October Sky's Narrative of Dream Come True

Making a Dream Come True

Everybody has a dream. Not everybody has the characteristics to make a dream come true. We hear about successful stories all around us, as if making a dream come true were so easy, but in reality we know making a dream come true is not as easy as it sounds. To achieve a dream he or she will face countless obstacles. In October Sky, Homer Hickam is a boy with a dream of winning a science fair in order to get a college scholarship and go into space. He follows his dream even with family problems, and many negative support surrounding him, he never gives up. There are certain qualities and characteristics needed to accomplish a dream everyone said was impossible. By looking at examples from the film, October Sky, article “Please Stop Following Your Dream”, by Phil Cooke and my observations we can see that when trying to achieve a dream, people need to be disciplined, have an ambitious attitude, and ambition.

A characteristic needed to accomplish a dream is discipline. The lack of discipline will resolve in failure. For example, boxers must get up early in morning to run their miles and train. They must follow a strict schedule. The key to their success is discipline. With out disciplining themselves to train they are nothing. Another example we can find is from the film, October Sky, Homer is determined to know everything he can about rockets. He devotes himself to learning physics and calculus in order to learn how to make a rocket fly. Homer stays up till sunrise studying and practicing math problems. He is determined to learn what is needed to build a rocket that will fly very high, one that wont explode. Someone with a dream must want it as their next breath and be disciplined in order to achieve it. Being disciplined is one of the biggest things I have gained since starting college, like not going out to frat parties when I have school the next morning. I have learned to put what is important before anything or anyone. I believe discipline and staying focus on what you want will help you achieve a dream.

Ambitions play an important role in pursing a dream. Ambition is an earnest desire for a type of achievement and the willingness to strive for its attainment. In the film, October Sky, winning a science fair was the aspiration of young Homer Hickam, Roy Lee, O’Dell, and Quinten to get out of their old dusty town. In this quote Homer Hickam states that there is something better out there for him, than just coal mining. “If I go on to win at Indianapolis, I can go to college, maybe even get a job at Cape Canaveral.” Homer shows he is ambitious by declaring he wants more than coal mining, and he won’t settle for average. With his ambitious attitude he encourages his friends to help him win the science fair, in hopes of someday fulfilling his dream of going into space. I can relate to Homer, in the sense that I also want something better for myself than the usual minimum wage job. That is why I made the decision of coming to a four-year university. In my hometown teenagers barely make it out of high school, nor little do they think about choosing a university to attend to. I am ambitious by taking advantage of the opportunity of going to a university and graduating with a degree. I know choosing this route will get me far in my life.

In order to achieve a dream you must always be positive. You must never give up and remember that others will not always see what is important to you to purse your dream. In Homer Hickam case his father does not understand why rockets are important to Homer. Homer says “I may not be the best, but I come to believe that I got it in me to be somebody in this world.” Homer has positive and believes in himself by stand up for what he wants, although his father does not support him in his dream with rockets. It is important to not listen to other people’s judgments about your dream. While they may not believe in you, you should always be confident and believe in yourself. For example in the article “Please, Stop Following Your Dream”, Phil Cooke states that people have been afraid to follow their dream because of what others might think or say of them. “While is was painful at the time, how many people have avoided years of disappointment because Simon wasn’t afraid to tell them the truth?” people who are eager to follow their dream should not be afraid about what others will think or say. Especially not let negative people stop them from pursing their dream.

To sum up, a dream is not easy to accomplish. There will be obstacles and negative comments surrounding you. You must have the right characteristics and attitude to follow it and pursue it. While others may not believe in you, you must be assertive and believe in yourself, as well as being disciplined with an ambitious attitude of wanting everything or nothing at all. Like Homer Hickam and other dream with far-fetched dreams achieved their goals, an individual can do it as well. It will be difficult but with the right characteristics and attitude it is not impossible.