October Sky

By Whitney

            In the movie October Sky[P1] , Homer had to overcome many obstacles to get where he went. At first he really did not get any support from anyone about his idea since they lived in a town where you can only get out with a football scholarship. They lived in a small town where the main business was a coal mine where most of the men work. The boss of the coal mine was Homer’s father w[P2]ho  thought Homer would end up working in the mine just as he did. Homer’s brother was receiving a football scholarship while Homer didn’t have anything to look for. Homer first thought about rocketry when he saw the Russian Space Shuttle for the first time.

            In the beginning of the movie they state that boys in Coalwood would never make it out of the town and would just end up working in the mine just as their fathers. Sometimes, one or two boys would make it out with a football scholarship. Homer tried to make it in football, [P3] but he didn’t have the strength that the other boys did. When he first thought of making a rocket, [P4] his friends liked the idea[P5]  but didn’t like the idea of asking Quentin[P6] , known to them as a nerd, to help them out with it. They began to make their first rocket in a basement[P7],  and Homer’s father did not like the idea at all. He just thought Homer was wasting his time. Homer tried not to pay attention to his father and tried to follow his dream of flying into space. At first no one believed that they could do it.

            The only person that actually believed that they could do it was their teacher Ms. Riley. She encouraged them to keep up the idea [P8] and enter the Science Fair at the end of the year. The princip[P9]al  also did not like the idea of this rocket, [P10] but when he heard about them entering the Science Fair, [P11] he also encouraged them. After a couple of times of shooting their rockets, [P12] a fire broke out eight[P13]  miles from town. Homer and his friends were blamed for it and were arrested. Homer began to work at the coal mine after that because he felt as though he could never succeed in his rocketry. During and after work Homer did equations to try and figure out where the rocket landed. When h[P14]e  and Quetin[P15]  found the rocket, they continued their project. By now the whole town was into the rockets and went to watch them launch them. They were entered into the Science Fair. After all Homer went through, [P16] he and his friends received first place in the Fair. Homer went through many obstacles in rocketry, [P17] but in the end he finally got where he wanted to go.