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
That evening, over dinner, Laurie Saunders interrupts her father’s boring stories about his golf game earlier that day to tell her parents about what’s been going on in her history class over the last couple of days. Laurie knows her mother is a “worrywart,” but doesn’t think there’s anything suspect about The Wave. She describes the experiment as being “incredible” and exciting.
Mrs. Saunders says she thinks the experiment sounds “too militaristic,” but Laurie retorts that it’s “positive”—even the “class creep” Robert Billings has been picked on less and less over the last couple of days. Mrs. Saunders worries that Laurie is learning to be part of a group rather than learning the facts of history, and she and Mr. Saunders debate whether American values favor the power of the collective or those who aren’t “afraid to act as individuals.” Mrs. Saunders reminds Laurie that she has been raised to think for herself.
Laurie’s parents have deep-seated values and ideals regarding the importance of individuality and thinking for oneself, and perceive any threat to their daughter’s autonomy as a serious one—even as Laurie insists that The Wave is just an experiment.
Themes
Mr. Saunders accuses his wife of making too big a deal of the experiment. Mrs. Saunders suggests that Mr. Ross is manipulating his students, but Laurie angrily says that Mr. Ross is doing what he’s doing “for the class’s good.”
Laurie’s parents seem divided on The Wave’s utility—but Laurie continues trying to tell herself that ultimately, The Wave will be a good thing for Gordon High.
Themes
Though this evening is Ben Ross’s night to cook dinner for himself and Christy, he’s too preoccupied with more research for The Wave to make anything, and instead picks up Chinese takeout. Over dinner, Christy asks if Ross’s “monsters” have “turned on [him]” yet—but Ross insists that his students are actually acting like human beings for the first time. Christy marvels that the same unruly students in her music class could behave so well for Ben—Ross retorts that “it’s amazing how much more they like you when you make decisions for them.”
As Ben and Christy discuss the experiment, even Christy is charmed by The Wave’s power to transform lazy, selfish students into unified, hardworking ones. Ben, with some sarcasm, marvels at how well students respond to mindless authoritarianism—but the dark side of his comment will reverberate throughout the novel’s pages as The Wave grows stronger.
Themes
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Christy asks Ben how far he plans to take his experiment, and he admits that he doesn’t know—but is too fascinated to stop. He admits that he feels himself getting caught up in it too. Christy jokes that he is “becoming a guinea pig in [his] own experiment”—but there is a part of her that hopes her husband will take her words to heart as a warning.
Just like Ben’s sarcastic statement about students loving to have their decisions made on their behalf, Christy’s joke about Ben being a “guinea pig” also has serious undertones.
Themes
