The Friday Everything Changed Questions
- The boys were so upset at the idea of girls carrying the water bucket because it meant that you were strong and a big guy, you’d get to skip school for at least 30 minutes and it was the only thing that was actually real. It represented that they were free and that they had power.
- The boys threaten the girls by telling them that they aren’t allowed to play softball with them during the break anymore and saying that the first girl to step on the field would get their neck broken. They also picked on the girls and bullied them in hopes that they’d go back to Miss Ralston and tell her to forget about what Alma had said. At first, the girls were scared but as time passed they realized that all the things that the boys are doing to them is just bringing them all closer together because they started telling each other their thoughts and troubles.
- The Alma Niles’ seatmate is telling the story. She really like Miss Ralston and views her as sort of a role model and so do the other girls. I don’t really think that she cared much because in the end all that really mattered was whether or not there was water at school, not who was bringing the water. The point of view that the story is told is the first person point of view.
- The setting is at the school Junior Red Cross and the kids there don’t consider themselves the same as the kids from other public schools like River Hibbert because of the clothes that they wore or the things that they had in their class (coal stove, double desks). I would say that the conflict is both person vs person and person vs society because it’s like the girls versus the boys and also that they were different form all the other kids that went to public school/city school so therefore it would be the kids versus the society. The conflict can also be person vs self because they have this constant vision of the kids from other schools in their heads and they want to be just like them and they can’t and therefore they’re having a constant battle in their heads about why they can’t be “normal”. I would say that the setting intensifies the conflict because if they were city kids they wouldn’t be going through these things and because they’re probably not rich.
- The protagonist is Alma Niles. I know this because she was the one who was brave enough to stand up for what she wanted to happen in the school. She was a girl who was well-liked in the school by everyone.
- The girls were now allowed to go fill the water bucket all because of Alma. What Miss Ralston did showed that girls too can play as well as the boys could and that it didn’t matter what gender or age you were, you should always include people in the things you do. The theme of the story is that boys and girls should have equal rights and opportunities even though it was just to carry the water bucket.
Vocabulary
galavanized– coat (iron or steel) with a protective layer of zinc
remotest– having very little connection with or relationship to
intoxicated– cause (someone) to lose control of their faculties or behavior
omnious– giving the impression that something bad or unpleasant is going to happen; threatening; inauspicious
supplementary– completing or enhancing something.
forlonly– unlikely to succeed or be fulfilled; hopeless
earnestly– with sincere and intense conviction; seriously
gloating– dwelling on one’s own success or another’s misfortune with smugness or malignant pleasure
transfixed– cause (someone) to become motionless with horror, wonder, or astonishment
pirouettings– perform a pirouette