Rocket Boys Character Analysis

Sonny understands this notion and yearns to enlist in the Navy; he was ready to lie about his age. He thought, “if I say I’m old enough, they’ll believe me”, this signifies how eager Sonny was to have the understanding and acceptance that his older brother had. After Sonny returned from the Navy, the narrator still imaged him as someone who “carried himself, loose and dreamlike all the time”. He thought that Sonny had lost all prospects of reality and unfortunately his thoughts came out to be true. The narrators’ time spent in the military allowed him to make that judgment, therefore the setting of the military service established such an identity for the narrator, which made him successful in life and allowed him to help others as well. Also Sonny wanted to enlist in the army so it would take him away from the “killing streets” of Harlem and give him the opportunity to get a college education on the GI Bill.

I believe that everyone, no matter how big or small, also has challenges and obstacles which test them. Although the difficulty and frequency of these setbacks are not set in stone, everyone has to face these challenges to move on in life. Personally, one of the greatest challenges for me is to become what I want to be. In order to reach my goal I must finish university at a high standard, then move onto medical school to finish my education. Although, my challenges do not align with Homer’s, one bridge that can connect us, is the fact that our fathers are extremely demanding. Now, John Hickam wants Homer to work in the coal mine instead of Homer’s optimistic view of pursuing rocketry. This contradicts my father’s belief, which is of me being optimistic and becoming something which involves tons of hard work. This places a great deal of pressure on me in my studies. My method of achieving this will be, of course, working hard and such. However, it also plays a big part in me actually becoming what I want to be and not just what other people want. With me being on the same page as my father, I know what I am going to do in my life and will continue to pursue it until I reach my

Eventually the narrator and invites him to live his family once he is released from prison and Sonny reluctantly agrees to live there until he finishes college. This is a big turning point in the narrator’s character because he had finally began to wonder “ about the life that Sonny had lived” (Baldwin 243) and started making his efforts to take care of his little brother like he once promised his mother.

Parenting played a big role in shaping the two boys lives. Having a parental mentor is important because they assist and guide children to take the right decisions about their lives. The author had his two parents at the beginning of his life. Also, the author’s parents, especially his mother, tried to raise him in an effective way wanting him to know the right from wrong at an early age. “No mommy loves you, like I love you, she just wants you to do the right thing” (Moore 11). This quote was a live example of the author’s life with his parents. It reflected the different ways his parents used to teach him “the right thing.” Though his mother was upset from his action toward his sister, his father

“Big Boy,” written by Jesse Hill Ford, is a short story about Hake, the father of Big Boy, Mrs. Morris, “Big Boy’s” mother, and Lawyer Hedgepath. Hedgepath is from a wealthy part of town and comes to visit the Morris’s in the “biggest car ever made” (Ford 39). Hake is frightened at first but then proud to be associated with Hedgepath. Hedgepath’s presence influences Hake’s decision to allow “Big Boy” to play football. Hedgepath entices “Big Boy” to move to the city with hopes of going to a big college and becoming a part of a higher class. Hake allows “Big Boy” to play football because Hake is frustrated with his social status and influenced by a wealthy man.

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.

When asked by Sonny if they could take a detour before being dropped off by the cab driver, the narrator agreed and described the environment with a disgusting taste, "So we drove along, between the green of the park and the stony, lifeless elegance of hotels and apartment buildings, toward the vivid, killing streets of our childhood." (page 52) This would show the narrator's thoughts on Harlem being a negative environment and thinking nothing good can come from running these streets. He also called it a "trap" (page 2 p6), to further show the dead end reality they lived in. Having escaped the "trap", graduating college, becoming an algebra teacher, and having a family, the narrator has a concerning responsible-like personality. Even though they moved, he still thinks his location would have negative effects on Sonny again. "The moment Sonny and I started into the house I had the feeling that I was simply bringing him back into the danger he had almost died trying to escape." (page 53 p1) This would further show his concerning responsible-like personality. Having been given the responsibility to watch over his younger brother Sonny from the talk with his mother (who passed away), he feels as though the burden of Sonny succeeding and even living rest on his hands. Throughout the story, he

In Hillbilly Elegy, J.D. Vance talks about his rise from the poor, working class Hillbillies of the Rust Belt to the more affluent middle class. In doing so, he talks about the work needed to move up the economic ladder (to a different social class), expressing that it is always possible but very difficult. Vance talks about the struggles he faced within his family and his community, as well as how he overcame them. Vance’s reason to write this book was because he accomplished something ordinary, which does not happen to most children that grow up like him.

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.

The story begins by telling the readers how Sonny’s brother learned of him being in jail from a newspaper article (29), one might automatically infer that their relationship isn’t so good. It makes you wonder how much influence Sonny’s brother had when it came to how his life ended up. At one point in the beginning of the story his brother even asks himself if he had anything to do with it (33), as if to help the readers with the already occurring thought that maybe he could have helped his brother, maybe he could have been there and done more. Later on, he talks about the promise he made to his mother to take care of his brother, to lift him up and not let him fall (42). He had a responsibility to his little brother and he ultimately let him down, he let him fall and wasn’t around to help him back up when he needed it the most.

As well as in the short story Sonny’s Blues, the main character, Sonny, is being criticized by his brother. Since the very beginning, their mother told the oldest one, ‘’ you got to hold on to your brother ’’ and that’s what he wanted to do, but Sonny took a different path than he did. Sonny was the kind of guy that was heroin-addicted and a jazz musician, but his older brother didn’t see all these sides of him. We discover all these sides by the use of flashback of the author throughout the major parts of the story. The author didn’t want us to see Sonny like his older brother was seeing him, he wanted us to see him as a poor, un-accepted guy that needed to be listened by his peers. The brother didn’t accept the journey that Sonny had taken, but if he would of saw the actual Sonny, and stop hiding in the darkness, he would of accepted him faster and understand that Sonny only wanted to show that he could do good things not only drugs. In the middle of the story, there is a flashback were we learn that actually Sonny is more experienced about life than his older brother, because Sonny was in drugs and was really affected by Harlem( the city they stayed in when they were younger). The brother had a pretty easy life; he became a teacher and had a little family. This demonstrates that we need support from our peers, to be able to continue without taking bad choices.

something for Sonny it was because his mother had wanted him to, not because he

Furthermore, Sonny's individualism is a direct result of his unhappiness with conventional life. As a young man, Sonny is unable to get along with his father. He hates his home and school. His creative interest leads him to become isolated from his brother, who feels threatened by "his jazz-oriented life style and his continued attraction to Greenwich Village" (Albert 179). By the beginning of the story, Sonny has rejected his family and his home, constructing a new life as a musician and drug peddler in a new location foreign to the narrator.

As a citizen of the wonderful city of Laurel, I believe it is my duty to suggest different ideas to keep this city and its people as bright as possible. That is the reason why I believe that we should have a ‘Laurel Reads’ program. Reading is something every person needs and this program would ensure that the people of this city get what they need. Having a book for the city to read can make the entire community closer.

The purpose of the story Sonny’s Blues, in relation to the public image of young Black men.