The Wednesday Wars

From Holling’s perspective, Mrs. Baker, his English teacher, is out to get him. Holling can sense her annoyance on the first day of school when she learns that every student except Holling will leave on Wednesday afternoons for their respective religious classes. Mrs. Baker appears to be a strict, no-nonsense teacher at the novel’s beginning. However, alongside Holling, the reader discovers more of Mrs. Baker’s life and personality and begins to see her in a new light.

Mrs. Baker’s genuine love for her students becomes clear throughout the school year. She takes Holling to Yankee Stadium for opening day, comes to his theater production and cross-country race, and even coaches him in running. From the latter, a new side of Mrs. Baker is revealed: She was a silver medalist in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics for the women’s relay. Hearing about Mrs. Baker’s athletic side compels Holling to confront assumptions that Mrs. Baker has always just been a teacher. Holling realizes that she had a life outside of teaching, and that she still does. Her husband, Lieutenant Baker, is deployed in Vietnam, which causes her perpetual worry that she tries to hide as she teaches each day. However, despite her own hardships, Mrs. Baker cares for her students. She wants to teach more than just English; she wants her students to grow into wise, loving learners who will go out and change the world someday.

Holling’s father is unquestionably the head of his household. He works hard to provide for his family and commands respect from his children. However, he is so caught up in furthering his business that he neglects family relationships. He places a high value on reputation, wanting to appear perfect in the eyes of the community. Schmidt ironically contrasts the Hoodhood’s Perfect House with their imperfect family dynamic. Although Holling’s father watches over his Ford Mustang “like his Reputation” (213), he fails to see what’s most important: listening to his daughter and welcoming her home after she runs away; helping his son navigate his seventh-grade year; and showing up to support Holling’s interests and endeavors. His imperfections in all these areas lead the reader to characterize him as materialistic and selfish.

Holling’s view of his father is affected when he hears his father’s unsympathetic reaction to Kowalski and Associates’ withdrawal from the junior high school bid. He calls them “chumps” and says, “if you can’t play for keeps, you shouldn’t be in the business in the first place” (154). In this moment, Holling sees his father as Shylock—greedy and coldhearted—yet also wonders if his father ever imagined a different life for himself. Rather than simply labeling Holling’s father as the villain of the novel, the reader recognizes that he wasn’t always this way. He became obsessed with success over time and through a series of small decisions. Although Mr. Hoodhood is uncaring and insensitive, Schmidt directs the reader to consider that there’s more to him than the father and businessman Holling sees. In this way, Holling’s father acts as a warning to Holling, motivating Holling to make his own decisions, value people above success, and be a better man than his father.