Rocket Boys

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer notes that the strength of 'Rocket Boys' as a memoir is that it is a tale that is both universal and particular. The writer maintains that Homer must deal with quarreling parents, roughhousing at school, and insensitive authority figures like the principal of his school. Although these difficulties are common to most adolescents, the writer notes that Homer's tale is also set during a unique period of American history, when America was coming to terms with its role as a superpower. The writer points out that the Rocket Boys did not merely build a rocket, and realize their dream of emulating their favorite scientists. They also changed the culture of the town in which they lived, which is perhaps every young person's greatest dream. The writer concludes that the older people were wrong and the boys were right, but the Rocket Boys changed the world, not through mindless rebellion and negation, but through mindful and positive pursuit of a great dream.

From the Paper:

"Homer's father was the mine superintendent. Homer Senior believed in the town and wanted Homer to follow in his footsteps. Homer had a clear choice--he could obey his father or he could obey his mother. His mother dreamed of a different life for her son, that he would grow up to fulfill all of her hopes and ambitions. She had seen firsthand the dangers of mine work, as well as the glories promised by the future of aerospace engineering, proclaimed by all of the newscasters after the launch of the Russian Sputnik. Homer's parents were in constant conflict, and he could not ally himself with one or the other, without losing either his mother or his father. Homer's father was such a presence in the town that Homer has no existence beyond his father's shadow at the beginning of the book--even his teachers called him Sonny. Although Homer loved his father, ultimately it was Elsie who drove her son to the National Science Fair at the end of the book. While Homer's parents both loved him, and Homer senior's outlook on life seems hopelessly conservative, patriarchal, reactionary, and backward-looking in the eyes of a contemporary reader. Homer's struggle resonates with any child who is the product of divorce, or simply a difficult home situation."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Hickman, Homer. Rocket Boys. New York: Delta, 2000.

More papers on Rocket Boys:

• Book Review # 96888 : "Rocket Boys"
• Analytical Essay # 56827 : "Rocket Boys"
• Analytical Essay # 24799 : "The Rocket Boys"

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