Summary and Response to The Rocket Man Final Copy Bob Final PDF

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Final draft of my summary and response styled paper required for ENG 111. APA...

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Bob Bob Bob Bob English Composition 4 February 2018 Summary and Response of Ray Bradbury’s “The Rocket Man” “The Rocket Man” is a short story written by Ray Bradbury that describes the conflict of a father whose personal life interferes with his passion for space. The father comes home from a three-month journey in outer space to his family who is excited to see him. Doug (the son) is very interested in his father’s passion for space and wants to learn more about his dad’s hobby; however, the father discourages Doug from becoming a “rocket man” because the want to take care of his family and the want to explore space are constantly conflicting with each other. Lilly (the mother) is lonely and sad because her husband is never around to spend time with her, or Doug. The father keeps promising his retirement of space exploration, but, in the end, he keeps leaving and does not return for three-month intervals. Ultimately, the father decides to leave for space again but he promises this will be his last journey in space. A day later, Lilly and Doug receive a message entailing the death of the father and how he crashed into the sun; leaving Lilly scarred and heartbroken to the point where she cannot go out during the day because the sun reminded her of her husband’s death. While reading “The Rocket Man,” many themes present themselves. These themes are based upon technological advancements in the future, the conflict of interest between what a man really wants, as well as loneliness, depression, sadness, selfishness and irony. After reading the story, I couldn’t help but feel extremely sorry for

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Lilly and Doug. The father’s family needed him home for emotional and physical reasons; because the father was always spending long periods of time in outer space, Lilly had nobody to help her with day to day tasks and she had nobody to be there for her emotionally. Doug had no father figure to relate to or learn from and is constantly missing his father. The father’s journeys into space fulfill his dreams and wants but overall has a very negative impact on his family. His passion for exploring space leaves his family worried, sad, and lonely, which leads to his death. This causes great despair and heartbreak for Lilly and Doug. The father displayed unintentional selfishness all throughout the story, and only created emotional pain for his family. Selfishness can come in many forms, but in the end, only creates pain for others. The father’s journeys to space had a terrible effect on his wife Lilly. She is constantly trying to distract herself from anything that reminds herself of her husband and his long trips into space. Lilly feels lonely when her husband’s gone and the story reminds the reader of her loneliness multiple times. At one point in the story, Doug asks his father to try on his space clothes so he could see; and it tells us that she’s “unhappy” that Doug asked that. Lilly responds by saying “you’re not helping at all” (156). This gesture lets the reader know that Lilly does not appreciate her husband’s space journeys and hates being reminded of them. Another example of Lilly feeling lonely and desperate in the story was when she referred to her husband as “dead” (338). Lilly explains that her husband is gone for so much of the time, that she considers him dead. When the father comes home, Lilly treats him as a memory because he only returns to home “3 or 4 times a year” (336), and to Lilly that’s not enough. Lilly also explains that

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sometimes she does treat him like he’s “alive” (341), but that only makes her sadder and does nothing but contribute to her feeling of loneliness. The father’s selfish passion for exploring outer space not only affects Lilly, it affects his son Doug as well. Doug is left without a father for most of the year and has no figure to look up to and learn from. At the beginning of the story when the father first comes home, the text says “’sleep good Doug?’ he said, as if he had been here all the time, and hadn’t been gone for three months” (68). These lines suggest that Doug is frustrated that his father is speaking to him like he has not been away from home for three months, and Doug misses him. Along with missing his father, Doug also misses the personal father to son relationship that a lot of kids have. In the text, Doug talks about how “other boys’ fathers” bring back pieces of ore, meteor, and sand to give to their kids as gifts; but Doug’s father does not do that (123, 124, 125). At another point in the story, Doug asks questions about outer space and his father refuses to talk about them. The father responds to one of Doug’s questions with “Oh, it’s really nothing at all. Routine. You wouldn’t like it” after beginning to explain how he really felt about space (137, 138). These lines tell the reader that Doug and his father don’t have a very personal relationship even though Doug wishes to learn more from his father. Ironically, the father’s selfishness ended in his own death-dying because of his passion for space and his selfish mindset to choose space exploration over his family. At the very end of the text it shows just how much the father’s death impacted Lilly and Doug. Lilly “slept through the days” and would not go out during the daytime (366). Doug had to accommodate for this and they both ate meals at night instead. Their schedules included night time activities only because looking at the sun reminded Lilly

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of her husband’s death, and Lilly missed her husband so much that she can’t bear to look at anything that resembles space or anything to do with her husband and his death. This story resembles the consequences of selfishness and the impact it has on one’s self as well as one’s loved ones. If the father had given up his passion for space, Lilly and Doug would not have to deal with loneliness, depression, and the emotional pain of missing him for the rest of their lives; proving selfishness creates pain for others.

Bob Works Cited: Bradbury, Ray. The Rocket Man. 1951. Print

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