October Sky: The Importance Of Interdependence

What is something vital for a relationship? Interdependence is something essential for every relationship: for friendships, romantic relationships, etc. Interdependence is necessary in a relationship because the individuals in a relationship need to depend on each other in order to reach their goals and develop as people. Interdependence is defined as the dependence of two or more people on each other, and it is an important thing due to the fact that it allows support to the people in the relationship, whether that be a romantic relationship, friendship, family relationship, or some other type of relationship, while additionally allowing the individuals to possess the strength to support others and focus on their own personal growth. There

When Sonny sought out Quentin and asked him why he hadn’t built one yet, Quentin replied, “I’ve considered building a rocket for some time, if you must know. Practical reasons, unfortunately, have prevented me from taking action. It takes teamwork to build a rocket, and materials. My observation of you is that you have certain… leadership abilities that I do not.” (Hickam 72). This quote is an example of how interdependence is necessary in a relationship because it shows that Sonny is dependent on Quentin, because Sonny doesn’t know how to build a rocket, while Quentin does, and demonstrates that Quentin is also dependent on Sonny, because Sonny possesses leadership qualities and materials that Quentin does not have. While it may be thought that rockets could have been created without any sort of interdependence between Sonny and Quentin, this is not the case because they wouldn’t have been able to succeed in creating their victorious rockets later in the book since without their interdependence, they would not have gotten the materials, leadership qualities, or knowledge they needed in order to produce the rockets that they both wanted to

When he discovered this, he called his mom and asked if there was any way that he could get new rocket supplies for the fair. He said, “Mom, I’ve got to get more rocket stuff somehow. Could you talk to Dad or somebody?” (Hickam 401). This shows Sonny’s dependence on his mom and the people of Coalwood, because he needed them in order to get the rocket supplies required for the science fair. A few pages later in the book, there was demonstration on how the people of Coalwood were dependent on Sonny likewise. Sonny’s dad had driven up to the mine to get the supplies Sonny needed, and went nose to nose with Mr. Dubonnet. From there, Mr. Caton pushed in between them and said, “Now, look here, you won’t find a better union man than me and I know we don’t have no contract, but we’ve got to help that boy. He’s not up there just for himself. He’s up there for Coalwood.” (Hickam 407). This shows the uniform dependence that the people of Coalwood have on Sonny. Sonny needs Coalwood for his rocket supplies, and Coalwood needs Sonny to make them proud. While it may be thought that Coalwood didn’t depend on Sonny, this is not the case because the people of Coalwood depended on Sonny to alter their reputation from just being a mining town to being the town from West Virginia that won the National Science Fair. This proves that both parties in the relationship, Sonny and Coalwood, depended on