Ending

Towards the ending of the book, I was sure that Homer would in deed win the national science fair. I was also thinking what he would do after his life at Coalwood and if he would indeed go on to pursue his goal of building rockets in Florida. He tells the reader at the ending of the book that he his going to college with money from his mother Elsie. He also explains that O'dell, and Roy Lee are going into the air force and Sherman is going to college. The last rocket they launch he tells that the rocket 3,000 ft into the air. After this, his father shows his approval of Homer Jr. when he says "Nobody ever launched a better rocket than you."(pg.362) You can easily see by this that his father approves of Homer and for first time in the book he is happy. Throughout the book he is trying to achieve is goal and he finally is happy about his life and his accomplishments. What goals have you reached for in your life and what have you done to achieve those goals.

How Homer changes

In the beginning of the memoir Homer's character is very unsure about him self and his future. He tries to be a football player just to fit in but finds out that he is not fit for the football field and needs to find his niche in life. Homer struggles to be appreciated by his parents and his older brother. He feels as an out cast until, he starts building his rockets and is accepted by the whole Coalwood community. The Coalwood community is very sceptical of the rocket boys at first but then the whole community soon becomes very supportive and consumed in the adventures of the rocket boys.

Conflicts

Throughout, life we all have to face many conflicts and we must over come these conflicts to better ourselves as individuals. In this same way Homer Hickam Jr. has to face many conflicts throughout the memoir Rocket Boys. In the beginning of the book he has to find his greater purpose in his life to get out of Coalwood, because he knows he does not want to work in the coal mines for the rest of his life. Then, Homer Sr. does not treat Homer as an equal because he his not a football star which second to coal mining is the most important thing in the lives of Coalwood civilians. When he decides to start his rocket building adventures, Homer has to first learn about rockets and then work to gather all the products he needs to overcome. He reaches out to different people in the town, stepping past his boundaries and he does anything he can to build his rockets. When have you done something similar to the things that Homer has to do in his life.

Homer H. Hickam, Jr.'s life

Early in the memoir Rocket Boys you can see the determination and the search for a purpose in Homer's life. He begins the book, by telling about Coalwood West Virginia; the main setting of the book. He explains how the mining of Coal is so important to the people of the community and how the community was built around the mine. You can clearly see this when he says "Coalwood, West Virginia, where I grew up, was built for the purpose of extracting the millions of tons of rich, bituminous coal that lay beneath it."(pg. 1) Then, he explains how his father was meant to be a coal miner, but Homer Jr. needs to escape from Coalwood and leave the dangers of the mine. There is one major event early in the book that changes Homer's life for ever. After this event he works the rest of his life to achieve his goals and launch his rockets.

What was this event that changed his life?

How did this event change his life?

Rocket Boys by Homer H. Hickam

Lately, I have been reading Rocket Boys by Homer H. Hickam, Jr. or more commonly known as October Sky. As I began to read the book, I kept pondering how the insightful memoir about Homer's fascinating life would be different than the movie. As I started to read the memoir, there were some things that were clearly different than the movie, but many things that were the same. In the beginning of the book there is some small things such as Homer Jr. has dogs, and a pet squirrel. I also noticed that Homer seems to talk more about his time at school and his ever growing love for Dorothy. Also, the talk about the popularity of the Football team and the team not being able to play for the championship. These are just a few things I have noticed, please feel free to comment back if you have noticed anything else through out the rest of the book that was similar or different.