The Wave: Themes | SparkNotes

Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.

The Perils of Group Conformity

As The Wave rises in Mr. Ross’s history class and then swells through all of Gordon High, the movement grows increasingly dangerous and fosters a fascistic environment. Seduced by false promises of power, community, and equality, members blindly obey Mr. Ross’s dictatorial orders, surrender their freedoms, and stop thinking for themselves. The Wave’s monitors keep an eye out for any form of dissent and non-conformity among members, and non-Wave members receive threats for refusing to join. Before long, fighting erupts, including in Chapter 12 when a Jewish student is the target of violence. And in Chapter 14, when Laurie helps publish an exposé about The Wave in The Grapevine, several Wave members demand that she be silenced. Ironically, the same students who, after seeing Mr. Ross’s film about the Holocaust in Chapter 2, insisted they wouldn’t concede to a dangerous group mindset or be complicit in group crimes, readily turned to fascists and conformed to the will of The Wave. Mr. Ross’s experiment to simulate life in Nazi Germany is a success. Students ultimately learn how quickly blind obedience and unchecked conformity can cause harm.

The Power of Individualism

Laurie’s mother, Mrs. Saunders, emerges early as a proponent of individualism over group conformity. As The Wave takes off in Mr. Ross’s class, Mrs. Saunders tells Laurie in Chapter 7 that she isn’t against cooperation, though insists people should be allowed to think for themselves and act on their own. The United States’ positive derives from citizens who were brave enough to think and act as individuals. Mrs. Saunders’ sentiments inspire Laurie, who soon sees through The Wave and questions her peers’ inability or refusal to think for themselves as well as their unquestioned allegiance to Mr. Ross and the movement. When The Wave later leads to threats, violence, and a loss of liberties at Gordon High, Laurie understands how dangerous blind group conformity can be, and that hollow comforts born from false promises of community are no substitute for individual freedoms.

The Need for Healthy Dissent

Brave, perceptive Laurie isn’t afraid to stand up and speak out against The Wave. She raises red flags about The Wave to her peers in Chapter 8, boycotts a Wave rally in Chapter 12, and, in Chapter 13, refuses to follow Brad’s orders to give the movement’s salute at the football game. In Chapter 14, she teams up with Carl and Alex to publish an exposé in The Grapevine that halts The Wave’s momentum, causes members to defect, and inspires others to speak out against its crimes. Laurie’s courage and actions reveal how crucial it is to be a voice of reason during times of great moral crises, and how critical the freedoms of speech and the press are to dispelling propaganda and preventing despots and fascism from destroying a democracy. Although overzealous members of The Wave regarded Laurie’s actions as disloyal and unpatriotic, her determination to speak the truth reveals that honest dissent is healthy and can be the highest form of patriotism.

The Consequences of Bullying

The frequent target of bullying, Robert Billings suffers from low self-esteem and, at the start of The Wave, is largely disconnected from life and his fellow students. Robert’s situation is a sad one. Still, he isn’t the only victim in the story. As is often the case, those who are bullied often become bullies themselves. Robert’s lack of self-esteem and lowly standing among his peers makes him especially susceptible to The Wave and its promises of power, equality, and community. As a result, he quickly becomes one of the movement’s most fascistic members. In Chapter 8, when Laurie raises red flags about The Wave, Robert warns she could be disobeying its rules by disavowing allegiance to the cause. In Chapter 14, after Laurie publishes an exposé about The Wave in The Grapevine, Robert declares she’s a threat to the movement and must be silenced. Careful readers will also likely suspect that it was Robert who later writes “enemy” on Laurie’s locker and frightens her in the hallway. Robert’s transformation reveals how intoxicating false promises of power can be to the powerless, and how those who have been persecuted can be especially prone to persecute others.

The Imperative of Learning from the Past

When Mr. Ross shows students a film about the Holocaust early on in the story, David tells Laurie that the Holocaust is simply a part of history and could never occur again. Sadly, though, David is wrong, and his sentiments are naive. Mr. Ross knows this and understands that education is essential to helping prevent history’s crimes from recurring. After the film and ensuing classroom discussion, though, Mr. Ross struggles to answer questions about how so many people could have allowed the Holocaust to occur. He then conceives his experiment and launches The Wave, knowing a simulation of life in Nazi Germany will be the only way students can find answers to their questions. However painful The Wave’s lessons are, Mr. Ross knows these lessons are likely the most important ones his students will ever learn.

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