Rocket Boys

The narrator, Homer Hickam, Jr., describes his “coming of age.” By learning to build rockets, he explains, he discovered his “own truths.”

Homer describes his hometown of Coalwood, West Virginia. In 1957, the year Homer began building rockets, there were only 2,000 people living there. Homer’s father is Homer Hickam Sr., who works as the superintendent of a coal mine. Homer lives in a company-owned house: in other words, a mining company charges his family to live in the house. There is coal dust everywhere—so much that it’s become a town ritual to scrape the coal off the walls of houses every spring.

Homer describes Coalwood in more detail. There is a Main Street (built by the mining company that dominates life in Coalwood), and along it are a church, a post office, a dentist and doctor, and the Big Store (the town grocery and supply store). On the big hill overlooking Coalwood, the company superintendent lives in a large mansion, and oversees mining affairs. There are two main “clusters” of houses where the miners live: Middletown and Frog Level. Homer’s family lives away from the miner houses, at the intersection between the state highway and the path to the mine. Homer recalls his friend the Reverend “Little” Richard, who presides over a small, non-company church. The Reverend would amuse Homer with his Bible stories, and ask Homer if he’d accepted the Lord. Homer would always reply that he wasn’t sure—surprisingly, the Reverend accepted this answer.

The company church is presided over by Reverend Josiah Lanier, a Methodist. Whenever there is a new Reverend, Homer recalls, the religious denomination of the entire town changes. The town has had Pentecostal, Methodist, and Baptist reverends, and changed its faith every time.

Growing up, Homer’s friends at school are Roy Lee, O’Dell, Tony, and Sherman. He invents a fictional Indian tribe, the “Coalhicans,” and acts out stories about the tribe with his friends. Sometimes, Homer plays with his brother Jim as well. Once Tony hurt himself playing, and the company doctor, “Doc” Lassiter, put his arm in a cast. Afterwards, Tony’s father died in the mine, and Tony’s mother was forced to leave Coalwood.

At dinner one night, Homer listens to his parents talk about the history of Coalwood (his brother, Jim, would usually ignore these stories). Coalwood was founded by George L. Carter, who quickly discovered coal beneath the ground. He bought up land and installed stores, houses, and medical services. Under Carter’s guidance, Coalwood became an important mining site. Carter hired his son's army commander, William Laird, to take charge of mining operations. Laird was a Stanford graduate and a talented engineer, whom everyone called “The Captain.” Laird ensured that the miners’ quality of life was high—he installed parks, libraries, and a football field. As a result, Coalwood became one of the safest and most pleasant mining towns in the state.

Homer’s father has been working for the mine since he was 22 years old. Laird recognized that Homer Hickam Sr. was an intelligent man, and quickly promoted him to foreman. Hickam wrote to his high school sweetheart—Elsie Lavender—asking her to move to Coalwood and marry him. Elsie refused at first, but later relented when Laird himself wrote her, begging her to come to Coalwood. Shortly thereafter, Elsie married Homer Sr. Homer Jr. often thinks that she regrets this decision.

Homer Sr.’s father, whom Homer calls Poppy, moved to Coalwood along with his son, and worked there until he suffered an accident that left him in continuous pain for the rest of his life. To soothe his pain, he read books. Then, the town doctor prescribed him the painkiller paregoric, and afterwards, he never read another book.

In 1950, Homer Sr. discovered that he had colon cancer. Instead of seeking medical attention, he devoted himself to his work. Eventually he passed out and had to be carried to the hospital. Despite having much of his intestine removed, Homer Sr. returned to the mines in less than a month.

Growing up, Homer and Jim saw very little of their father, because he worked long hours. To entertain themselves, they watched movies at the local theater, the “Pocahontas Theater.” In the afternoon, they would see the daily “shift” of workers moving to and from the mines. Sometimes, they would throw Coke bottles at the coal trains passing through town.

One of Homer’s favorite activities is reading. His grade school teachers introduced him to Uncle Tom’s Cabin and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Later, he savored Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books. Eventually he turned to science fiction writers like Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, and Ray Bradbury. His teachers also forced him to read great American authors like Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, and John Steinbeck. Although he enjoys reading, Homer can’t “escape” into fiction—he’s always highly conscious of the fact that the people around him will either join the military or end up working in the coalmines. His mother, Elsie, doesn’t want him to end up in the mines.

Elsie resents Homer Sr. for spending so much time in the mines. Her four brothers, Robert, Ken, Charlie, and Joe, are miners, and her sister, Mary, is married to one. Nevertheless, she has no interest in the lives of miners—her favorite activity is working on a painting, which she never seems to finish, no matter how much time she spends with it. She repeatedly tells Homer that he’s not like the other boys in town—he’s not a miner by nature.