Homer Hickam

As stated by Sonny Hickam, “A rocket won’t fly unless somebody lights the fuse” (419). In the small town of Coalwood, West Virginia, everyday life is completely dependent on the coal mine that seems to consume all its citizens. The book October Sky by Homer Hickam, Jr. is a memoir that centers itself on a family of four making their way through life in the mining town. The family consists of Homer Hickam, the father who is the superintendent of the mine; Jim Hickam; the older brother; Sonny Hickam, the main protagonist; and Elsie Hickam, the compassionate mother. While Homer and Jim’s minds seem to be planted in Coalwood, Sonny’s head is high above the clouds with great ambitions of building rockets to reach space. Every fire needs its oxygen…

Extended Metaphor Assignment Rational John Hickam, the father of the lead character Homer Hickam in the movie October Sky, possesses many personality traits and characteristics which are developed, changed, and evolved throughout the film. The three evident key traits that he seems to have which have been modified throughout the movie are his values, his personality type, and his expectations. The format that I chose to represent the values of John Hickam is a drawing, as his values are one…

Johnston that includes a character named Homer Hickam, a boy attending high school and has an interest for space and astronomy. This interest sparked from him seeing Sputnik launch into the sky. Although his dad doesn’t exactly believe in his interests, Homer still persists and follows his dream. That’s what our theme is-never give up on what you love doing. The start of his studies weren’t very easy. His first rockets went up a couple inches (at best), and his friends who were helping him…

In terms of the word Appalachia there are both positive and negative connotations. There have been many stereotypes made about the Appalachian region. The positive ones are uplifting and speak about the culture. While the negative one talk about stereotypes that can be seen as offensive today. One stereotype that hurt the Appalachian region is that of how the area lacks education. Outsiders of the Appalachian region tend to believe these stereotypes, and the life of an Appalachian tends to…

From the rather extensive list of summer reading books we were subjected to choose from, I, like everyone else read two books in order to complete my summer assignment. The first, surprisingly my favorite of the two, was October Sky, written by Homer Hickam, whom I discovered after a quick Google image search, is not the same persona as Homer Simpson, to my disappointment. It tells the narrative story of your average small town boy, the author himself, Homer ‘Sonny’ Hickam, the son of a coal…

October Sky book by Homer Hickam was a true story about a boy growing up in a small coal-mining town. The book was first released in 1998. In this book, we have acknowledged that women in Coalwood were strong in the 1950’s, and were feminist before the term even existed. Feminism is a personal, social, political, and economical movement that shares a common goal for women’s rights. It’s been said that the term “feminist” did not take place until the 1970’s, but many women were feminist before…

Throughout the movie October Sky the main protagonist (Homer Hickam) faced several challenges that held them back and delayed their dream of building rockets. Most people would have given up after a failure. In Coalwood people do not go to college or leave the town and are destined to become a coal miner unless they are good at football. But Homer doesn’t want to be a coal miner and works to get a scholarship. He and his friends persevered (even after several rocket explosions and mishaps) and…

In the book “October Sky”, by Homer Hickam, Sonny and his father Homer Sr. have a problematic relationship. Throughout the entire story, the reader sees constant arguing, a lack of communication, and a sense of neglect between the two. Homer Sr. chooses not to pay attention to Sonny and his rockets, and for most children this ignorance of an interest would be discouraging and bring them down. In Sonny’s case however, this strained relationship between him and Homer Sr. was actually beneficial to…

There are many themes that show up in the book Rocket Boys. One of the most prevalent themes is how dreams and goals are set, achieved, and destroyed. Homer Jr faces many obstacles in his hometown of Coalwood that set him up for failure but he never gives up on his dream because of people around him encouraging him to never give up his dreams. Growing up in Coalwood, Homer was taught to go to school, and then work in the mines. Homer Sr, Homer’s father, wanted him to follow in his footsteps by…

Sydney Kilpatrick Mr. Sanders 12/9/15 Introduction The Radioactive Boy Scout, by Ken Silvertein, is the coming of age story of the brilliant scientist, David Hahn. The book not only tells David's story, but the story of the element radium and the power of radiation. The Radioactive Boy Scout creatively ties together the life of David Hahn with matters concerning everyday life. Key Idea 1 David Hahn grew up with a childhood full of hardships. His father, Ken, worked long hours and did not…