Rocket Boys (aka October Sky) (Hardcover) by Homer H. Hickam, Jr - Essay Example

Analysis Of Rocket Boys. Rocket Boys is the autobiography of Homer Hickam. The plot is about a high school who experiments with rocket science. Homer’s mother was instrumental in encouraging Homer to set big goals for himself when he established his very own Big Creek Missile Agency. Homer had to contend with a father who believed in diehard traditions and a superior, athletic football star brother. Homer received friendship and aid from many people in his town with close community ties. His sole opponent was his own father, the town mine’s superintendent, who desired him to become a miner and clamped down on his ambitions. Homer’s initial rockets failed miserably but he never gave up. He battled poverty when his father, the sole breadwinner of his family, was injured in a mining accident. Homer worked as a miner to assume the head of the family’s role. Simultaneously, Homer is accused of being an arsonist when a forest caught fire. His tragedies tripled when his teacher, Miss Riley, was diagnosed with cancer. Homer refused to give up. He learned to use the mathematical principles of trigonometry to explain to the town’s officials how his rockets could never had caused the forest fire. Homer succeeded in clearing his reputation and name. He resumed work on his rocket projects and entered the national science fair. His gumption paid off handsomely when he won a medal and obtained prestigious scholarships for his entire team. Homer’s story has a double climax. His father and long standing adversary finally relented and paid him some cautious, restrained respect for his rocket project. Rocket Boys has been made into a movie called October Sky (1999). The movie explored the human relationships more than rocket science. It was not popular because audiences were not ready to accept a film on the success story of a rocket scientist. On the wider aspect, Homer in October Sky was a good example of what the image of youth was like in contemporary American cinema. He showed that hard work was the key to success. He battled overwhelming odds to achieve his goals. He is a figurehead symbol for American optimism for the future. The setting of Rocket Boys is in an impoverished West Virginia coal mining town called Coalwood in 1957. The small town fostered close communal ties and relationships. Its residents rally around to provide support for Homer. The older generation had the foresight to appreciate the potential of youthful endeavors although they feel incapacitated to act to improve themselves. The storekeeper who sold Homer saltpeter made this prophesy about him; ‘"Listen, rocket boy. This stuff can blow you to kingdom come."’ Homer was a teenager with a big dream that would be fulfilled in the way others prophesized. Homer was also called Sonny to distinguish between himself and his father, who shared the same name, Homer Hickam. In order to live in Coalwood, the man of the house had to work for the local mining company. It is a paternalistic society. Homer told how his friend Tony and his mother had to leave Coalwood after the death of his Tony’s father. The women were easily scared when the town had a Pentecostal preacher because of the ‘hurling fire and brimstone and warnings of death from his pulpit.’ (Hickam 4). Rocket Boys is a narrative by the protagonist in the first person. It is a nostalgic, faithful account of Homer’s rags to riches story. Homer has mettle and character. He did not spurn his humble roots after achieving success as a NASA engineer. He used a humorous tone to recount his boyhood adventures. Doc Lassiter, who set Tony’s broken arm, told the boys that he was ‘heap big medicine man’. (Hickman 5). The strong vein of humor courses when Homer said that, ‘Many a time in the days to come, when I was in trouble, I would think of Reverend Richard and his belief in God’s sense of humor and his fondness for the ne’er-do-wells.’ (Hickam 3-4). Homer also imbedded subtle humor when he said that ‘The denomination of the preacher the company hired automatically became ours too.’ From here, we also learnt that the mining company was fickle in faith, hiring preachers from different Christian denominations. The good natured Coalwood population were blind followers and totally at the whims of the coal mine employer. The prevalent theme of Rocket Boys is the triumph of good work over extreme adverse circumstances. Homer’s father, being the superintendent of the local mine, had mining in his blood and wanted Homer to follow in his footsteps. Homer’s parents had a tense marriage because of their different goals in life. Homer had to build his rockets from scratch through his experimental learning processes. When he ran out of money to buy materials, he worked part-time to sustain his dream. There are universal themes of social class, family relations, coming of age, respect, community ties, universal love, exciting scientific discoveries, personal satisfaction and fame. The adult generation of Coalwood recognized the immense potential of Homer’s rocket science to become his ticket to freedom from the imminent enslavement in a mining job. The science of space was also very attractive to all social classes because it was imagined to be the bridge to close the gap between the have and have-nots. People thought that as long as they were brave enough to try, they could have a share of the pie in the sky. Homer’s memoirs coincides with this birth of the space age. American patriotism may have fueled Homer’s ambition too. In 1957, Homer watched the world’s first space satellite, the Russian Sputnik, travel across Coalwood’s night sky. The whole democratic world comprising of