Skip to main content

How is Danny Hupfer's background similar to Mai Thi Huong's background in Gary Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars?

In Gary Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars, the greatest similarity in background Danny Hupfer and Mai Thi Huong share is that they both come from ethnic minority groups that are persecuted. Danny is Jewish, whereas Mai Thi is a Vietnamese refugee. Despite their background of persecution, or perhaps in part because of it, both prove to be very brave characters.

Danny demonstrates bravery by devotedly practicing for and following through with his bar mitzvah. He is terrified of his bar mitzvah because he knows that if he makes a mistake, he'll bring shame to his whole family. Yet, because he knows it is such an important tradition in his heritage and because his friends are encouraging him, he follows through with devotedly practicing. By June, Holling reports that Danny sang at his bar mitzvah brilliantly, as if "God himself [was] leading the music" ("June"). In addition, Danny demonstrates bravery by standing up for Holling when Mickey Mantle insults him, refusing to autograph Holling's baseball because he is still wearing his fairy costume after having performed in The Tempest; Danny stands up for Holling by handing his own signed ball back to Mickey Mantle. Best of all, Danny stands up for Mai Thi by punching and dumping his entire lunch tray on the head of an eighth grader who insults Mai Thi by insisting she eats rats and saying, "Why don't you go back home where you can find some [Rat Surprise]" ("March").

Similarly, Mai Thi demonstrates bravery by trying to assimilate into her new American culture while having to face racial prejudice. Mrs. Bigio is particularly guilty of racial discrimination because she blames the Vietnamese for her husband's recent death, as seen when she says the following to Mai Thi just before the holidays:



You shouldn't even be here, sitting like a queen in a refugee home while American boys are sitting in swamps on Christmas Day. They're the ones who should be here. Not you. ("December")



Yet, in the face of such discrimination, Mai Thi behaves bravely by holding in her tears until she can no longer take it. Mai Thi even demonstrates bravery when the two escaped rats, Sycorax and Caliban, terrorize the classroom. Mai Thi is the only one, aside from Mrs. Sidman, who stands ready to conquer the rats. Yet, her bravery leads to even more discrimination until Danny stands up for her. Soon, even Mrs. Bigio apologizes and invites Mai Thi to live with her.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

etymology - Origin of the greeting "Sweet dreams".

Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are the similarities between the relationships of the characters in The Outsiders and Romeo and Juliet?

At first glance, it might appear as if the characters in  The Outsiders  by S. E. Hinton and  Romeo and Juliet  by William Shakespeare do not have much in common; however, when one isolates the core of the conflicts, it becomes clear that the relationships in both stories are rooted in rivalry and secrecy.  In both  The Outsiders  and  Romeo and Juliet , an overarching theme is rivalry. While   socioeconomic status separates the greasers from the Socs in The Outsiders , last names separates the Montagues from the Capulets, who appear to be relatively equal in terms of socioeconomic status. Due to these rivalries, there are instances of deadly interactions in both stories. In  The Outsiders , Johnny kills Bob (whether his actions were justified or not is debatable). In  Romeo and Juliet , Romeo kills Tybalt and Paris, and Tybalt kills Mercutio. These deaths have profound effects on the main characters. In Ponyboy's case, the Johnny's death and other events in the novel inspire h...
Post a Comment
Read more