October Sky; Pages 71-142

Summary: After not getting in trouble for damaging his mother’s fence, Sonny was rewarded with a cool, but foolish nickname: rocket boy. The boys that helped him build the bomb didn’t get away from the criticism either; they were called ‘rocket boys’. Sonny didn’t pay much to the criticism, I guess it was because he was determined to catch up on the space race.

With no where to begin to build a more powerful and successful rocket, Sonny had no other than to ask Quentin for help. Quentin was very intelligent and used words that no one could understand. No one talked to Quentin, which was sad to read. He was more like that nerdy guy in every school, who people just ignored, but knew was there. When Sonny began to talk to Quentin, Quentin immediately said that Sonny was not going to be able to copy his homework. That was not a big deal to Sonny because he wasn’t there to ask for homework, he was there strictly for rocket business. Though, if Quentin had gave him his homework, Sonny wouldn’t have minded copying it.

When Sonny told Quentin about the idea of building rockets, he thought it was a splendid idea and would have loved to work with Sonny and the crew on a new rocket. From the start Quentin wasn’t a bad guy after all. Now, with a group of five Sonny felt that he was ready more than ever to catch up on the space race. As the president of the club Sonny decided to give everybody roles. One of the most important roles in the club was being the scientist, which Quentin had. Anyways, he was the only member in the team who actually knew what they were doing when it came to some of the rocket building stuff.

The Big Creek Missile Agency, or the BCMA, was the name of the group. Sooner or later, with the help of a Life magazine (which had a diagram of a rocket), they began to build their first rocket. Sonny named is Auk I. Auk I was not so much of a success, so they had to build more rockets. Keeping the same ‘Auk’ idea, they named their rockets. Many of the Auk’s flew, but they didn’t fly straight up in the air like Sonny and all the other guys wanted.

It was a good thing that their rockets flew, but it was a bad thing too. For one, they were launching their rockets near the mine. Being the superintendent of the mine Homer needed to keep control of things. As I have foreshadowed, one of the rockets flew into the mine work space. This had upset Homer to the ends of the Earth. Not only does he not like the whole fact of the rocket building, but it was Sonny’s rocket. Since the day Sonny was born, he and his never quite got along. Since that father and son connection wasn’t there, Homer let Sonny have a piece of his mind when he got home.

Ever since that day, when Sonny had to hear his fathers mouth and saw his father dump all his chemicals for the rockets on the ground, he wasn’t allowed to fly rockets by the mine. Not only by the mine, but ever in his life. That did not stop Sonny, for he was too determined to keep on chasing the Russian’s in the space race. One day in church the reverend talked about father and son relationships. And how the father needs to listen and help their son’s in achieving their dreams. And how the son is supposed listen to what his father has to say. After church was over, Sonny’s father told him to go with him somewhere. They got in his car, and what was strange was that Homer let Sonny drive. Something about the reverend’s speech made Homer change his attitude towards Sonny a little bit. When they got to their destination, it was a big open field which was perfect for flying rockets. Homer had told Sonny that if he wanted, he could build rockets once more and fly them. There were some conditions that went along with Sonny’s new privileges: he wouldn’t fly rockets in Coalwood, and he couldn’t use the coal company’s supplies for his rockets. Excited about the new offer, Sonny couldn’t wait to tell Quentin. Soon after the crew new all about their new location, they began to build their blockhouse because they did need somewhere to hide for cover when the rockets were being flown.

Quotation: "'Sons, obey your fathers. But fathers, help your sons to dream'" (Hickam 125).

Reaction: The quote was said by Reverend Lanier. This quote is one of the most powerful things he mentioned when he was giving his homily during the mass. Much of what he was saying in that mass was about father and son relationships, and how need to become stronger. What was odd about it was that while the reverend was speaking, he was looking at Sonny for most of the time. And, it was because of this that Homer probably had a change of heart with Sonny. After all, most people do listen to the reverend’s, so, when he said fathers ‘help your sons to dream’, it was have hit Homer in the heart. He must have noticed that he needed to be a little bit more supportive of Sonny’s dream in building a rocket.