America and her allies were enraged that Russia possessed mankind’s first space satellite to orbit the earth. This was the era of the cold war. This was one impetus that contributed to Homer’s decision to form BCMA (Big Creek Missile Agency). Homer’s chief antagonist was his father, Homer. It was ironic that Homer was named after his father but failed to remain shackled to his father’s heritage of becoming a miner. Homer was ridiculed but he had courage to stand up for his dreams. His father called him impractical for dreaming to become a rocket scientist. His high school Math teacher, Mr. Hartsfield, also told Homer and his rocket boys team that scientists are not expected to come out of a poor mining town and thus there was no need nor justification for a Math class in calculus. The innocent youths fought on with the argument that it was not fair. Mr. Hartsfield responded with; ‘”Whoever told you boys life was fair?”’ (Hickam). Life was the national contradiction as reality revealed that almost all the American institutions were segregated and antidemocratic. Homer was driven by the concrete scientific principles and he was not discouraged by the divisions of economic class. Homer was brave and refused to be imprisoned by the status quo. He rebelled in the right ways, refusing to accept the consensus that he only had the opening of a miner. Children like Homer were being raised in an undemocratic way. The hierarchy and social order of families were threatened when parents realized that their children do not wish to step into their shoes and take over their traditional jobs. Rocket Boys is a wake up call. The post-industrial age saw the slow death in the mining industry. Homer’s mother and many residents of Coalwood who were not authoritarians in the mining industry understood and thus helped to save Homer from a dark destiny. Homer’s father was in a position of power but he was in denial over the future of the mining town. This is a demonstration of how power can corrupt the mind. The Sputnik satellite changed the course in history in some ways; just like Rocket Boys did. America’s education system was changed to progress at a faster pace in order to catch up with the Soviet Union. Coalwood has been likened to an allegory of a small nation living in the segregation of race, gender, power, education and stale minds. Eventually, Homer’s success as a rocket scientist also changed the old prejudice against the lower social class, the location or economic status, the strict authoritarian patriarch and the mindset of small town inhabitants. The town had co-operated in BCMA and this was an allegory of what America eventually achieved by sending its rockets into space. This was Homer’s prophesy for America. Indeed, thirty years later at Cape Canaveral, a bigger town witnessed the launch of a bigger space shuttle. Hickam’s message is clear; dreams can become reality. I would say that the major climax of the book is when Homer makes it as a NASA engineer. The anti-climax of the book would be when the town that produced a champion at the National Science Fair could not save itself. Neither the good inhabitants nor the rocket boys could prevent the sale and closure of Coalwood. Like a spent fuel cartridge, Coalwood was disposed off unceremoniously and its inhabitants scattered to the four winds. This is also a latent message to warn that the old ways are gone and space is the new frontier. Some people might think that Homer was selfish because he achieved success at the expense of Coalwood but he couldn’t render crucial assistance to save his town. I don’t think Homer was selfish. He tried to share his fame and glory. He gave away the medal he won at the National Science Fair to Miss Riley because he appreciated her mentorship. We can see that the parameters have changed in the father-son relationship. Homer wanted to tell us that relationships can change over time when efforts are spent to establish trust. At that point in time, the American society was sorely challenged by the shifting dynamics of parental control over children. Homer fought hard to gain the trust and approval of his father. The patriarchal figure has not been deconstructed but made to bridge the generation gap in order to better understand the needs of the contemporary American youth. Coalwood was similar to a false utopia. The mining company owned the town, with everything in it. However, this was a false utopia because it could not sustain itself. The passive population of Coalwood did not help themselves to be independent of the mine. We can contrast Homer with Coalwood. As Homer matures and comes of age, Coalwood withers and dies. Homer was left to be the hope of his old birthplace. He was a survivor who had to travel to a new frontier (space) to colonize it. Love was sidelined for Homer. For all his bravery working for his rocket project, Homer was a coward with his secret love interest, Dorothy Plunk. Their relationship remained as cordial friends because Homer lacked her encouragement to develop their friendship. Hickam could have wanted to tell readers that it was worthwhile to work to achieve your ambition first without any distractions. Love took a second seat to fulfilling one’s ambition. Homer could have got that idea by observing his mother who had true grit and mettle but was trapped as a housewife raising children in a family. He might have been put off after witnessing the struggles his mother underwent fighting against the expectations of his father. I think Rocket Boys is a great novel that epitomizes the birth of the space age with Homer Hickam’s realization of his dream pursuing a new territory. Works Cited. Hickam, Homer. Rocket Boys. USA: Amazon.com, 1998. Read More