When rocket fuel combusts, the nozzle directs a hot river, so why is it important in October Sky?
The October Sky summary will be given in this article.The book was originally titled "The Rocket Boys" but was changed to "October Sky" in 1999 in conjunction with the movie tie-in.The book was renamed in 1999 after being originally titled The Rocket Boys.
The chapter begins with a description of the town of Coalwood being at war with itself.Coalwood is described as a far better place to live than most mining towns and a typical small town centered around a single industry.By the end of this chapter, it has begun to focus on the Hickam family as well as showing some of the cracks.
In the few days after Sputnik, this chapter tells of life in the town of Coalwood.It mixes well with the life of the young boy and the events that are affecting his world.The struggle with both father and brother, the difficulty with girls, learning about rockets, and the worry about the Russians are all shown in this chapter.Sonny Hickam and his friends attempt to make and launch their own rocket in his backyard in the final chapter of October Sky.
Sonny Hickam destroyed his mother's fence after making his first attempt to launch a rocket.His mother saw a chance to help him escape from Coalwood.He would convince his father that he was smart enough to attend college.The knowledge that his father expected him to be a clerk for the rest of his life and his mother's belief that the mine and the town would disappear serves as a turning point in the story of October Sky.
Big Creek's high school football team was forced out of the state championship after a perfect season.They tried to file a lawsuit against the state.Sonny's father is willing to fight an unwinnable battle for his son.His father begins to show signs of sickness, including a spot on his lungs that is the size of a dime.The Americans attempt their first spaceship launch at the end of this chapter.It blew up after being three yards off the ground.Sonny Hickam tried to build a rocket.
An odd, but smart young boy who is unpopular because he is intelligent was introduced.He becomes Sonny's partner and a driving force in building a rocket as the two learn about the history of the rocket and experiment with creating their own black powder.While he does go to her house, he doesn't get the chance to ask her out as she changes the subject when he tries.
The first successful United States satellite was launched by the Army Ballistic Missile Agency.Young boys stay up all night to see the images of the launch and this moment is told through their eyes.The Big Creek Missile Agency was formed by the boys who watch it.The conflict between Sonny Hickam and his father can be seen in this chapter.He does it despite his father telling him not to.He goes behind his father to do it.The chapter title is Mr.He is a welder on the night shift.He helps the boys even though he isn't supposed to.They need a few pieces of pipe to make the rockets.One of the boys hits his father's office when they successfully launch their rocket.His father called the man who helped him a thief.
Sonny Hickam has been told not to launch any more rockets.This doesn't stop him.They fill pop bottles with black powder and measure the explosion.The worry of the mine is a major concern for the people in the town, who are very wary of explosions.The conclusion seems to be at the church.In front of the town, you can see the battle between the father and son.The pastor of the church talks about fathers and sons.While a son should respect his father, it is a father's job to help his son achieve his dreams according to the sermon.If this works, it will convince Sonny's father to give him a place to launch his rockets even if he isn't happy about it.
The failures and successes of the space program at this time, as well as the creation of NASA, are parallels between the Rocket Boys and the USA's rocket program.The news that doesn't seem to affect the Rocket Boys directly is the biggest part of this chapter.The football team has been suspended due to the lawsuit brought by the parents.Sonny's brother is not going to be able to get a football scholarship and will have to find another way to go to college.The chapter ends with the Rocket Boys starting construction at their own cape, collecting materials and building a small shack so that they can launch their rockets safely.
Someone who is important to the Rocket Boys is introduced in this chapter.Jake Mosby is an assistant engineer and his father is wealthy.He seems to be a bad influence at first.He spent his time in the war with alcohol and women.The Rocket Boys put up notices of their launches as the story continues.A small town newspaper reporter is one of the people brought out by this.Jake gave the boys a telescope that he used to see Jupiter and the stars, at the end of the chapter.He gives them a book that tells them how high their rockets are flying.
