Dear Homer,
I would just like to say that I admire everything you've done so far. I know that it must be difficult living in Coalwood where everything is about the mine and football, and not being able to contribute much to either. But that doesn't mean you don't have potential or that you can't help your town. None of that means anything if you can find something that you are good at, like building rockets.
At one point you claimed that you didn't know why you should build rockets and leave Coalwood, "'How do you know I don't belong here too?' I wondered....'Anybody raised here belongs here. You can't belong anywhere else.' ... 'Then I don't understand why I'm supposed to leave!'"(81). When you asked Mr. Dubonnet about this, he said that the mine is dying and so is the town. There will be nothing left for your generation, but I think there's more to that. Coalwood isn't good enough for you. You can do better and you deserve better. I know you want to go to college and I'm betting that your dream job isn't to run the mine. And since there are so few things that can get someone out of Coalwood (mainly just football), building rockets is something that can help. There's so much more to life and it's all out there, but first, you have to get out of Coalwood to see it.
The second thing I wanted to comment on is your determination. I'm glad that despite your father's disapproval, you have continued to build rockets. Although it wasn't exactly the best idea for you to launch the rockets so near the mine, it was still extremely unreasonable for your father to dump all your stuff down the river and to reassign Mr. Bykovski to the mine. There's another reason you should continue building rockets, for Mr. Bykovski. That would mean that his work wasn't done in vain. I just hope that no matter what happens, you won't let your father sway you. The entire town, minus all the "company men" and possibly the football players, are rooting for you, but they don't matter. "Company men" and football players already get enough attention and have ranks in this town. It's about time someone showed them there was more to life than coal and football. Maybe they don't want you to succeed because then it would uproot all the values in Coalwood, but I think it's time for change. How could anyone possibly think Coalwood or even the world would stay the same, especially after the launching of Sputnik. It's clearly unreasonable.
I guess all I'm trying to say is don't give up. Even if you fail, keep trying. Your entire future depends on whether you succeed or not. Maybe that doesn't really matter to you right now, but at least do it to prove all the nonbelievers wrong. Make a statement and secure a spot for yourself in Coalwood history. Just remember, everyone is cheering for the rocket boys!
Sincerely,
Amy
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Hehehe, our B posts are a lot alike. We both have characters who are very talented, but are stuck in oppressive and unnuturing environments. As a result, we both wrote letters of advice and encouragement to our characters, telling them that they are doing really well, but could do so much better.
Anyway, I think it's interesting that you are so ready to encourage Homer to ditch his entire family, considering that although they are not supportive, they are certainly not hurting him. True, Homer is very talented and deserves better things, but it requires a lot of faith and determination to make that leap, which is hard when you don't really hate your family. Maybe he could ease into professional rocketry to see if this is really the right role for him?
-Tom
Wow, now i feel like whatever i comment is not going to be enough. It seems like you picked an interesting book to read. You have some interesting support suggetions and advice for Homer.
hey amy,
i liked your post a lot and especially the comment about mr byloski or however you spell his name because when i read the book that was one of the things that irked me the most about homer's dad. i can't believet that a man like him who seemed so upright and moral would sink to a level to make homer feel guilty by punishing his friend. that sinks him to the level of a tyrant.
a movie we watched at cmap was about the mining strikes in harlan county. not surprisingly, the movie was called "harlan county usa". it was acutally pretty good, just a little dense. however, if you're looking for a movie and some more infor, i would definitely recommend it. it's more of a documentary than this memoir, but it has a definite view as well.
sarah
Post a Comment