The Wednesday Wars

A seventh grader whose school is largely divided between Catholics and Jews. But, because Holling is a Presbyterian, he has to stay alone with Mrs. Baker on Wednesdays. Causing him to think that Mrs. Baker hates his guts. During these Wednesday's, Mrs. Baker makes Holling do extra work. Each time, he thinks that she was making him do things because she hated him. First she makes him do physical work, but after a while she has him learning Shakespeare. Games were being played between his dad’s company, Hoodhood and Associates, and other nearby corporations. Holling dislikes the fact that his dad will never care about what he asks if it might have the slightest chance of disrupting a deal. In a short amount of time, Holling starts

A teacher not only enforces academic material in a student, but life lessons and important virtues as well. Gary D. Schmidt portrays Mrs. Baker, Holling’s seventh grade teacher, in The Wednesday Wars as an encouraging mentor who teaches Holling various values that help him prosper in his life. The novel begins by introducing Holling as the only Presbyterian in his class, and while the other students go to church, he is stuck with Mrs. Baker, who at first seems to detest his guts. However, throughout the course of the year, she becomes a guide to Holling by instilling values that will aid him to become a more ideal person not only as a student, but as an individual. Mrs. Baker molded Holling into a better person throughout his seventh grade

Normal life is not an option with a ferocious 30 year war going on, and it is no easier if it takes place on the other side of the world in Vietnam. The Wednesday Wars searches through the ideas of boundaries by using the life of a normal boy, Holling Hoodhood, to show the feelings of growing up in the midst of the Vietnam War. Holling has to learn how to grow up and explore his relationships and ultimately find himself. Throughout the novel The Wednesday Wars, Holling examines the boundaries of war through his experiences with his father, Ms. Baker, and his readings of Shakespeare all develop the theme of comfort, independence, and masks.

In the novel “Tomorrow When the War Began” written by John Marsden, one important idea that was developed throughout the written text was how life events change people. People develop the most during their teenage years which is when they are affected the most during their life.Major life events change people and teenagers need to understand this. In this novel, seven teenagers go camping and when they emerge from the bush there are fires everywhere, the power is out and the animals are dead. The small town of Wirrawee has been invaded by the army. The idea of how life events can change people is shown through the technique of characters. With the events of war, Ellie showed how she grew up and lost her innocence because of the choices she

During the nineteenth century the United States’ economy was based on agriculture. Farmers lived faraway from cities or places where polling was held. In addition, people used horses and buggy to commute to places. To set the appropriate day for election, lawmakers needed to allow extra day for some farmers to arrive on the Election Day. They realized that Monday would not work for those citizens who needed to travel on Sunday, a day of Sabbath. Lawmakers knew that Wednesday would not work as well because for many farmers it was important market day. Thus, Tuesday was considered the most suitable day to vote.

The parallels between the children in the monastery in The Devil’s Backbone and the children who were sent to the countryside of Britain during WWII astound me. I tend to forget the civilians while reading about past wars, but movies like The Devil’s Backbone are a strong reminder of what happens to the children who are left behind while their parents serve their country. Not only were these kids the (often orphaned) sons of the members of the Republican Army, but they were sent to a supposedly safe place. The biggest threat they faced was from bombs being dropped on them, much like the British children in WWII. The area this movie takes place in was nearly desert, a stark contrast to the conditions Sánchez Mazas was almost executed in. Switching gears, much like Even the Rain the movie uses the war it takes place in as a backdrop to it’s story. It uses the Spanish Civil War as a backdrop for a story about war orphans living during that time. Unlike Even the Rain, the children play no significant part themselves in the war. Furthermore, there isn’t a major political backdrop for The Devil’s Backbone. The fascists are seen executing captives and many of the children are Republican orphans, but that is the extent of the politics in the film. In addition, the children are simply passive observers of events, while the characters in Even the Rain were actively affected by or involved with the war.

“All for fun. Just for fun.” This quotation taken from the novel, The Sun Also Rises illustrates Ernest Hemingway’s distaste for the effects of war and needless violence on the human condition that is reflected in the experiences of Jake Barnes, the main character of the boook. At one point in the story, Jake witnesses firsthand a man being stabbed to death by a bull during a bull rush and later on recounts the event to a waiter of a nearby cafe. It is here where Hemingway establishes his personal negative sentiment towards the killing as a metaphor for war and violence through the use of various literary elements including repetition, imagery and tone.

territory with Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon each trying to gain the upper hand on

The Yom Kippur War also demonstrated that the Arabs could also hurt Israel’s Western allies too (Ross, 1996, p. 47). Arabs states put an embargo on oil to the United States and Western Europe (Ross, 1996, p.47). There was a new weapon that could be used to draw the attention of the superpowers to the conflict. Oil had a devastating effect when its prices were doubled and its production was cut into half causing world-wide economic and political problems (Ross, 1996, p. 67). The United States began to place pressure on the Israel to make concessions with Arabs (Blumberg, 1998, p.123).

I believe in the power of Fridays. They hold a special place in my heart. Since I was three years old I’ve looked forward to them every week. The reasons have changed over the years, but I still have the same excitement for Friday as I did a decade ago.

YHS has undergone many changes in the past couple of school years and it's stirred up quite the controversy. The disappearance of the “Senior Table”, the giant new wall in Student Services, the various flat screen TVs positioned all around the school, the “Parking Permits”, etc… but what's been the most controversial this year has been Super Fridays. Some students don’t mind, while others have openly, and quite loudly complained.

mrs. Fields reminded me you don't have to get a perfect score you just have to do your best

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a sector of the Arab-Israeli conflict. At large, it is the result of misunderstandings and inactions. This conflict has been greatly influenced and altered by the opinions and movements made by outsiders, specifically international powers such as the United States. Those states have both helped and hurt the situation; moreover, the attempts of exterior mediation have ultimately furthered the extremes of both the Israelis and the Palestinians. In more aspects than one, Israel has been the victor of the conflict, not because they have won, but because they have repeatedly taken charge and taken what they wanted. At times, that has meant complete abandon of authoritative orders. The Palestinians, on the other hand, have been mostly reserved during the conflict. That has resulted in their land being overtaken and their wishes being ignored. While both groups have been wronged to a certain degree, neither has taken clear steps to reconciliation. The steps taken have all been completely one sided. Key themes surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict include the effect of World War I decisions on the polarity of the region, the idea of nationalism both internally and externally, as well as the influence of the Cold War on Israeli-Palestinian relations. Despite all the failures, there is still hope for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to be

The year was 1945, Hitler was dead, and the word was trying to pick up the pieces from the destruction of World War II (WWII) which was the worst war known to man causing the death of 60 million or more humans. The paper around the world had headlines such as “The Worst is Behind Us” or “Never Again”. The leaders of world nations were bamboozled by what had happened in the past 10 years, they never believed they would have witnessed such a scary reality of what was WWII.

One major idea in the book “The Wednesday Wars” by Gary D. Shmidt is growing bonds.In this novel there are many twists and turns about how one feels about the Protagonist Holling Hoodhood.This In the Beginning Holling felt very strongly about Mrs.Baker and how she hates his guts.Another example was when Holling had a moment with his sister and she got mad at him for not backing her up.Another example is when Doug Swietstick’s Brother had felt like getting revenge on Holling (for tripping him) and posted the pictures of Holling Hoodhood with his yellow tights from the Shakesphere play. Then Holling had the urge to get revenge and he decided to throw a snowball at him, but Doug Swietstick’s Brother found out and threw snowballs at him eventually injuring him.