The Rocket Boys discover that they are treated differently when they return to school after being in the newspaper.The football players have not achieved the level of hero yet, but they are better off.Due to Sputnik, the school curriculum has changed.Sonny is trying to learn math in order to be able to launch his rockets better.One day, Miss Riley will show them a chemical reaction they think would be a good rocket fuel.She is able to let them use it, but they find an alternative and begin to experiment with a fuel they believe will be better than black powder.
For the first time, Sonny's father appears to care about the battle between mother and father.The oxidation of metal is the main limitation of the rockets that the boys created by mixing sugar and saltpeter with his mother.Sonny is invited by his father to come to the mine with him.Sonny wants to be an engineer and his father wants him to become a mine engineer.His mother discovered that his father had taken him into the mine and insisted that he wouldn't work in it.She believes that it has killed her husband, who has a black spot on his lung, and will not allow it to kill her son.
After making peace with his mother, Sonny decided to ask his father if he knew anything about Wernher von Braun.There is a vital discussion about the possibility of change, forgiveness and even the chance that Sonny's father might be jealous of Wernher von Braun.Sonny returns to his building.The machinists help him by trading favors for work.The man is unwilling to admit that he is aiding his son in this endeavor.Their rockets are reaching as much as three thousand feet on one trip, but they begin to fear that their rocket candy has reached its limit.Sonny is starting to believe that he can achieve anything through hard work.At Christmas, his mother gives him an autograph and a note from von Braun.Homer Hickam is on the left.
One of the things that the Rocket Boys had been looking for through the entire story is given in this chapter.His teacher gave him a book to show them how to build a rocket.She wants them to go to the science fair.She told him that he had to be the one with the courage to learn what was inside the book.Sonny was left alone to return to his town after taking sleds to get to the school which was closed for anyone outside of walking distance.The cold starts to get to him as he travels and he is stopped by a woman and invited into her house.She wants him to tell his father, but not his mother.He discovered two things when he told his father the story.The woman sells things to men.His father pulled her out of the fire that killed her family when he was a boy.His father doesn't see this as heroism as he blames himself for not saving any of the others.
The chapter begins again by setting the time, because it happened not with dates but with the space race.The launch of Luna 1.There are two things covered in this chapter.The first being the slow understanding of the rocket book, which covers ideas such as De Laval nozzles.They are convinced that in order to understand what is in the book, they will need to take a class that is not offered by their school.There is a pillar explosion in the mine in this chapter.Sonny understands what that means now than he did before he went into the mine.The character of his father, who lead the rescue crew into the dangerous passages even though he didn't need to, was once again shown.It ends with another launch.This time, they prove more than anything that they have reached the limit of what they can do with their current fuel.
Wanting to learn a subject means asking for the class.The school does not offer the class.They don't think that they need a high school.If the principle will agree, the teacher agrees.The problem is that he knows he won't be allowed.Sonny and Quentin are called into the principal's office when things seem to change.Two state troopers arrived because they believe that one of the boy's rockets started a fire and burned down some homes.The teachers point out a few problems with the logic, but they are ready to arrest them.The place where the fire started was ten miles from the boys' location.Quentin says that it is not a rocket at all.This is enough to convince the principal to lobby for their class.All the boys in the club can take it because the class has only six spots.Sonny, the boy with the lowest grades, is excluded from the class even though he was the one who tried to get it in the school.Sonny discovered the book that his father used to help teach him the math that he needed to run the mine and take it for himself so he could learn on his own.
Chapter 16 of October Sky begins with Sonny's father visiting a conference to discuss the ventilation of his mine, an honor for him because he is not an engineer.He discovered that Sonny had been excluded from the class he was lobbying for and was using his book.Sonny tells his father that he doesn't want to be a mine engineer while he still wants him to.The decision to join the science fair is the heart of this chapter.Sonny thinks it's a no-lose situation.He can prove his father wrong if they win.The other boys have more to lose.None of them have the money to go to college.If they want to go to college, they have to win the science fair and make a real impression.Sonny doesn't want to carry this weight, it's something that he was not expecting.
