What Is Homer's Relationship In The Rocket Boys

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In Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam Jr., a theme that often appears is family relationships. This relates to Homer as he and his family have a very conflicting relationship with one another. Homer has a different relationship with each member of his family; he has a loving and supportive mother, a bully of a brother, and a workaholic, unsupportive father that is embarrassed of his son. Homer’s only support in his family comes from his mother. Since the beginning of the book, she told Homer to follow his dreams and continue experimenting with rockets. “Mom sat down beside me and put her arm around my shoulders. I twitched at her unfamiliar touch. It had been a long time since she’d hugged me. We just didn’t do much of that kind of thing in our …show more content…

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

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