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
Since tenth grade, David has been going out of his way each morning to pick up Laurie from her house so that they can walk together to school. This morning, as David arrives at Laurie’s house, he is full of excited energy as he tells her all about how he brought The Wave to the football team. Laurie expresses her doubts that The Wave could really transform the football team—and mentions to David that her mother thinks the whole Wave movement “sounds like brainwashing.” David tells Laurie that her mother is a “crazy” worrywart and couldn’t “possibly understand” what The Wave is really about. Laurie feels the urge to argue with David, but restrains herself—she doesn’t want to get into a fight.
This passage shows how The Wave, though still in its early days, is already threatening to come between Laurie and David. They are at ideological odds when it comes to The Wave—and David is exhibiting a classic hallmark of groupthink as he encourages Laurie to dismiss or even revile anyone who questions The Wave’s righteousness.
Themes
That day, when Ben Ross’s students arrive in his history classroom, they find that he has tacked up a large poster with the blue Wave symbol on it at the back of the room. Ross silently moves up and down the aisles, passing around small cards—Laurie realizes they are Wave membership cards. Mr. Ross explains that some students will notice a red X on the backs of their cards—these students are “monitors,” and are tasked with reporting directly to Mr. Ross “any members of The Wave who do not obey [its] rules.”
Ben is excited by his students’ demonstration of initiative—and decides to reward them by taking the experiment one step further and upping the stakes even more. As the experiment veers more transparently into authoritarianism and surveillance, most students are actually excited rather than nervous.
Themes
Ross turns to the blackboard and writes a third section of The Wave’s motto: “STRENGTH THROUGH ACTION.” Discipline and community, he explains, are “meaningless” without action. He encourages the students to behave like a “well-oiled machine” and support each other through the tenets of The Wave. The students, one by one, rise and stand at attention next to their desks. Laurie joins them—but feels that something is off and “creepy” about how her classmates are behaving.
Ross wants his students to spread The Wave through the school and usher the experiment into a new phase—but as The Wave moves beyond Ross’s classroom, Laurie’s reservations multiply.
Themes
Ross tells his students that The Wave is not about individual glory but support of a “common cause”—they are all members on a team, and “No one is more important or more popular than anyone else.” The Wave, he posits, represents total equality. He charges his students with recruiting new members, a process which involves educating them about the rules of The Wave and making them “pledge strict obedience.” One by one, students begin standing up and telling Mr. Ross how grateful they are for The Wave. Ross is surprised and touched by the students’ earnest testimonials. He leads them all in a round of The Wave salute.
Ben Ross introduces an element of The Wave that he knows will appeal to his students—the idea of total equality. Ross isn’t blind to the social stratifications at Gordon, and in suggesting that no one should be more popular or more worthy than anyone else, he’s galvanizing a large part of the student body in pursuit of egalitarianism and the erasure of individual glory.
Themes
Get the entire The Wave LitChart as a printable PDF.
At lunch, all of The Wave members sit together at a long table. Brian, Brad, Amy, Laurie, and David are soon joined by Robert Billings, whom David welcomes warmly to their table. As the students discuss The Wave excitedly, Laurie chimes in to ask if anyone is feeling “weird” about the experiment, but the others all say they’re just excited about how “different” school is. Brad is grateful for the dissolution of the cliques and popularity contests that define high school—everyone, he says, is “equal” now. Laurie says she’s not sure how she feels about that. Brian flashes his membership card, revealing that he is a monitor, and jokingly threatens to report Laurie. David says that Laurie isn’t breaking any rules—but Robert speaks up and says that she would be if she was truly in her heart “against” The Wave.
This passage makes it clear that students like Robert, who have the most to gain from The Wave, are in danger of taking its mission too seriously for fear for sliding back into the school’s old ways. Robert is enjoying feeling like a part of a group, and is willing to do anything to keep that feeling going—even if it means turning against any of his newfound “friends” who speak out against The Wave.
Themes
Laurie is about to argue with Robert—but realizes that in doing so, she’d undermine the sense of community The Wave has created amongst her peers, and be alienating poor Robert once more. Brad claps Robert on the back and tells him he’s glad Robert has joined their table. Robert jokingly asks if Brad has stuck another “kick me” sign on his back, and all the others laugh.
Laurie doesn’t want to rock the boat or appear to be against her other classmates. She also feels a lot of empathy for Robert, and wants him to enjoy his newfound sense of belonging. Laurie is willing to go along with The Wave in order to keep things nice and simple among her friend group—for now, at least.
Themes