The boys decided to take a break from building rockets.The kids go to the small dancing hall in the dugout.He found out that his brother had taken the girl he had been in love with on a date.He discovers that he has been friends with a girl, but nothing more.She had an argument with one of the football players who brought her and took Sonny to the back seat of his car.He sees the boy who has been tormenting him in the past as he leaves.Sonny knows that he is upset about the girl.He won't achieve as much in his life as he would have if he'd played football this year and been kept out of college.Sonny returned home to find that something had gone wrong.His mother only tells him that he can't go to the mine that night because everyone in the town has their lights on.
Sonny sneaks out of his house after his mother tells him not to because he discovered that something was wrong at the mine.It seems that one of the vents collapsed after being struck by lightning.The rescue crew is led by his father.The man who was working in the mine was Sonny's friend and he helped build rockets.His mother finds him around this time.She calls him selfish and slaps him.The revelation of what his mother thinks of him magnifies the pain of seeing someone he cares about hurt.Everyone else comes out alive, but his father is going to lose his eye.His mother ripped the phone from the wall and threw it onto the lawn.
Sonny blames himself after seeing Mr. Bykovski die.He doesn't want to talk to anyone.He tries to be what he thinks people from Coalwood should be.He begins to move beyond it when he finally speaks to Mrs. Bykovski.She says that they liked the money so they didn't bring him back to the machine shop.She insists that he would want Sonny to keep going.Sonny is still angry after this decision.He told them he was in charge after they launched their rocket and they would change the propellant.Roy Lee punches him.The physical pain of the punch allows Sonny to move and see things in a different way.
The beginning chapter is about a single day.The house is mostly broken due to the fact that everyone ignores everyone else.Sonny has to get a ride to school with Jake because he is late.The young man is meeting his teacher.The majority of the chapter is about a trip the Rocket Boys take to earn money.They dig out metal pipes for scrap metal.As they do, Sonny's wrist is cut on one of the sharp pieces of metal and they are forced to carry him miles back to town where he collapses as the doctor is stitching him.The metal doesn't cover the cost of food or the stitches, so they have to borrow money from Jake in exchange for waxing his car.
As the city of Coalwood becomes more important, more and more people are showing up at the Rocket Boys' launches.They seem to have maxed out their abilities.The zinc they want to use needs to be mixed with a new formula.The solution appears to be alcohol.The boys go to the local distilleries to get pure alcohol.They get drunk instead of telling him what they want.Their rocket reaches a mile and is able to land in Coalwood.The company men try to tear down Cape Coalwood but the miners fight back and so does Sonny's dad.
Everything comes down to the Rocket Boys.Sonny has to do the math to figure out how to make the nozzle of their rocket.Sonny has to do a lot of high level math.After impressing his chemistry teacher with the math, she goes to the principle and after a quiz to make sure he knows what he is talking about, they decide that he will represent the school at the science fair.The good news continues as one of the rockets lands in a field of ginseng, which will help pay for the things they need.The Rocket Boys are doing well, but the town is not.At the end of this chapter, a shot is fired into the house, barely missing Sonny's father.
The parents of Sonny decided what to do about the gunshot.They don't call the police even though they are pretty sure who shot him.His mother is not willing to allow things to remain the same and she is buying a house in myrtle beach with money she has saved and invested in the stock market.Sonny found out that his science teacher had cancer.This makes a lot of sense since she has shown signs, but it strikes him hard because he really does like her.She won't be able to help much with the science fair because of this.Since there is only one name on the science fair sign up, he is on his own.He fears that the local politics will make it difficult, as well as the judges' fear of encouraging rocketry, because it is considered dangerous.Despite the fact that the local strike has begun, he is still able to cross the picket line.Sonny realized that the person who shot at his father was the same one who hit his cat.He decided it would be better to not know who killed his cat because the main troublemaker had left town.
Sonny was taken to get a suit for the trip to the National Science Fair.John F. Kennedy is running for president.The bigger ideas begin to intersect as he is given a chance to ask him a question during the first moment of the Rocket Boys.Kennedy turned the question back to him, asking, "what do you think we should do with space?"He said that they should go to the moon.