Rocket Boys Chapters 15-19 Stop

Rocket Boys Chapters 15-19 Stop your sniveling," Doc hissed, "Godamighty, don't you understand what kind of a place this is? The men of this down go down to the pit and hold hands with death every day" (248). In Chapter 18, entitled "The Bump," Homer weeps because he feels guilty that Mr. Bykovski is dead, stating that if it weren't for Homer, he would still be alive. However, Doc's words bring home the reality that death is always present in Coalwood, for the men of the mines.

The incident highlights for Homer why his mother is so adamant that he leave Coalwood, and seek his fortune and livelihood elsewhere. But the incident also highlights the heroism of Homer's father. Doc says "a dozen men would have died tonight if it hadn't been for your dad. That's something every son should know" (248). Homer realizes that his father is not simply someone who mocks Homer's ambitions of building rockets.

He sees a noble side to his father that he has seldom seen before, when his father is quarreling with his mother. On one hand, this makes Homer want to emulate his father, and save lives rather than create destructive objects. On the other hand, his mother's warnings that life in Coalwood is rapidly dying remains a potent warning. This incident shows how parents are seldom either good or bad, and when parents quarrel one parent is seldom right or wrong.

There are two sides to every issue, and every person can act nobly sometimes, and in petty ways at other times. But Doc is cruel about human emotions, feelings, the natural impulses of a young man, and softness, including a desire to know more about the world from an intellectual perspective: "don't ever let me see you act like a sob sister again," he says, unintentionally taking sides against the women of Coalwood who are brave in their own way, "Coalwood is no place to be weak" (249).

Rocket Boys Chapters 20-21 You drink, don't ya?'.. 'Not before school,'" responds Homer, politely to Jim's question (268). Homer's house is now in a state of tenuous peace or truce. His father's eye is permanently damaged from the mine accident, and Homer's parents at least are not fighting all of the time. As a junior in high school, Homer also feels more confident.

He has gained some respect because of his experimentation, and now he is older although he still feels somewhat uncomfortable with Jim's leering, sexual innuendo and banter. Also, when Homer misses the bus, however, Jim has a chance to meet Homer's teacher, whom Jim is immediately attracted to: "Forget the school bus kid, you've got a chauffer any time." (269). For the first time, Homer realizes that his feelings about Miss Riley are not entirely Platonic.

He realizes that he is "jealous" of this man, who is an engineer, while Homer is still a boy, although he acknowledges he owes the man "a good recommendation" (269). It used to be that Miss Riley always showed a special interest in Homer, but now Miss Riley is interested in knowing more about this other man and Homer must tell all, just as Miss Riley demands of him, because Homer believes in a fair exchange.

This incident, for anyone who has ever had a crush on a teacher or an older authority figure, reminds the reader of how painful adolescence can be for a young boy. Homer is old beyond his years and peers intellectually, but he still has a great deal of growing up to do, emotionally and physically. Now he understands how his desire for adult approval, validation as an attractive young man, and sexual awakening are all intertwined with his desire to prove himself building rockets.

Rocket Boys Chapters 22-23 It is a tribute to Homer Hickman's prose that he can make a science fair, ordinarily a fairly dull and mundane event in the life of a high schooler, seem like an exciting and eventful thing, many times over, as the boys progress to different levels in the science fairs of that lead up to the national competition. Homer and the other rocket boys, against all odds, prove their mettle against some of the most talented competition in the state.

"We made a quick audit of our competition. A Welch High School display of plant fossils found in coal mines seemed out stiffest competition. 'Just a bunch of old rocks,' said O'Dell, 'nothing to worry about'" (320). The boys look around with the keen eye of athletes against the opposing team, for they determined to be the best after years of hard work.

The boy's success at every level of the science fairs, for the reader, makes him or her feel like he or she watching an underdog sports team win a championship. The victories are clearly the pay off of much hard work and labor. The judges were "Welch courthouse politicians," men far above the class of Homer and the boys of his high school (320).

In contrast to O'Dell, Homer is intimidated by the coal and the carefully labeled fossils, possibly because the love of coal runs so deep, as he is well aware, in Coalwood, and he is symbolically competing against his father's stock in trade, with his friends' and his own unique interest. The Science Fairs, to which Homer is chauffeured by his mother, in another act of fitting symbolism, as she gave him the confidence to 'launch' his dreams into the stratosphere, are Homer's proving-ground as a man.

Homer's own reputation and the reputation of his teacher precede him, though, "Sounds like you boys do some crazy stuff," say the judges, before they give the rocket boys their prize (320). Rocket Boys Chapters 24-Epilogue All systems go," says the town, as Homer and his fellow rocket boys begin to realize the positive press they have brought to.