Homer Hickam's Character In The Film October Sky

October sky essay

Recently in class we have been studying October sky set in a town called Coalwood, West Virginia in the 1950’s and at the end of the rock and roll era. Singers such as Elvis Presley and Eddie Cochran were famous at the time and were featured in this movie. Coalwood is a very small town in which the main character called Homer Hickam lives, where almost every boy apart from a select few of scholarship winners escape the main occupation of mining until they are unfit to work. Homer is a young high school student who is inspired by his favourite scientist Dr. Van Braun and the Russian artificial satellite Sputnik to build his very own rocket. However, he has many problems to face such as his father’s disapproval, the lack of

resources and when his rocket gets stolen during one of the biggest life changing moments in his life.
October Skies has a strong storyline and is very basic and easy to follow fluently. It has many conflicts which are mostly between Homer and his father John Hickam the boss of the company Olga that owns Coalwood. There are many sad moments at the end of the film but there are enough happy moments to counteract them. It really tells the story of how Homer Hickam strove so hard to get where he is now. A retired NASA engineer and Vietnam veteran.
The sequence in which the plot was formed is very well formed and it works up like building blocks to get to the point whilst advancing further as the story goes on to show all the stages of how, when and where things happened to get to the end. In October of 1957 in Homer Hickams’ small hometown Coalwood, West Virginia. The main job occupation of this town is mining. After Homers attempt to get out of the town during a football teams try-outs he gives up and tries to find another way to get a scholarship and out of the mining profession his father wants homer and his brother Jim to follow in. After the passage of sputnik over Coalwood, it inspires him to build a rocket. No matter how little Homer knew about rockets and how little of a mathematician he was he set out on prototype 1. This resulted in the blowing up his mother’s fence and almost he didn’t matter to homer how little of his friends who are friend Roy Lee and Odell agreed with asking Quentin the School genius and geek for some help and advice. The boys also ask for Mr. Dubonee’s assistance and he suggests to them a special but very expensive type of steel. The boys make a plan and head to the old railway to scrap the steel for a little extra cash. One of their first attempts as a group did not exactly go to plan and the rocket flew into the Coalwood mines ground almost killing a few of the miners. His dad brands him a thief and stops him from launching any rockets anywhere near Coalwood mine. The boys take up to cape Coalwood and make it their launch base which is 8 miles from the boy’s homes. Homer's dad is asked for some materials for the launching shack at first he blankly refuses and then says they can have the old material but in a very small amount. The four boys work on different types of fuel and different shapes and models of steel. The boys launch the AUK1 which fires up not the air with the whole town watching, Homer is later interviewed by the press. The boys are arrested under the suspicion of starting a fire juts off of cape Coalwood and are told to stop setting off rockets or go to prison.
The main characters in this film were Homer Hickam, his father John Hickam, his Mother Elsie Hickam, Homers friends O’Dell, Quentin and Roy Lee and the boy’s teacher Miss Riley.

My personal favourite character in this movie is probably Elsie Hickam as she supports her son no matter the circumstances and will not be brought down by the control over which Homers father sets upon the family. She was even willing to divorce John if he wouldn’t help Homer and ask his workers to remake the model that had been stolen at the Indianapolis science fair. My most disliked character in this movie was by far John Hickam. He had more love for Jim Hickam and his mine than he did for anything else in this world. He was very selfish and could have given for time and effort towards his son's findings and researches that gave him the job of a NASA engineer. If you’re not proud of your son for anything he does I find that to be rather negligent. Quentin is one of the most important characters in the build-up he was a geeky genius with the stereotypical features. Such as his large rimmed and think lensed glasses, his larger teeth, his very smart pristine and clothing his skin condition which was in an imperfect spotty condition and the ability to remember things like the back of his hand. Without him knowing the mathematics and science he knows for having so little it is amazing and his contribution towards the last rocket named Miss Riley was utterly

amazing.
This film was set in a small town called Coalwood in west Virginia with its main occupation being mining and it’s a place where if you are born there you live there until the day you die as all of your resources and work was already stationed there the boys background was where any adult could beat their children and sometimes gave them very little hope and ambition towards their dreams which I find to be wrong when it is the teachers who seem to be the only ones put so much effort when the parents put in so little to help children get out of Coalwood that the adults were always respected more in .This film was very realistic and it gave you a real insight into how life was in the 1950’s.

The main themes of this film were personal and social issues between the family and friends where the family conflicted over and over again because it seemed the Hickam had so much disrespect towards each other when what was needed was love and support to get everyone through tough times .One of the other very important themes was never giving up on your dreams which were the main focus of this movie which had been based on true facts and the story of Homer Hickam and his friends .If it wasn’t for hope an ambition we would never have even had this film made because without dreams, hope and ambition no one would achieve anything so it is so very important to ensure everyone can have their time to be whatever they want.
Overall this film was definitely worth watching and should be used at least once for each childrens media study topic.It made me realise that my parents, friends and family and all really supportive and really wish for me to fulfil my dreams no matter what people think about me or my work.My personal opinion over this film is that if it was used more regularly and being astrue of a story s it seems it could be used to support many of those who need a small boost for their courage and self pride.I would definitely watch this many times over again if I had the oopoutruniy.