The Rocket Ship Symbol Analysis

The rocket ship structure at the local park symbolizes Quan and his hopes for the future. When the novel opens, the park and the rocket ship are new and shiny—which isn’t all that different from nine-year-old Quan. At this point, he’s a young kid poised for success, as he’s doing well in school and has the support of his Daddy. And in tough times—like when Dwight abuses Mama and threatens Quan, Dasia, or Gabe with violence—the rocket ship provides Quan a place to escape. In the ship, Quan can imagine blasting off somewhere happy and safe. The fact that he’s able to do this suggests that, at this age, Quan still has hope for his future. He still believes that if he dreams hard enough, he can have as bright of a future as Daddy says he does.

However, like Quan, the rocket ship struggles from the beginning. It soon becomes a favored spot of drug users or couples looking for a private spot to have sex, so much of Quan’s time at the rocket ship includes carefully cleaning up hypodermic needles and used condoms. Around this time, Daddy is arrested and things begin to go downhill for Quan. With Daddy gone and Mama busy dealing with Dwight’s abuse, Quan feels unsupported; he begins to act out and stops trying so hard to succeed in school. In the days after his first arrest, Quan escapes to the rocket ship. But it’s there that Quan meets Trey, the older boy who ushers Quan into premature adulthood by convincing him to join the Black Jihad gang.

In the days after Dwight’s death, Quan discovers that the rocket ship has been removed from the park. Seeing its absence makes it clear to Quan that his childhood is permanently over. With the rocket ship gone, there’s nothing now to facilitate Quan’s imaginings of flying away to a better place or a better life. This is especially true since he knows that Martel, a fellow gang member, was the one who had Dwight murdered as a favor to Quan and his mother. The rocket ship’s absence, then, seems fitting: Quan is stuck in the Black Jihad gang with no way of escape, even an imaginary one, because he now owes Martel a major debt for getting rid of Mama’s abuser. In this way, Quan’s childhood effectively ends, and he feels like what comes next—being incarcerated—is inevitable.