The Rocket Boys Character Analysis

The novel Rocket Boys explores the passions and perils of living in a coal mining community. Through these passions and perils conflict between individual and society arises, as Sonny has victimized himself within society by his own narcissistic attributes. Within the story Rocket Boys, Sonny must balance his desires and the ambitions of the group. Sonny’s aspirations are seen plain in the early chapters, he wants to study rockets, pursue engineering, and work for NASA. At the start, it appears his interests are opposed by the overall opinion of the community, as they regarded Sonny as either girlish, arrogant, or naive when they were made aware of his plans.His high school peers mock and threaten him, as shown when the football team was angered by the presence of Sonny and Quinten at the team’s trophy case, “”Let’s murder these sisters,” a tackle snarled.” (page 79) Shows how lowly they view the BCMA by their

As Sonny would eventually achieve his dreams (of winning the science fair, working for NASA, etc.), he was only granted those chances of opportunity by the encouragement and generosity of the citizens of Coalwood. Sonny soon gains a large division of support, as the group is made up of adults and friends that understand and appreciate Sonny’s ambitions. Such assistance can be seen with characters such as Mr. Bykovski, as he played in major role in the construction of the BCMA’s rockets. ““You want to thank me.” He nodded toward the box. “Make these fly. Show your dad what you and I did together.” My father had clearly, in no uncertain terms, told me to stop building rockets. The BCMA was now an outlaw organization.”

Rocket Boys shows that success is not achieved through the individual, but by the intentions of the group. That in order for one to properly function within society, they must learn to accept the