October Sky: Connection to Self

During the movie October Sky, Homer had to overcome many challenges that he couldn't deal with himself. Homer was able to triumph over these because he had many mentors that helped him along the way. Some of those mentors were his teacher Miss Riley, his mom Elsie, Quentin, Roy Lee, O’Dell, and Ike Bykovski. Miss Riley helped Homer by giving him a book on building rockets, and supporting Homer and his friend’s dreams of getting out of Coalwood, his mom also supported him and his dreams, his friends Quentin, Roy Lee, and O’Dell always stuck by Homer’s side and were generally great friends to him, and Ike Bykovski helped by making prototypes for many of his rockets. Some mentors that I have are my parents, friends, and siblings; I plan to come to them whenever I need something because I know that they will always be there for me.

Homer and his friends faced many obstacles that they didn’t always solve right away, but in the end they came out successful and achieved their dreams. Some major setbacks and hurdles that Homer had to face were the launching of the first rocket and it blowing up, finding a place off of company grounds to launch their rockets after they were banned from launching there, his father’s objection to Homer’s dreams, having to work in the mines, and figuring out how to get money for the materials for the rockets. He overcame these obstacles by not giving up and continuing to improve on his rockets, walking 8 miles out of town to find their new launch site, not letting his dad’s disapproval get to him and affect his work, studying the math necessary to build the rockets during the breaks, and moving the rails off of an old railroad to pay for the materials. An obstacle that I have to face in order achieve my goals is growing up in a low income family, my parents don’t make too much money by working but i know that they will do whatever they can in order for me to go to college and achieve my goal of becoming a physician.I can prepare for unexpected obstacles by always being determined and working hard.

Homer also had to deal with many unexpected obstacles but the reason he didn’t fail was because he had his mom who was always supportive of Homer’s ideas and dreams, and the sudden switch of attitude of his father when he was able to get another rocket nozzle sent to Homer after the original was stolen. Generally though, Homer’s dad was not contributive to Homer’s success, he only discouraged and shamed Homer about his love of rockets. Homer’s brother Jim also had a sour attitude towards him. Jim and Homer would have many conflicts which would ultimately not help Homer succeed. Like Homer, I have a great family that plays a huge role in helping me succeed now in school, and I know that they will set me up for success.

The present is very important, but the future is as well. People need to feel purpose and they need to feel like they're making progress. When people dream