Kara Iverson

    The movie October Sky is a movie about reaching your dreams. I really enjoyed watching it because it showed that you can do anything you want to do. Homer, the main character, had so many obstacles he had to go through to become a rocket builder. His three friends and teacher were basically the only ones who supported him the whole way. But yet he stuck with his dream and proved everyone that he could really do it.

    One of the biggest obstacles standing in Homer’s way of reaching his goal of building rockets was his family, but mostly his father. The Hickam family lives in a town called Coalwood. Coalwood is a small mining town where most everyone grows up to become a coal miner. Homer always knew that he didn’t want to become a coal miner. But his father, being the owner of the coalmine, always told him that that was what he was going to become. Homer’s older brother was a good football player that was probably going to get out of Coalwood on a college scholarship. Having him be that good, there was also a lot of pressure put on him from his parents to try to be as good as he was. But Homer didn’t want that for himself either, he knew what he wanted and he wasn’t going to let anyone get in his way. Whenever Homer would say something about his goals in rocket science, or what he wanted to become, both his father and brother just laughed at him. His mom never really said anything to encourage his dreams, but would defend him when they made fun of Homer.

    Another thing that halted the dreams of Homer Hickam and his friends was the community they lived in. At first they had a problem with launching the rockets in the city grounds. Therefore the rocket boys found a perfect area outside of city limits where they could launch their rockets. After they proved they really wanted to do this no matter what it took, like walking eight miles just to launch one rocket, the community still had to find a reason to stop them. With a wild fire a few miles away from Coalwood, and the rocket boys not able to be accountable for all the rockets they shot off, they were easy targets to blame for the fire. So with that the four boys were arrested for starting that fire. This caused them to burn their hopes of ever making a successful rocket. Until the work of Homer and his smart friend, they found that it was impossible for their rocket to start the fire.

    After proving the people in the community that thought they couldn’t succeed, once again, showed them that they were serious about this and were not going to give up. But when Homer’s dad was injured in the coalmine, Homer was forced to do what he wanted to do least with his life. He became a coalminer. Being in the coal mine was Homer’s worst nightmare. Just looking at all the people getting more sick everyday they go down there, and seeing all the dangers of just being down there was horrible to him. The day his father was better and able to go back to work, Homer faced his father and told him he was never going back. This was a huge step in the success of his rocket building because he knew he would never have to result to the coal mine and worry about his father anymore. He had faced his fears. Knowing this was behind him, the rocket building took off. They worked even harder every day until they entered the state science fair, won, made it to the national state fair, and finally won that also. They had reached their dreams of becoming rocket builders.

    Every time I watch the movie October Sky, it always brings back the same feeling to me. The feeling of following your dreams and reaching your goals. It is the perfect example that you can truly do anything you want to do, no matter what stands in front of you. As long as you believe you can do it, nothing else matters. Homer finally reached his goal of becoming a rocket builder even through all the obstacles standing in his way. His father, whom was his biggest obstacle, was finally there to support him once he proved he could succeed. It just shows that anything is possible, as long as you believe in yourself.