ipl-logo

Homer's Upbringing In Rocket Boys By Homer H.

503 Words3 Pages

Rocket Boys, by Homer H. Hickam, Jr., is a memoir based on Hickam’s upbringing in Coalwood, West Virginia. Coalwood is a small town centered around one thing: Its coal mining industry. Homer’s dad was the superintendent of the mine and is constantly answering to the workers, who eventually form a union and hold a strike for better pay. Perhaps the second most important thing to Coalwood citizens was high school football. Jim, Homer’s brother, is the center of attention as he is a member of the Coalwood High football team and because of this, he has a future. Throughout the book, Homer has an unstable relationship with his father, who chooses to praise Jim for being successful and talented. Homer, on the other hand, is a child with no future …show more content…

The schools tighten their workloads and put an emphasis on education. Homer, or Sonny as called by his close friends, sees this as inspiration and begins to dream of working with Dr. Wernher Von Braun as a rocket engineer. Without the support from his father, Sonny works on building rockets with his group of friends, including Quentin, the stereotypical nerd. They are unsuccessful for a while but Homer is excited by the prospect of adding to his “body of knowledge.” He was never one for learning in the classroom but, the rocket building intrigued him and grew as a passion. Unfortunately, his father was not happy at all about it and wanted him to work in the mine and to quit causing a scene in Coalwood with his rockets. However, some of the folks in Coalwood were excited at the prospect of Homer and the boys giving a name to Coalwood and creating a legacy that was not just about mining or football. They were glad to help when they went to the science fair to compete with their work on rockets. A main contributor to the “Rocket Boys” was Miss Riley, Homer’s science teacher. She believed in them and supported them on their way to the science

Show More
Related

  • Perseverance In Faulkner's October Sky

    571 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do” (Pele qtd. In Soccerlens). Countless people have done amazing things through perseverance. Sonny was an average boy in a mining town, but he started building rockets and learned a valuable life lesson.

    Read More

  • Who Is The Outsiders: Helpful Or Harmful In The Outsiders?

    538 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the novel entitled The Outsiders, written by S.E. Hinton, fourteen year old Ponyboy Curtis is faced with the deaths of his beloved parents. Now under the care of his oldest brother Darry, Ponyboy and his other brother, Sodapop, are forced to stay out of trouble to avoid being taken away to a boys’ home. However, these brothers are members of a gang referred to as “greasers”, which poses a threat to their good reputation. Throughout the novel, Ponyboy struggles to determine whether or not it would benefit his brothers if he were to be taken away to a home. Though it is difficult for the family to live a somewhat normal life, Ponyboy deserves the opportunity to stay with his brothers.

    Read More

  • A Child Called It By Dave Pelzer

    936 Words  | 4 Pages

    My book is called A Child Called “It” by Dave Pelzer. It has 182 pages, all of which are full of sadness. The genre is an autobiography of Dave Pelzer’s abusive childhood. My book is a terrifying story of a mother who used to be loving, but became abusive because of alcohol. She took out her anger on Dave, her youngest son.

    Read More

  • Essay On The Call Of The Wild By Philip Malloy

    626 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the beginning of the book, Phillip Malloy was passionate to make it into Harrison school’s track team. He thought that being only good at running would automatically make him into the team, but his grades interfered with his chance at the team. He didn’t make it into the track team because he detested Miss. Narwin’s class and felt the book, The Call of the Wild was useless, so he put the most unnecessary response to an answer of his exam.

    Read More

  • Losers Take All Analysis

    1886 Words  | 8 Pages

    The book, “Losers Take All,” written by David Klass, takes place in modern time New Jersey. Jack Logan is a senior boy who attends a sport enthusiastic school. After a tragic incident occurs, Fremont High is left in search of a new principal to replace Gentry. In the middle of summer, Fremont decided to hire their football coach, Mr. Muhldinger, as the new principle. Things take a dramatic turn when the first rule he implements is that all seniors must join a sport.

    Read More

  • Growing Up By Gary Soto Summary

    932 Words  | 4 Pages

    Maturity is the feeling of needing to prove that one is sophisticated and old enough to do certain things. In the short story “Growing Up,” Maria’s family went on a vacation while she stayed at home, but when she heard there was a car crash that happened near where her family was staying, she gets worried and thinks it is all her fault for trying to act mature and angering her father. Society wants to prove how mature they are and they do so by trying to do things that older people do and the symbols, conflict, and metaphors in the text support this theme. First and foremost, in “Growing Up,” Gary Soto’s theme is how society acts older than they are and that they just want to prove they are mature. Maria wants to stay home instead of going

    Read More

  • Overcoming Obstacles In Sonny Hickam's October Sky

    713 Words  | 3 Pages

    October Sky is a true story based on the life of Homer “Sonny” Hickam Jr. It describes how he is inspired to build rockets when he sees Sputnik, at age 14. Throughout the book, Sonny has to overcome many obstacles to achieve his dream of sending rockets into space. The reason he was able to overcome these obstacles was due to his determination to work, willingness to learn, and his faith in his friends. Because of these three things, Sonny and the other Rocket Boys were able to go to college, escape Coalwood, and get jobs in which they could pursue their dreams.

