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Principal Owens is the imposing but genial principal of Gordon High. He is a large, towering man who frequently smokes a pipe and is never seen in anything less than a three-piece suit. Owens, who is usually open to new ideas and experiments in furthering his students’ education, is initially skeptical of The Wave when Ben Ross brings him the idea—but Owens has faith in Ross as an educator, and admires Ross’s goal of teaching his students an important moral lesson. As the movement gets out of control, though, and Owens has to field more and more phone calls from and meetings with concerned parents, he warns Ross that if he doesn’t bring the movement to a swift, calm end, Ross will have to resign.
Principal Owens Quotes in The Wave
The The Wave quotes below are all either spoken by Principal Owens or refer to Principal Owens. 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:
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Chapter 10 Quotes
Ben stepped out into the hall and started down toward the principal’s office. On the way more than a dozen students paused to give him The Wave salute. He returned them and continued quickly, wondering what [Principal] Owens was going to say. In one sense, if Owens was going to tell him that there had been complaints and that he should stop the experiment, Ross knew he would feel some relief.
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"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Principal Owens Character Timeline in The Wave
The timeline below shows where the character Principal Owens appears in The Wave. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 3
...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,...
(full context)
Chapter 10
The next day at school, Ben Ross is summoned to a meeting in Principal Owens’s office. On the way down the hall, over a dozen students give him the Wave...
(full context)
In the meeting with the “towering” and formidable but nonetheless genial Principal Owens, Owens asks Ross to tell him some more about the experiment that has the whole...
(full context)
Owens reminds Ross that “there are limits” to classroom experiments like this, and Ross assures Owens...
(full context)
Chapter 14
...students gossip about the stream of parents who have been coming and going from Principal Owens’s office all morning.
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Chapter 15
...experiment and learn “the most important lesson of their lives.” Christy tells Ben that Principal Owens wants to see him first thing in the morning, and warns him to be prepared...
(full context)
...him to end The Wave tomorrow. She tells him that if he doesn’t end it, Owens will—and the experiment will have been a failure. Ben tells Christy that he can’t possibly...
(full context)
Chapter 16
The next morning, Ben Ross sits through an uncomfortable, contentious meeting with Principal Owens. Owens states that teachers and parents alike are complaining to him nonstop about The Wave,...
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David and Laurie wait to see Principal Owens, sure that they’ve been hoodwinked by Mr. Ross. When they meet with Owens, though, and...
(full context)
