When expectations of others are limited, personal dreams still can be achieved. The personal dreams one has in the end offers a greater feeling of accomplishment than following expectations of others. October Sky is based on a true story where a small town boy from a coal mining town in West Virginia, Homer Hickman, is inspired by the Russian satellite Sputnik. He dreams about building rockets. People in his town fail to support Homer, including his father and older brother. Homer changes from a kid without an identity into a successful man because of his success of a rocket engineer. Most young boys in Coalwood have the expectation growing up and becoming a coal miner, or being a great football player. Homer is not good at football like his …show more content…
brother Jim, but he wants to find a way to go to college and not have to work in the coal mine. Homer shows how much he hates coal mining by the doctor stating, ‘the men in this town go in that pit and hold hands with death every day ,’(Hickman p.290). His brother would get out of Coalwood from his football skills and go to college, but for Homer it would be harder. Homer not being an athlete would not let his town define him. "When I wasn't outside playing, I spent hours happily reading." (Hickman p. 12) When he gets older he realizes that he does not want to live in the mining town for the rest of his life. Homer turns to rocket building when he realizes that playing football is not for him and it is not what was going to help him to leave Coalwood.
Homer’s fascination in rockets begins when he witnesses Sputnik flying through the sky. The newspaper that year had articles about Sputnik and how the Americans were trying to catch up the Russians. This excites Homer because ‘It was as if the science fiction I had read all my life were coming true,’ (p.35 Hickman) Homer states, ‘only coal mines were more important in Coalwood then high school football. Sputnik, and anything else would be a distant third,’ (p. Hickman 232). Homer took many necessary steps along the way such as making mistakes and befriending new people. One mistake that Homer makes along the way is blowing up his mother, Elsie Hickman’s, fence. After breaking the fence his neighborhood did not like him building rockets, ‘I didn’t know my hometown was at war with itself over its children and my parents were locked in a in a kind of bloodless combat over how my brother and I would live our lives,’ (Hickman pg. 1). Another mistake that Homer makes is shooting the rocket toward the mine, making his father very angry. In order to excel in rocket building, Homer befriends Quintin, a student who knows everything about rockets and by reading a book given to him by his teacher. Homer realizes that building rockets will help him get out of …show more content…
Coalwood. Homer knew that the only way out of Coalwood has a chance of a college scholarship, and he realizes that by making it to the National Science Fair, he would have a good chance of getting one.
Homer begins studying rockets and focusing on learning about them. Homer’s mother helps Homer realize that if he works hard enough toward that goal of becoming a rocket engineer he could do it. His father thinks he should be a coal miner. Homer states, ‘dad I may not be the best, but I believe that I got in me to be somebody in this world, (Hickman p.54). At one point, Homer decides not to build rockets for the science fair, but his teacher says, “‘if you stop working on your rockets now, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life,’” (p. 296 Hickman). This keeps Homer motivated and helps him build the rocket and ultimately help him leave
Coalwood. Homer applies the principle follow your heart, by realizing that he did not want to remain in the small town of Coalwood, he wanted to explore. When Sputnik flies over Coalwood, Homer is fascinated and realizes that this is what he wants to do. He wants to explore space, and he wants to build rockets. He realizes that below ground, in the mines is not the place for him. He wanted to go beyond everyone else. Homer knows that by making it to the National Science Fair, he would have a good chance of getting out. Homer began studying rockets and focusing on learning about them. He learns that he could become a rocket scientist if he worked hard enough toward that goal, and that was what he sets his mind on doing. Sonny’s advice to people, was that hard work and determination helps you achieve your dreams. This is great advice because anything you put your mind to you can do it. Many of people use an excuse of where they are from to determine their future, but Homer decided that the perception of Coalwood would not hold back in his career. No one expected him to be able to become a rocket engineer including his father. It is symbolic that his dad was the one who helps him launch the rocket after not supporting him in the beginning.
