"Overcoming Obstacles"

By: Melissa Gause

You can achieve anything you want and your dreams are never out of reach. Homer, the main character in the movie October Sky, believed this. He had a dream of building a successful rocket and getting a scholarship for college. Throughout his life, he had many obstacles that set him back from achieving his goal, but Homer always found a way to overcome them.

His main obstacle was his dad. His dad wanted him to become a coal miner like himself or be a good athlete and receive a scholarship for football like his brother. He didn’t understand why Homer was interested in rocketry. He thought it was pointless, so he never supported Homer. This frustrated Homer because every kid wants to make their parents proud of them, but this wasn’t possible with Homer’s dad. When Homer would shoot off rockets at a specific time, he would tell his dad, but his dad would always say he was busy. Homer knew this wasn’t true because his dad always made time to make it to his brother’s football games. He overcame this obstacle by never giving up on his dad. He would continue working hard to achieve his goal no matter what his dad thought. He thought maybe his dad would become proud of him if he became successful. He proves this by winning the science fair. At the end of the movie, his dad pushes the button to launch the last rocket. This shows that Homer overcame the obstacle.

Homer and the rocket boys got accused of starting a forest fire. One day while they were at school, the police came and handcuffed them. The police said a rocket had started a forest fire. Since Homer and the rocket boys always shot off rockets, they knew it was they who caused it. After that incident the boys weren’t allowed to shoot off rockets anymore. They had to burn down their launch pad shelter. This could very well have been the end to Homer’s dream, but he knew he had to overcome it. He studied books on rockets to develop a formula that predicts how far a rocket can launch. With help from his smart friend, he figured out that his rocket wasn’t able to land that far away. Therefore, there was no way his rocket could have started the fire. They showed this evidence and got cleared of all charges. Homer was able to continue working towards his dream.

When Homer’s dad got hurt, Homer had to fill in for him at the mines. Homer thought he would have to spend the rest of his life working there, and he thought his dream was demolished. He went to work everyday and worked hard until his dad’s injury was healed. Homer realized with help from his principal that this wasn’t the life he wanted. He overcame this obstacle by quitting his work at the mine and concentrating on the science fair.

Overcoming these obstacles didn’t seem possible to Homer at times. Nevertheless, he didn’t give up and always found a way out. This movie has a life lesson in it that could benefit a lot of people. Follow your dreams and never give up. Anything is possible.