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Mrs. Sidman
Mrs. Bigio is the school cook at Camillo Junior High School. Though her lunches leave a lot to be desired, she's a skilled pastry chef and all the students covet her cupcakes. Her husband, a soldier in Vietnam, dies in November. Holling witnesses Mrs. Bigio's grief when she seeks out Mrs. Baker on a Wednesday afternoon, and he declares he'll never forget the sounds of her sadness. Mrs. Bigio struggles with her grief for months. Her cooking suffers, and she becomes sharp and cruel to all the students but especially Mai Thi, whom Mrs. Bigio treats like a scapegoat. Holling, however, notices that when Mrs. Bigio is cruel to Mai Thi, both Mai Thi and Mrs. Bigio cry. Finally, after she notices other students beginning to bully Mai Thi, Mrs. Bigio apologizes and begins to cook Vietnamese treats and food, and even tries her best to pronounce the Vietnamese words properly. When she joins Mrs. Baker's class on their final camping trip, she invites Mai Thi to come live with her.
Mrs. Bigio Quotes in The Wednesday Wars
The The Wednesday Wars quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Bigio or refer to Mrs. Bigio. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
November
Quotes
Everyone—except for Caliban—is happy, and everyone is forgiven, and everyone is fine, and they all sail away on calm seas. Happy endings.
That's how it is in Shakespeare.
But Shakespeare was wrong.
Sometimes there isn't a Prospero to make everything fine again.
And sometimes the quality of mercy is strained.
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December
Quotes
"Pick it up and be glad you're getting it. 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."
Mai Thi took her Something. She looked down, and kept going.
She probably didn't see that Mrs. Bigio was pulling her hairnet down lower over her face, because she was almost crying.
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Mrs. Bigio Quotes in The Wednesday Wars
The The Wednesday Wars quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Bigio or refer to Mrs. Bigio. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
November
Quotes
Everyone—except for Caliban—is happy, and everyone is forgiven, and everyone is fine, and they all sail away on calm seas. Happy endings.
That's how it is in Shakespeare.
But Shakespeare was wrong.
Sometimes there isn't a Prospero to make everything fine again.
And sometimes the quality of mercy is strained.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
December
Quotes
"Pick it up and be glad you're getting it. 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."
Mai Thi took her Something. She looked down, and kept going.
She probably didn't see that Mrs. Bigio was pulling her hairnet down lower over her face, because she was almost crying.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
