The Wednesday Wars

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2007

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 1: "September"

Chapter 2: "October"

Chapter 3: "November"

Chapter 4: "December"

Chapter 5: "January"

Chapter 6: "February"

Chapter 7: "March"

Chapter 8: "April"

Chapter 9: "May"

Chapter 10: "June"

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Themes

Finding Community Despite Broken Family Relationships

As Holling navigates the difficulties of seventh grade, he finds a close-knit community outside of his family. Schmidt ironically highlights the shortcomings of the Hoodhood family. Although they live in “the Perfect House” (5) with “the Perfect Living Room” (6), story events show that Holling’s family is far from perfect. Hollings father spends more time maintaining his reputation and business success than deepening his relationship with his wife and children. Although he put a roof over his family’s head and boosted their position in the community, he neglected the most important aspects of being a father: loving and supporting his children.

Some young readers today can likely relate to the distant relationships Holling deals with at home. Just like Holling, readers can begin to form ideas of what types of parents they want to be one day. They can take Holling’s father as an example of what to avoid, and see that money, reputation, and success do not bring happiness or fulfilling relationships. Even for readers who come from healthy, close-knit families, Holling’s family serves as an example of the folly of chasing material success over meaningful connection.

Despite distant relationships at home, Holling forms connections with a somewhat unlikely mixture of people throughout the school year. When his parents choose the Bing Crosby Christmas Special over his Shakespeare performance and fail to show up for his cross-country race, Holling finds a community of supporters who are there for him: Mr. and Mrs. Hupfer, Mrs. Baker, Mrs. Bigio, Danny Hupfer, Meryl Lee and her father, and Mai Thi. At other points of the novel, such as when Holling’s father misses Opening Day and Holling is hit by the bus, Mrs. Baker is the one who drives him to the game and to the hospital. Holling’s friends and the adults in his life show him the meaning of community, and he stands by them in return. For example, Danny, Meryl, Mai Thi, and Holling have such a selfless friendship that they give up their lunch recess to help Danny practice for his bar mitzvah. Furthermore, at the novel’s end, Mrs. Baker’s entire class gathers on the tarmac with strawberries to welcome Lieutenant Baker home.

Even though Holling’s parents are a poor example of support, Holling rises above their flaws and chooses for himself. He chooses friendship, community, and kindness. In Mrs. Baker’s words, he “loved greatly, because he had seen what lost love is,” and “he came to know, too, that he was loved greatly” (263). Schmidt’s contrast between Holling’s preoccupied family and supportive community shows readers the impact of both the presence and lack of love and kinship. Holling inspires readers to value relationships above all else and to be a friend to those around them.

Coming-of-Age Amid National Events and Social Influences

Following Holling from beginning to end of his seventh-grade year, Schmidt’s novel shows the gradual coming-of-age that Holling experiences through plot events such as reading Shakespeare with Mrs. Baker, losing one of his biggest childhood heroes, and witnessing monumental events in the news. These experiences, among others, shape Holling’s maturity, identity, and perspective on what kind of man he hopes to be in the future.

When the novel begins, Holling is hesitant to stand up to his father. He smiles and nods when his father talks about passing Hoodhood and Associates to him someday, and he can’t understand why his sister would provoke their father by voicing strong political views. However, by the novel’s end, Holling changes; national events like the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy catch his attention and make him consider his opinions about the Vietnam War. He begins to think about how his future will be affected based on current political events, especially the possibility that he could be drafted if the war continues for five or more years.

Furthermore, he starts to stand up for himself and his sister. He finds a way to pick up Heather at the bus station despite no help from his parents, and after Danny’s bar mitzvah, he openly disagrees with his father. This is a defining moment in Holling’s coming-of-age, when he asserts that becoming a man is “not just about a job. It’s more. It has to do with choosing for yourself” (261). During his seventh-grade year, Holling gains insight and maturity by learning the importance of simply thinking and deciding for himself.

One great contributor to Holling’s maturity over the course of the school year is Mrs. Baker and the Shakespeare plays they discuss together. These discussions contribute to Holling’s understanding of others, himself, and his future. Schmidt draws several parallels between Shakespearean characters and events and the people and circumstances in Holling’s life. Holling uses the lens of Shakespeare to understand his world and notices both similarities and discrepancies between Shakespeare’s plays and real life. Discussions with Mrs. Baker also allow Holling to get to know his teacher on a personal level. He learns that she is more than a teacher; she is an Olympic runner, an expert camper, a wife, and more. For the first time, he understands that teachers are people, too, and that they haven’t always been teachers. He begins to recognize this truth elsewhere, that people are more than their role or title, such as with his father and Mrs. Bigio. As Holling sees the adults in his life in a new light, he considers his own adulthood. Who will he become? Who does he want to be? Even though he doesn’t have the answers yet, he wants the chance to see what he can do “with the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” (220).

Unrest in America During the Late 1960s

Schmidt’s choice to set his middle-grade novel in 1967 and 1968 gives today’s youth a portrait of this particular era of American history. However, rather than focusing the novel directly on the events of this time period, he focuses on the everyday events of Holling’s life, using the time period as a backdrop. He weaves nonfiction references to the culture and current events of the times into his fictional story, giving his account of Holling’s seventh-grade year significance as a snapshot of what it was like to be on the brink of manhood in the late 1960s.

As Schmidt develops a portrait of America, he highlights the civil unrest that characterized the nation at this time. Holling’s comments about the contrast between Walter Cronkite’s nightly reports of wounded soldiers and President Johnson’s assurance that casualties are few shows the discrepancies that existed in reporting the state of the war. Many Americans opposed the Vietnam War, and protests were common. Schmidt highlights this through comments from Heather, Holling’s sister, as she mentions the 50,000 protestors at the Pentagon. Heather’s character serves as a representation of America’s youth at this time. She claims to be a flower child, favoring peace and opposing the war. Holling’s father, however, doesn’t take her seriously, regarding her as a hippie and worrying more about his business reputation than the state of the nation.

Schmidt also mentions other major events, such as the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy. These two shocking events rocked the nation. Holling mentions the riots in major cities across the United States following the death of Martin Luther King Jr. He contemplates the death of Robert Kennedy in terms of his own future; had Kennedy been elected president, perhaps the war would have ended sooner. His assassination means Holling must face the possibility of getting drafted in the future.

Despite the serious nature of national events at this time, Schmidt manages to maintain a light, humorous tone, yet he also conveys significant occurrences. For example, he highlights the irony of the atomic bomb drills Holling’s school enforces, as young Holling recognizes that huddling under his desk won’t do anything to save him if an atomic bomb hits Camillo Junior High. Holling’s descriptions of the drills and Mrs. Baker’s scorn for them (lots of eye rolling) add humor to an otherwise sobering ritual. His thoughts about the drills also highlight the perceived threat of communism prevalent at this time in America and how fear of and opposition to the Soviet Union was felt by the nation, even young school children. Overall, the novel’s setting provides a meaningful depth to Holling’s seventh-grade year. It sheds light on a tumultuous time in American history, making it accessible to present-day young people and adults.