1. The Hickam family can be described through several different concepts based on the family systems approach. The first is through boundaries. Boundaries are defined as open or closed a system is (lecture). These boundaries in the system can be within the family itself or can occur between various systems as well (textbook). Boundaries are unhealthy when the boundary is extremely closed or extremely open (lecture). Boundaries seen in the movie October Sky were the Hickam family as a family system, but within the family, boundaries were between the parents and the kids, Homer and his father and Homer’s mom with Homer’s dad. The Hickam family also had boundaries with Miss Riley, the coal mine, Coalwood, college, and rocket science.
High school sports can have a tremendous effect on not only those who participate but the members of the community in which they participate. These effects can be positive, but they can also be negative. In the book Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger shows that they are often negative in communities where high school sports “keep the town alive” due to the social pressure. In this way, Friday Night Lights gives insight into the effects of high school football being the backbone of a community, revealing that the fate of the individual football players are inadvertently determined by the actions of the townspeople.
In the novel, October Sky by Homer Hickam, Sonny’s parents have two different views on what Sonny should be when he is older, his dad, Homer Hickam Sr., says a coal miner, but his mom, Elsie Hickam, says he can be anything he wants. Although Sonny’s dad wants him to be a coal miner, Sonny wants to build rockets and him mom understands that, so therefore his mom understands Sonny better than his father. Sonny lives in a coal mining town and most men or boys who live in the town are or are going to become coal miners. It is a tradition in their society. If their father is a coal miner, the boys in the family become coal miners. But, Sonny doesn’t want to become a coal miner. Sputnik inspired him to build rockets. His mother believes that Sonny should be able to be whatever he wants, no matter what his father does.
In the NonFiction book Every Falling Star by Sungju Lee and Susan McClelland, a true story of a north korean boy named SungJu whose father was disgraced by the army forcing them to move from a nice city to a poor town where you have to fight for food. Losing both parents due to them leaving to find work or food and never coming back. He was forced at just 12 to live on the streets and fend for himself. In order to survive, Sungju forms a gang with his close new friends and lives by fighting, thieving, begging, performing, and traveling around getting arrested and overcoming many obstacles just to simply survive the rough streets of their new home, making new friends and enemies along the away. While they slowly discover the truth about
In the novel Under a Cruel Star, written by Heda Margolius Kovaly, a Jewish woman that lived in Prague, Czechoslovakia during Nazi and Soviet rule of her country, the author tells about her life of always living under terrible circumstances. Whether it was from being sent to the ghettos or Nazi concentration camps at a young age, or living under fear of terror during the Soviet Communist rule of Prague, she seems to always look for the glimmer of hope in all her experiences. “The little bird, the third force, kept me alive to tell the story” (5). In this quote, this “little bird” that she references is the slight flicker of freedom that she sees at the end of every bad thing she is faced with. This book reminds people that the history of human’s
The book, “The Light in the Forest” is a book written by Conrad Richter. This book is about a young man named True Son. He was a young white boy that was captured by Indians. True Son was only four years old when he was captured, and eventually adopted as one of their own. True Son, at the time was way too young to fully understand what was going on. All’s True Son knew was that he had a family, an Indian family that loved him very much. To True Son, he was pure indian.
In Craig Lesley’s novel The Sky Fisherman, he illustrates the full desire of direction and the constant flow of life. A boy experiences a chain of life changing series of events that cause him to mature faster than a boy should. Death is an obstacle that can break down any man, a crucial role in the circle of life. It’s something that builds up your past and no direction for your future. No matter how hard life got, Culver fought through the pain and came out as a different person. Physical pain gives experience, emotional pain makes men.
