Sonny's Hard Work

As Sonny’s dreams become a reality he turns into a more modest person. He realizes that his hard work has paid off, as well as everyone from Coalwood’s work. They are half of the reason he is successful. They made his materials, helped him with the funds, and supported the Rocket Boys through it all. Sonny had a lot of up and downs emotionally throughout his adventure. He took advantage of his friends and the people willing to help him at Coalwood at first, and then they grew to want to help him.
I think Sonny’s new confidence helps him and his relationships. He is no longer cocky at the fact that he made rockets fly. He is humbled at the fact that he and his friends were successful. His parents were proud of him, and wanted to see him succeed. Sonny let his father light the fuse to the last rocket, and that made Homer and Sonny both realize that this “rocket business” wasn’t just some silly pastime. It was the foundation
for Sonny’s future to leave Coalwood and become successful.
His community was falling apart when Sonny left.
The Union and the workers couldn’t agree and there was no work at the mines. When Sonny was in Indianapolis and his things got stolen they did their best to get him new rocket materials. There has always been that sense of family in Coalwood. When they say, “It takes a village to raise a family”, they weren’t kidding. People view each other’s children as their own, and that they have to take care of each other. If they don’t who will?
At the end of the story, all of the rocket boys graduate, all of the BCMA boys in the top ten besides O’Dell and Roy Lee. They all take different paths after their graduation. O’Dell, Billy, and Roy Lee join the Air Force, with plans of using the GI Bill to go to college for free. Sherman attends West Virginia Tech. Homer uses his mother’s stock money to attend college. He hadn’t made up his mind on where yet, but was thinking about Virginia Polytechnic Institute for engineering. Quentin, although he doesn’t know how he will pay for it, enrolls at Marshall
University.
Coalwood mine shuts down in 1989. By this time, Homer and Elsie had moved to Myrtle Beach. Coal towns were shutting down, children were no longer promise jobs that had been in families for years. They had to move to get jobs, or go to college and get educated. That is the same way West Virginia is now. Job opportunities are slim. People relocate to bigger states with bigger cities and jobs. Some go to college, if they can afford it. The way that West Virginia transformed in 1989 still remains that way today. No coal, less jobs, and more education.