Summary Of Homer H. Hickman's 'Rocket Boys'

McDowell county has the lowest median household income of $22,000, and the highest number of teen births. Rocket Boys by Homer H. Hickman Jr., The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, and 50 Years Into the War on Poverty, Hardship Hits Back by Trip Gabriel are memoirs and articles describing life in McDowell County throughout half a century. Rocket Boys takes place in the 1950s and 1960s in Coalwood when the coal is getting harder to mine and people are losing jobs and leaving the company towns. The Glass Castle takes place a few decades later, during the 1970s and 1980s in Welch, when most mines have shut down and many people are unemployed. The last article, 50 Years Into the War on Poverty, Hardship Hits Back, describes life in McDowell County

When Jeannette explains to Rex Walls what Erma did to Brian, he starts to shake and cover his ears and pretend like he couldn’t hear them. After Lori and Jeannette talk, Jeannette thinks, “You’d be weird, too, if Erma was your mom... it would explain a lot… Why he drank so much and why he got so angry.” Rex Walls tried to escape from Welch and its people for a better future, but in the end couldn’t escape from his problems because he focused too much on his past and never gave the future his complete attention. When the mines started to shut down, many people turned to alcohol and drugs to keep their minds off of their problems in life. Erma also turned to alcohol and drugs to forget her past, and abused Rex Walls both mentally, physically, and sexually, eventually leading Rex Walls down the same path with alcohol and drugs which made him lose all hope. Jeannette knows that both of her parents have no ambition to leave Welch for a better life, so she has to act independently to get out of Welch. Children have to not only work to not become like their parents, but also to be independent from them and learn to help themselves to leave McDowell