Rocket Boys is a memoir based on the early years of its author, Homer Hickam. Inspired by a blossoming interest in rockets, Hickam would study engineering at Virginia Tech University. Shortly after graduation, he enrolled in the US Army and fought in the Vietnam War. After returning home, he took up writing and began writing about his life experiences and military history. Rocket Boys was his second book and it won him many literary awards. In 1999, it was adapted into a Hollywood film and renamed October Sky.
A central theme in the book is the concept of a cold war. The book is set during the late 1950s in the Cold War Era, when tensions between the Soviet Union and the US were at an all-time high. However, Sonny also describes a cold war that was brewing inside of his own home. Because his family members tended to keep their feelings locked up inside, the atmosphere was frequently tense in their household, and seemed ready to explode at any time.
The book also deals with the idea of progress and exploring a new frontier. Sonny is lucky in the sense that he grows up in a special time. His life changes forever when he learns that the Soviets have sent a satellite into space. The event gives him direction and a meaningful goal that he can strive to achieve. The theme of new frontiers is reflected locally as well. During the 1950s and ’60s, changes in technology and society awarded Sonny with career opportunities that weren’t available to his parents. This presented him with the possibility of leaving his hometown and deciding his own future. And although his father has trouble accepting this new reality, he seems to have finally come to grips with the developments at the conclusion of the story.
