The Friday Everything Changed is an interesting short story about the traditional roles of women and men highlighted in a school environment among teenagers and their relation to the teacher. This is until girls decided to change this tradition.
Summary
The Friday Everything Changed is about Mrs.Ralston who usually chose two boys to fill and bring the water bucket next week every Friday during Red Cross hour. The chosen boys were considered “lucky” and the mission itself was considered as important. This is because the boys could get out of school for about half an hour and at the same time, it was considered a real thing to do. Choosing the boys went normally until Alma Niles asked why girls couldn’t do this. This was pretty surprising to the class but not to Mrs.Ralston who answered that she would think about it. Alma’s question triggered problems between boys and girls. The problems started right away after school because the boys considered Alma’s demand as a threat to “their role”. The girls stood together and never let the boys harm Alma. However, the problem didn’t stop there but the boys decided to not let the girls in the softball match at the school, although the girls’ role was mostly supplementary. This didn’t stop in the softball field but continued the whole week whenever the boys saw a girl from the school. However, the boys tried to make it harder for the girls so they might back off their demand. Boys tried even to convince Alma by sending her cousin, Arnold to talk to her. Neither Alma nor the Girls backed off their demand. The fact about Mrs.Ralston coming from River Hibbert changed a lot as they did things differently there. Girls had more power there. Mrs. Ralston decided to show the boys that girls were able to do as much as boys. That’s why she entered the field to play softball with the boys and took a bat to take her shot. Mrs. Ralston hit the ball and threw it long away. Then, in the classroom, Mrs.Ralston chose Alma Niles and Joyce Shipley to fill the water bucket and bring it next week.
The solution
Mrs.Ralston in The Friday Everything Changed is the teacher in the classroom. In other words, she was the leader of this small community of students in the classroom. Although she came from River Hibbert we’re things were done differently, she didn’t take a confronting place. She handled the issue smoothly. She never told the boys that they weren’t doing the right thing by trying to get the girls back off their demands. Mrs. Ralston decided to participate in the problem differently. She sent to the field, held the bat, and showed the boys that she could play as well as they did. Her indirect message to the boys was that even girls could do things that were considered only for boys. Then she went to choose two girls that Friday instead of two boys. She showed the boys that girls could do those tasks and then she went to choose two girls. In that way, she never confronted the boys.
The relationship between the boys and the girls
Mrs.Ralston’s decision must have affected the relationship between the two groups, boys and girls, at least on the issue of gender equality, or the water bucket task. The balance should have changed due to that decision. Girls had more power in that way and boys had less. I believe that this power that girls gained from this decision would open up for further demands from the girls’ side, for example, the softball match. This, in turn, will contribute to a more equal classroom or community at school.
The theme
The theme of the story is social with a focus on the issue of gender equality. The author minimizes the society to a small community in a school. The small community had an issue to solve which, in fact, wasn’t the water bucket but rather about power balance in this small community. For example, the author mentions challenging the tradition by the girls “Tradition. In Miss Ralston’s class the boys have always carried the water bucket. Until one day, the girls decide it’s time to challenge the rule. ..” or “…. that something of theirs was being threatened and that, as long as there was the remotest chance that any girl might get to carry the water, they had to do everything in their power to stop it.”.