In Shirley Jackson’s short story The Lottery, the people of a small American town struggle to hold onto a gruesome tradition, one which has greatly affected the moral values of the society. In writing this story, Jackson is commenting on tradition; how, when taken to extremes, it can hinder society. THis horrible tradition of stoning people to death is a normal event from the perspective of the townspeople; one which is practised by the whole town. Early on in the story, the narrator states that the lottery “was conducted - as were the square dances, the teen club, the Halloween program - by Mr. Summer…” (Jackson 1). As evidenced by this quote, the lottery was just another event comparable to other events that society deems normal. In other words:
knowledge on the topic because Homer Hickam shared more intimate facts about his life and how
As members of a first-world nation, we are disrespectfully quick to point out the flaws and downfalls of impecunious societies and use the societies like mere scenery, even though we walk together on this earth. In “Sun and Shadow," Ray Bradbury manipulates Ricardo to convey to the reader the impertinence from outsiders and the responses from Ricardo and his fellow townspeople. A photographer is encountered doing a photo shoot on Ricardo’s property, and Ricardo becomes unhappy with his presence and angrily tells him to leave. After Ricardo’s increasingly sharp comments and attitudes augment, the photographer becomes satirical and facetious, poking fun at the lifestyle in which Ricardo lives. The short-tempered townsman reveals his defiance through actions projected towards the photographer. Through the use of characterization, Bradbury defines the fine societal line between Ricardo, the penurious dweller of the village, the inconsiderate photographer, and the sympathetic townspeople.
It begins with Homer Sr. being embarrassed of his son and has no confidence in him whatsoever. “Sonny build a rocket? He doesn’t even know how to put the sprocket chain back on his bike when it slips off.” (pg. 40). This quote shows that Homer Sr. has no confidence in Homer that he can build rockets. This is an example of how Homer Sr. is condescending towards Homer and breaks his confidence. Homer Sr. loved Jim more than he did Homer. “I knew dad thought about Jim all the time, was telling people what a great football player he was, and how he was going to tear up the the world in football when he went to college.” This quote demonstrates that Homer knows his dad is loves Jim more than he does Homer. Homer Sr. talks about how proud he is of Jim and how he is a stellar football player but he never acknowledges Jim for his impressive rocket achievements. Homer Sr. believes that Homer should follow in his footsteps and work with the coal mine. “Mining’s in your blood, little man,” he shrugged. “I guess you’ll figure that out, sooner or later.” “I still want to work for Dr. von Braun.” He nodded. “We’ll see.” (pg. 185) Homer Sr. wanted Homer to follow the family business and join the mining business. However, Homer did not want to go this route, instead he wanting to pursue the rocket industry and work with Dr. Von Braun. As the novel was coming to an end, Homer Sr. became more supportive of Homer. He
What is madness? Is madness a brain disorder or a chemical imbalance? On the other hand, is it an expressed behavior that is far different from what society would believe is "normal"? Lawrence Durrell addresses these questions when he explores society's response to madness in his short story pair "Zero and Asylum in the Snow," which resembles the nearly incoherent ramblings of a madman. In these stories, Durrell portrays how sane, or lucid, people cannot grasp and understand the concept of madness. This inability to understand madness leads society to fear behavior that is different from "normal," and subsequently, this fear dictates how they deal with it. These responses include putting a name to what they fear and locking it up in an effort to control it. Underlying all, however, Durrell repeatedly raises the question: who should define what is mad?
William Faulkner’s “Dry September”, and “That Evening Sun” have to very obvious things in common; they leave many unanswered questions. There is no real ending to either story, and the reader is left to imagine what happens in the end of each story.
In architecture, contrast is used to create a dramatic entrance. The observer moves from a small, dimly lit space to a grand room full of light where they feel the impact of the room because of its contrast with the previous one. Similarly, authors, the architects of a book’s plot, use contrast to emphasize a character’s struggles and triumphs. In both The Space Between Us by Thirty Umrigar and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, the authors use the contrast between two lives to emphasize the power of money, education, and gender within Afghan and Indian society.
Knows remembers believes a corridor in a big long garbled cold echoing building of dark red brick sootbleakened by more chimneys than its own, set in a grassless cinderstrewnpacked compound surrounded by smoking factory purlieus and enclosed by a ten foot steel-and-wire fence like a penitentiary or a zoo, where in random erratic surges, with sparrowlike childtrebling, orphans in identical and uniform blue denim in and out of remembering but in knowing constant as the bleak walls, the bleak windows where in rain soot from the yearly adjacenting chimneys streaked like blacktears.