The Wave Chapters 5–7 Summary & Analysis

Chapters 5–7

Summary: Chapter 5

The next day, Mr. Ross writes “STRENGTH THROUGH DISCIPLINE” on the blackboard and proceeds with a lesson on discipline, which he says is the pathway to power and success. To demonstrate this concept, he has students practice upright posture in their chairs, pointing out that Robert sits perfectly. Mr. Ross then has students leave the class and, with a stopwatch, times how long it takes for them to return to their seats while shouting orders as if he were a drill sergeant.

Mr. Ross then introduces three new rules: Students must have a pencil and paper for notes, must stand beside their desks to ask or answer questions, and must start each question or answer by saying “Mr. Ross” first. When Brad fails to answer a question using the correct form, Robert, at Mr. Ross’s request, successfully demonstrates how it should be done. Soon, students perfect the new form. Later, Brian admits he felt an adrenaline rush from the experience and David excitedly wonders if he can bring the same sense of unity to the football team. Later in the men’s bathroom, David observes Robert fixing his hair and practicing the strict question and answer form learned in class.

That night, Mr. Ross tells Christy that his students loved his class and that it was as if they’d been waiting their whole lives to take orders and be disciplined. He fails to admit, however, that the power he felt in class was “infectious.”

Summary: Chapter 6

The next day, Mr. Ross feels surprised to find students sitting silently and awaiting orders. He adds “COMMUNITY” on the board and teaches what it means to work together toward a common goal. Laurie and Brad initially refrain from rising and chanting the full motto, but eventually concede. Mr. Ross then creates a symbol, a circle with an outline of a wave inside, and names the class’s movement The Wave. He then invents a special salute. Mr. Ross tells his students that the salute belongs only to members of The Wave and orders them to use it with each other even outside of history class. Later, David, wanting to improve the school’s football team’s performance, tells his teammates about The Wave.

Summary: Chapter 7

That evening at dinner, Laurie tells her parents about The Wave. Mr. Saunders says the movement sounds like a good idea if it gets students to listen, and Laurie praises the movement’s good qualities, saying that even Robert is now part of a group. However, Mrs. Saunders, who is especially bright and politically astute, becomes instantly concerned and says the movement sounds too militaristic and wonders if Mr. Ross is manipulating his students. She then reminds Laurie that she was raised to be an individual and that the greatness of the United States derives from those who were brave enough to act as individuals.

At the Rosses’ house, Christy asks her husband how the experiment is going, calling him Dr. Frankenstein. Mr. Ross explains that his students are now excelling and that they like him more now that he’s making decisions for them. Christy feels concerned, wondering if her husband now sees his students as superior. Mr. Ross says he’s interested to witness how his experiment plays out, not admitting that he’s getting caught up in The Wave himself.

Analysis: Chapters 5–7

Following the birth of The Wave at Gordon High, many of Mr. Ross’s students quickly embrace the movement, which begins to transform the novel’s main characters. In Chapter 5, after Mr. Ross writes “STRENGTH THROUGH DISCIPLINE” on the board, students get their first taste of how discipline can lead to power and success during classroom exercises. For Robert, this taste is especially intoxicating: The “class loser” suddenly finds something he can excel at, and his confidence grows when Mr. Ross has him serve as a model for other students. Ordinarily, such a shift would be a good thing, but when Robert mechanically practices Mr. Ross’s strict question-and-answer form in the bathroom, it’s clear that something is amiss, and that Robert’s newfound confidence is too closely tied to blindly following orders. Robert isn’t alone, however. Through the initial classroom exercises and rules, Mr. Ross gains insight into how his students, and by extension, many people, have an inherent desire to take orders, a trait that dictators like Hitler have historically exploited.

Christy’s words in Chapter 5 that Mr. Ross has “created a monster” should serve as a warning sign to her husband. She later calls him “Dr. Frankenstein,” a reference to Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel about a scientist who gives life to a creature who ultimately brings violence and destruction. Nevertheless, Mr. Ross is seduced by his newfound power as a leader and moves forward with his experiment in Chapter 6 when he observes that his students seem ready to receive further orders. As The Wave then takes off as an official movement, one with an exclusive motto and salute, it begins to resemble a cult or dangerous political party like the Nazis. Additional similarities between Mr. Ross’s classroom and Nazi Germany also begin to take shape. Swept up in the movement, all students aside from Laurie and Brad, rise to chant The Wave’s motto, but that the two eventually relent and join in shows how powerful group will and peer pressure can be. Unknowingly at this point, students are beginning to find answers to their questions of how so many Germans could have been swept up in the Nazis’ wave that arose in post-World War I Germany.

Nevertheless, as Gordon High’s Wave takes off, Mr. Ross’s students are only able to see the movement’s potential to do good. David falls in love with its sense of organization, discipline, and community, believing its principles can help save the school’s woeful football team. In Chapter 6, Brian readily agrees to introduce The Wave to the team given his fear of Clarkstown’s oversize linebacker, reflecting Mr. Ross’s explanation in Chapter 2 that many Germans likely allowed the Nazi regime to reign out of fear. And just as a post–World War I Germany provided fertile ground for the Nazis to seize power with promises to fix all that ailed the German society, other teammates instantly embrace The Wave, believing it’s what is needed to regain their respect and win. In Chapter 7, Laurie also praises The Wave to her parents because it’s enabled people like Robert to feel they’re part of a group.

Not everyone has blinders on, however. In Chapter 7, Christy observes that despite The Wave’s promise of community, Mr. Ross is beginning to see his students and Wave members as superior, a hallmark of the Nazi regime that was used to justify the killing of millions. Mrs. Saunders also instantly sees through The Wave. Although the movement promotes community, she knows that The Wave’s militaristic rules and demand for conformity pose a serious threat to the students’ individuality and individual freedoms. Although Laurie might not see it yet, Mrs. Saunders’ sound judgment helps sew initial seeds of doubt in her daughter that lead her to renounce The Wave in the days that follow.

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