    Read More

  • Night Hoops Book Report

    1265 Words  | 6 Pages

    I read the book Night Hoops, by: Carl Deuker. This book is about a boy named Nick that is dealing with some problems that are more than just basketball. He meets a boy names Trent Dawson who he was not too fond of at first, Trent is going through a lot more than Nick is in his home life, so Nick takes Trent under his wing to help keep him out of trouble. But at first Trent seems to resist and says he doesn’t need help. He ends up running out every night with his brother to get into some trouble.

    Read More

  • How Did The Odyssey Influence Greek Culture

    778 Words  | 4 Pages

    Greece was in a steady period of decline before Homer wrote his poems; the number of literate people was waning, and shortly after the creation of his Epics, Greece was flourishing yet again. This was because influenced education. This is partially because he helped create/spread certain ideas about Greece's past, and introduced the peer review system to boost Greece education at the time. Also, according to Plato himself, without Homer Greek education would be almost non-existent. Overall, Homer changed Greece's education, but he also changed how Greek citizens live their lives.

    Read More

  • Summer By David Updike Analysis

    550 Words  | 3 Pages

    In David Updike’s “Summer”, Homer is overcome with an innocence yet fixated crush on Sandra. The adolescents spend their school-free summer at Sandra and Fred’s family lake house. This vacation, according to Homer, proves to be different. Homer, Fred and Sandra’s transition to adulthood is much like the change from summer to fall they are experiencing. If Homer could get out of his own head, then he could get the girl and summer of his dreams.

    Read More

  • The Boys Of Dunbar Essay

    1067 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Boys of Dunbar written by Alejandro Danois is a compelling narrative about an inner-city Baltimore high school basketball team who became a national powerhouse from 1981-1983. This is “A story of love, hope, and basketball”. Throughout this essay, The Boys of Dunbar will be explained, reviewed and critiqued. The two Dunbar teams from 1981-1983 are regarded as some of the best high school basketball teams that were ever assembled and many of the players on these teams are thought of as some of the most talented basketball players to ever come from Baltimore.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Homer Hickam's October Sky

    941 Words  | 4 Pages

    at first sees Sonny as an embarrassment and was sure he was going to fail. However, when he sees Sonny’s determination to build rockets, he decides to support him. “‘No way,’ he said. ‘And that’s final.’ The tubing showed up on the back porch, later leaning against a far corner, along with some bar stock as well.

    Read More

  • Dubious Battle Jim Nolan Character Analysis

    739 Words  | 3 Pages

    By looking at specific moments throughout the novel, we can see how Jim changed from a man whose life was unfulfilling, to a man whose life comprised of leadership and confidence. As shown in his interview with Harry Nilson, Jim and his family had a haunted past. “My old

    Read More

  • Book Report On Hatchet By Gary Paulsen

    1018 Words  | 5 Pages

    Gary Paulsen 's Hatchet is a modern classic tale of a stranded boy 's struggle for survival in the wilderness. The book is based on a 13-year-old who is accustomed to big-city life and comfort when he finds himself alone in a remote Canadian forest with no tools but a hatchet his mother gave him. Brian Robeson, a thirteen-year-old boy from New York City, is the only passenger on a small plane headed toward the oil fields of Canada. Brian is on his way to spend the summer with his father, and he 's feeling totally bummed about his parents ' recent divorce. he doesn 't have much time to dwell on his unhappy family situation, though, because the pilot the only other person on the plane suddenly suffers a heart attack and dies.

    Read More

  • New Historicism And Cultural Criticism

    822 Words  | 4 Pages

    The two critical theories studied this week, new historicism and cultural criticism, share many of the same concepts. Both theories are under the belief that history and culture are complex and that there is no way for us to fully understand these subjects because we are influenced by our subjective beliefs. Also, both theories believe that people are restricted by the limits society sets, and that people and these limits cause friction and struggle. Furthermore, both of these theories share from some of the same influences such as from the French philosopher Michel Foucault. New historicist believe that the writing of history is merely an interpretation, not an absolute fact, other than the big facts we know such as who was president at the time or who won a certain battle.

    Read More

More about Homer's Upbringing In Rocket Boys By Homer H.

Open Document