In Gary Schmidt's novel, The Wednesday
Wars, Mrs. Betty Baker is a woman who comes across as an amazing teacher—she
has her drawbacks which make her human enough to be believable. Her trait is stepping up
to a responsibility or difficulty she may not like, but making the best of
it.
We see this trait in the way Mrs. Baker deals with
Holling. While she ends up very much involved in Holling's life—supportive of him,
seeing his good qualities and taking a real interest in his
life...
Her
extracurricular activities—taking him to Yankee Stadium and on an architectural
tour—make her seem like a guardian
angel.
...(characteristics
that make her almost too good to be true), it wasn't always this
way. Mrs. Baker is not a superhero, but simply a dedicated teacher. Early on, she does
not warm up to Holling completely, and her "irritation" with him is obvious. Holling
starts his story as follows:
Of all the kids in the seventh grade at Camillo
Junior High, there was one kid that Mrs. Baker hated with heat whiter than the
sun.
Me.
Mrs.
Baker ascertains that Holling will be coming to her classroom on
Wednesdays—because the Jewish and Catholic students attend Hebrew School or Catechism,
and he does not.
"You are here with
me."
"I guess," I said.
Mrs.
Baker looked hard at me. I think she rolled her
eyes.
However, things will
eventually change for the better, probably most notably when they begin reading
Shakespeare on Wednesdays.
While Mrs. Baker is doing her
best in the classroom, she is plagued by her own person problems. In learning of these
difficulties, we can find the real person behind the professional front she puts on for
her students: her husband is fighting overseas in the Vietnam War which causes her a
great deal of worry, especially when he is lost and missing in action. However, as noted
before, she is someone who takes the difficulties placed in front of her, and does her
best to move forward and make the best of it: carrying on with
life.
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