Rocket Boys Essay

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Rocket Boys By: Homer Hickman Jr Setting: West Virginia, Coalwood. Main Character: Homer Hickman Jr, 14 yeas old. Homer Hickman: is a hard-headed mine foreman in Coalwood and Sonny's father. He takes his job very seriously, going out of his way to help miners in distress. He is almost always at odds with the union leader, John Dubonnet, who dated Elsie when they were all in high school together. Homer Sr. seems to not care about Sonny's affairs as much as he does Jim's; Sonny points this out in the book much to Homer Sr.'s chagrin. He has a spot on his lung that is the common miner's disease, black lung (Coal Workers' Pneumoconiosis), but refuses to quit work, although most men who are discovered to have this illness are forced into retirement, but allowed to stay in Coalwood. Quentin Wilson: is an intelligent member of the Rocket Boys and the person who does the most math out of the entire group. Quentin carries around a suitcase stuffed with books wherever he goes and finds excuses to get out of gym class. He is excitable and often confounds the other members and townspeople with his advanced vocabulary when jumpy. Jimmy "O'Dell" Carroll: is small and excitable, the most emotional member of the group. His father drove the town garbage truck, allowing O'Dell access to many useful items, frequently scrounged to further the group's efforts. He is always scheming ways of making money, from the failed iron scrap attempt—which took an entire summer, yielded a net loss of one dollar, not counting the destruction of borrowed equipment, and almost killed Sonny—to the profitable harvesting of ginseng. Sherman Siers: has a physically weakened left leg as a result of polio, but does not let it slow him down. He is also the most observant and practical member of the team. Roy Lee Cooke is Sonny's best friend. He teaches Sonny something about girls. In the follow-up

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