October Sky Essay Questions

1. The most important quote of the book is on page 361:” A rocket won’t fly unless somebody lights the fuse.”

2. This quote is definitely one of the most important quotes in this book, but it doesn’t contain the main theme. It does, however contain one of the minor themes in the book, and this quote is directed at all parents and guardians. This quote actually has two ways of interpreting it. The first is the answer that you get by just looking at the quote, which is, you must actually light the fuse in order for a rocket to fly, but there is a much deeper meaning to the second way of interpreting it.

The deeper meaning is that if you don’t allow someone to do something then it will simply not get done. In this case, Sonny’s father did not really want him to become a rocket scientist; he wanted him to become a mining engineer, so, he tried to be hateful and pessimistic of Sonny’s rocket plans. On the other hand, Sonny’s dad seems to be more in favor of Jim wanting to be a football player in college, because people going through Big Creek High School have more of a chance of being a football player or a miner rather than a rocket scientist.

The main theme in October Sky is to always have determination every time that you do something and to never give up. We can tell

that the Rocket Boys, mainly Sonny, never ever gives up. He had to deal with two things that would make an average person give up, thus failing. The first is that he has a father that was unhelpful, he wanted Sonny to become a mining engineer, but Sonny wanted to become a rocket scientist and work with Dr. Von Braun, so his father discouraged Sonny, and kept telling him that he could never make a rocket. Eventually however, his father becomes supportive of what Sony wanted to do. His mom was supportive throughout the entire book mainly because she wanted to prove Sonny’s father wrong, since he said that Sonny would not be able to build a rocket. The second thing that the Rocket Boys as a whole had to deal with was failure. They failed so many times that the by the end they had built 31 different rockets.
3.

October Sky is a memoir about the struggles they had to go through to become national science fair winners, and to build a successful rocket. This is a nonfiction book so it is not an allegorical, this memoir however, does have a couple uses of figurative language. For example, a use of a simile in October Sky, is “the tipple loomed before me like a giant black spider.” A use of a hyperbole in October Sky is, “The thought of it plunged me into a melancholy as deep as the coal mine.” There are many other uses but it is unnecessary to look for more since they all serve the same purpose, adding more detail to whatever Sonny or anyone in the book is talking

about.
4. This book relates to very successful people in society, and it relates to these people through the theme. The theme was to always have determination every time that you do something and to never give up. A great example of the theme is Thomas Edison. His teacher said that he was too stupid to learn anything. He was fired from his first two jobs for being non-productive, and lastly he failed one-thousand times before inventing a working lightbulb. Another example is Walt Disney, who was fired from Kansas City Star for lacking imagination and not having enough ideas, and finally J.K. Rowling was rejected by twelve publishers before it was finally accepted by Bloomsbury.
5. This memoir influenced me greatly because I usually give up on something unless I show glimpses of talent when I start. This book taught me never to give up no matter what the circumstances are. In the book, Sonny is discouraged by both his father and failure, in my case I am only discouraged by failure. For example I played baseball and basketball. When it came to baseball I always messed up and never hit the ball, but when it came to basketball I was a quick learner and always one of the best in the game. I stopped playing baseball after two years, and I have continued to play basketball. After reading this book, I will give everything my best shot, and never give up unless outside factors affect my choices.