Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Wave, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Groupthink and Coercion
History and the Past
Equality vs. Independence
Education
Summary
Analysis
In the cafeteria, David wolfs down his lunch. Laurie arrives and sits with him, and together they watch Robert struggle to find a place to sit. As Laurie picks at her lunch, David asks her what’s wrong—she admits that she was deeply bothered by the film about the Holocaust, and asks David if he’s bothered, too. David replies that as “horrible” as the death camps were, they happened “a long time ago,” and David knows one “can’t change” history. Laurie says one can’t forget about it, either. David asks Laurie if he can finish her hamburger, and she hands it to him.
This passage shows how, in stark contrast to Laurie’s deep emotional and existential reaction to the film, David could not care less about history—he sees it as a closed circuit rather than a living, breathing thing. This interaction foreshadows that David will learn the hard way that history can sometimes repeat itself.
Themes
Amy and Brian Ammon, the football team’s quarterback, arrive at the lunch table and squabble about who gets to sit at the table with Laurie and David. Laurie encourages them both to squeeze in. Brian sets down two full lunch trays, and explains that he is bulking up for a game against Clarkstown, a rival high school whose players are rumored to be “huge.” David agrees that Gordon High barely stands a chance—half their players can’t even be bothered to show up to practice.
The subplot about Gordon High’s upcoming game against the intimidating Clarkstown team is yet another example of the scattered, disorganized student body at Gordon—and how The Wave will stand to galvanize them.
Themes
The group’s attention once again shifts to Robert Billings, who is reading a comic book and dribbling food down his chin. Brian asks the others if they saw him sleeping through the movie. David tells Brian not to bring up the movie, since it upset Laurie. Laurie accuses David of teasing her. David retorts that he’s not teasing, and wasn’t unbothered by the film—but believes “the world learned its lesson.” Laurie stands up and says she’s going to The Grapevine office to work. Amy offers to accompany Laurie. As the girls walk away, David tells Brian that Laurie “always takes stuff like that too seriously.”
Amy and Laurie sit in The Grapevine office talking about the film from history class while Amy sits near an open window, smoking a cigarette. Amy asks if Laurie and David are having a fight, but Laurie says she just wishes David would be a little more serious sometimes. The girls discuss college and marriage—Laurie says she wants to go to college with David, but doesn’t feel ready to get married yet. Amy says that she herself wouldn’t turn down a marriage proposal from a guy like David. Laurie, who knows how much Amy envies her and wants to emulate her, becomes nervous about the competitive edge their friendship has always had.
This passage foreshadows another element of The Wave’s appeal to many students at Gordon. Laurie knows how competitive and jealous Amy is, to the point of wanting to have Laurie’s life as her own. The equalizing force of The Wave will soon create a sense of egalitarianism within the student body—but whether that equality is really true or not will remain to be seen.
Themes
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There is a loud knock on the door—when the girls ask who’s there, a deep voice replies that it is Principal Owens, and reprimands the girls for locking the door. Amy quickly throws away her cigarette, terrified, while Laurie unlocks the door to reveal Carl Block and Alex Cooper, two Grapevine writers and class jokers, standing on the other side. Laurie chides the boys for their cruel joke, and asks them where their assignments for the next issue are. Alex exclaims that he has to “catch a plane to Argentina,” and Carl offers to drive him to the airport. They scurry from the office as Laurie and Amy laugh.
Even though Amy and Laurie have difficulties in their friendship, there is a close sense of camaraderie between them. They share secrets and mutual friends, and always look out for one another. This dynamic, however, will shift as The Wave takes over Gordon.
Themes
