Describe two significant events that take place during the time period of The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt. What effect do these events have on...

Two really important things happen in the world during the
nine months of The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt. One is the
Vietnam War and the other is the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Neither of
these events has any particular impact, however, on the relationship or conflict between
Holling and his seventh-grade teacher Mrs. Baker. The opening lines of the novel are
spoken by Holling"

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Of all the kids in the seventh grade at Camillo
Junior High, there was one kid Mrs, Baker hated with heat whiter than the sun.
Me.

Despite Hoilling's
perceptions, Mrs. Baker does not hate Holling and soon even he knows it. Two significant
events that happen in the novel that do have an impact on their relationship, though,
are Holling's playing Ariel in a local production of The Tempest
and Holling having to try out for the cross country
team. 

Holling gets the role of Ariel rather accidentally,
but it is his love of Shakespeare which allows him to get it. That is a direct result of
reading and talking about Shakespeare's plays every Wednesday afternoon with Mrs. Baker.
She helps Holling get a better understanding of his role simply by reading the play with
him, and she is quite proud of his performance. This event enhances their
relationship.

Another event which Holling is dreading is
the tryouts for the cross country team in which he must participate. It is not something
he wants to do or is particularly good at, but Mrs. Baker gives him some pointers on his
running form which really help him. She reveals that she is a former Olympian, running
the anchor leg in the silver-medal-winning four-by-one-hundred relay in the Melbourne
Olympics in 1956. She helps Holling run with the same form as the famous Olympian Jesse
Owens. This experience also makes the relationship between Holling and Mrs. Baker
stronger.

There are, of course, several events which happen
that do strain their relationship. Everything to do with cream puffs and cleaning the
chalkboard erasers seems to cause a problem between them, as does Holling's inadvertent
release of her two pet rats while he is cleaning their cage. Mrs. Baker is also not
happy with Holling when he takes Shakespeare too lightly. None of these events, though
they do seem to add to Holling's perceived conflict with his teacher, seem to keep
Holling and Mrs. Baker from having a good working relationship for most of the
novel.