault, but at the same time, he felt that he wanted nothing to do with him and his troubles. The narators confusion on the matter was put to a rest when he ran into one of Sonny’s friends right after the arrest, and his friend made it clear that as soon as Sonny got out he would go

The middle section of the story is a flashback. The narrator remembers his last talk with his mother, in which she made him promise to “be there” for Sonny. Home on

My favorite character in Rocket Boys is Sonny’s father, Homer Hickman. This may seem like an odd choice, given that Sonny’s father is not always kind to Sonny, and often hinders him. Other times, however, he helps Sonny greatly. For example, in the beginning of the story, he pours Sonny’s chemicals down the creek and forbids Sonny from launching rockets on company property. Afterwards, he shows Sonny an area where he is allowed to launch rockets, the place that becomes Cape Coalwood. Everything Sonny’s father does often contradicts something done or said earlier in the book, which seems at first to be very confusing.

Sonny’s ability to persevere through Mr. Bykovski's death not only kept him from giving up on rocketry and abandoning his passion, but it also taught him that his rockets were an essential part of his life, and that he had to continue to work on them for the sake of himself and all of his friends and family. It also taught him that his close friends and family like Miss Riley contribute to his perseverance by supporting him and by teaching him the importance of his perseverance to himself and the people around him. Daisy Mae was Sonny’s cat who he would tali to and she would provide him with comfort. When Daisy Mae was run over a car on purpose, Sonny was furious and said “Who was it?” with fury in his eyes, Sonny then said

When someone reads the memoir, October Sky, by Homer Hickam, they might get a quality idea of Homer Hickam's life. If someone were to watch the film, October Sky, by Lewis Colick, they might get a different idea of the life of Homer Hickam. The story of October Sky follows the life of a boy named Homer Hickam, who goes by Sonny. Sonny lives in a small mining town in the 50’s. Sonny and his friends decide to build a rocket, thanks to the inspiration of “Sputnik” a rocket released by the USA.

Rudy also starts to see how the smart kids are acting in school and so he acts, sleeps, and studies like them. Ruddy and his family are deciding on what school he should go. Ruddys family are in some economic problems. Rudy's dad works every day, and on weekends to get extra money so they could survive. But with this because the dad

The narrator always wanted the best for his younger brother Sonny. Sonny from the beginning of the story has a hard history of using drugs, ending up in jail, and not finishing school. Once both of their parents had passed, the

The novel and the film October Sky share a common big idea about community. Both demonstrate the idea that support from the people around you will help you succeed. Help from the community appears in similar ways in each of them. When Roy Lee, O’Dell, and Sherman joined Sonny and Quentin in building rockets, it provided Sonny with validation, showing him that it wasn’t a waste of time to build rockets if people were willing to get involved. Aside from validation, the BCMA was a community in itself, learning with and from each other. Miss Riley was another form of support in suggesting that the Rocket Boys enter the science fair. She also provided validation for the boys, making them realize that others believed in their goal and thought it

Homer applied, got the job and was a coal miner. For weeks all he did was get up at the crack of dawn and not come home until late at night. For once, Homer’s father was proud of Homer, and showing it. Homer’s mother, Elsie Hickam, had shown she believed in Homer, but until Homer got a chance to go to the science fair, she did not show it. She stayed out of Homer and his dad’s fights, which is almost as bad as following John blindly. But, when Homer needed her most, she was there, fought John and had John help Homer. “Homer once said you loved the mine more than your own family. I stood up for you because I didnt want to believe it. Homer has gotten a lot of help from the people in this town. They’ve helped him build his rockets. They’ve watched him fly ’em. But not you. You never showed up, not even once.” Now, Homer’s brother, Jim Hickam, on the other hand had still followed their dad but he was closer to helping and believing in Homer than their dad was. Homer’s brother had told everyone about the rocket launch and told them all to come and see it without Homer’s consent or knowledge of everyone showing up. Originally, Jim wanted to embarrass Homer in front of everyone, but it backfired and worked well for Homer in the end. Although Family doesn’t show it much, they still do love you, they may disagree with your beliefs, and your dreams, but they should still help and support you, even if they do not have the money to help.

One part that caught my attention the most was the ending of the space program by newly elected President Donner. Space is a recurring theme, introduced near the beginning of the book when Lauren talks to her grandmother about the visible stars in the sky, discussing how city pollution blocked out the view of the stars in the past. This is a symbolization of how modernization and the rise of powerful corporate companies envelopes people in the haze of normalcy and safety, depriving them of the drive to change. This introduces a concept where people are blinded by external sources from reaching the stars, where space and the stars represent truth, ambition, and curiosity. As mentioned before, the presidential command to cut all involvement of funding space programs marks the abandonment of all these values.

(Hickam Jr. 334) In Rocket Boys, there are numerous members of the BCMA (Big Creek Missile Agency), all with varying personalities and traits they bring to the rocket club. Sonny (Homer), the protagonist of the memoir is a teenager trying not to stumble through high school. He acts like an adolescent boy, chasing girls, getting into fights, and often overlooking his appearance. The passage I chose shows his naivety, and his young innocence, through attitude and language, conveyed by the author to depict a teenager.

We are given a small window into the life of Sonny, which

His daughter, Grace, passes away unexpectedly from polio, so he decided that enough was enough and to write Sonny. This was the beginning of many letters back and forth while Sonny is still in jail. Upon his release he goes to live with the narrator and his now smaller family. It is on the first dinner where the brothers and family are together that we flashback to many events of the narrators past that help give valuable background information as to why they live the very different lives that they do. In this flashback we learn that Sonny and his father never got along because of how alike they were.