Ms. Lesnick

English 1 (8)

28 March 2019

                                                       It’s not always so Sonny in Coalwood

Sonny’s feelings about his community are currently divided between his heart and his head. He feels ingrained into the community with a great group of friends and at some points, a semi-functioning love life. When Sonny and Quentin were still trying to figure out how to make their idea for the rocket real, Sonny went to Mr. Bykovski. He worked in the machine shop and assisted Sonny because he had a special liking for him. After sonny gets in trouble at the mill and Mr. Bykovski is removed from his job,  He continues to support Sonny by exclaiming, “Make these fly. Show your dad what you and I did together” (Hickam, Jr. 97). Although most of the community mocks and ridicules Sonny for his many questionable actions, there are a few people in the community that are supportive. He wants to stay in the community because of these select people who are so spectral to him, but the others who jeer at sonny, make him question his place. Before sonny had access to Mr. Bykovski and Quentin, his rockets were more like bombs.

And when his rocket blew up his mother’s fence, she gave him another idea to think on. When she told sonny that Coalwood is dying and that he needs to het out, he thought to himself, “...what Mom had said about Coalwood dying, ... was the hardest thing to understand...” (Hickam, Jr. 46). His own mother, the only person in his family that likes him, was trying to get him to leave the community. He struggles to grasp the concept of his only real home dying. His community has become apart of him even though it has not always treated him nicely. He has many different thoughts and idea running through his head, which leaves him questioning himself and his community.