The Wave by Morton Rhue is a fictional story based on an incident that occurred in a Gordon High School. A history teacher, Ross conducts an experiment to explain the cruel behavior of the German Nazis during to Holocaust. He’s starts an organisation called The Wave in his class, which then spreads rapidly through the school. Rhue uses characterization and character journey to develop the progression of the wave. Robert Billings, who loves the idea of The Wave, conforms to it strait away; David Collins also liked the idea of The Wave and is interested in making his high school football team join, and Laurie Saunders, who does not join The Wave and has serious effects due to not conforming. The language techniques used through The Wave are foreshadowing and characterisation.
A major theme that runs through The Wave is conformity. Conformity is explored through the characters of David Collins and Robert Billings. When the reader is first introduced to Robert Billings, He is weak and shy in many ways, basically because of the success if his older brother and this is why The Wave becomes his salvation. When The Wave begins, he seizes the opportunity to make a change. For a while is seems to work and Roberts grades and social life improves. We know that Robert conforms to The Wave early in the book from when Robert Billings was in the men’s bathroom and was “…standing in front of the mirror tucking his shirt, unaware that he wasn’t alone. As David Collins watched him straighten some of the hair on his head and stared at his reflection. Then he snapped to attention and his lips moved silently, as if he was still in Mr. Ross’s class answering questions. David stood motionless as Robert practiced the move again. And again.”(p40) Rhue fo...
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... for the worst and tells Mr. Ross to shut The Wave down. After Mr. Ross understands what the wave is doing to the students and then the next day end The Wave for good. After the students hear the news the shocked students drop all their Wave cars, and slowly leave the auditorium. The only student that was affected when The Wave was stopped was Robert Billings.
Conformity is a dominant theme that runs through The Wave. The effect that The Wave has on Gordon High School affects many students and their personalities. Rhue emphasized conformity by making characters show that they were very strong about The Wave and wanted to join as soon as they heard about it from Mr. Ross. Rhue showed conformity in two different ways being David Collins and Robert Billings being all for The Wave, and then Laurie who was very stand offish about it and was against it the whole time.
In this section of the book, "Wave", we are introduced to Sam and his family who are off to Thailand for their Christmas vacation. This is the first year that Sam's older sister Beth isn't able to go, this makes his mother upset and leads to an almost constant worry for her daughter. After parting ways with Beth and enjoying their time at the resort, riding elephants and sitting on the beach, Sam and his father notice that the ocean level had dropped out of nowhere; it happened so fast, that the fish couldn't even keep up with the receding tide. People were amazed by what was happening and all gathered by the beach but when the water starts to come back in, Sam and his parents find themselves retreating
One way that the author develops the theme is with the use of similes. Murakami writes: “A wave like a huge snake…”(362). This quote is describing the huge wave that is about to strike the beach. The purpose of this simile is to make the wave seem alive
Chris McCandless does not wish to follow defined life structure that society enforces to simply be alive, instead, he chooses to take a seek a path to live a life with purpose. Such an eagerness to seek detachment from what is expected by society, is enforced by not only McCandless but also Thoreau. A primary factor resembling this, is McCandless’ view that many people “live within unhappy circumstances...yet will not change…they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism...damaging to the adventurous spirit(40).” The detesting tone risen through the confliction of “unhappy circumstances” and “damage,” to “safety, conformity and conservation,” emphasis his will to separate from a lifestyle lacking change. This is done
...rriding theme- that all humans possess common emotions, desires, and traits, and that these human elements alone are what should be the distinguishing factors in one's identity, rather than race, gender, or any other external sub-category. Overall, the film causes the audience to change a traditional, stereotypical view of the Sioux Indians, but on a broader scale, it also challenges the audience to view all people from a more humanistic point of view.
Starting in the Post-Civil War period, The Great Wave brings to light a cultural schism and pivot to the, at the time, unknown East. As Commodore Perry’s ships pried open Japan to the outside world, out with it came the cultural interactions that make up most of these stories. These make up a cultural wave, much like the title implies, of which all characters seem to be riding upon in one way or another. In a way it can be viewed as two separate waves. First, the surge of the Japanese characters who newly exposed to modernity, seek to process, learn and move forward with these foreign interactions and experiences. Then there is the American wave, an unguided movement of sorts driven by disillusionment with the industrial west, which finds hope and solace in old Japanese culture. The intersections of these two waves is what makes up the two-hundred some pages of Benfey’s book but ultimately it is the unspoken single wave, on the forward path to modernity, that encompasses them both and is the true backbone of the stories.
“When that moment comes, and it always comes, if you can’t get up and you can’t give up, either, here’s what you do: crawl” (Yancey 419). The Fifth Wave, written by Rick Yancey, was published by G.P. Putnam's Sons in 2013. It is a young adult science fiction book and can be found similar to Ender's Game. In this successful book, one will find a fresh plot, a strong heroine, and strong character development.
While being in the amusement park, Mr. Seahorn went on a ride which took him back to an experienced that happened during the war. This caused him to react and run away from the
In “On a Wave” by Thad Ziolkowski there are some life changing/shaping lessons in his life. Thad realized at a young age that he loves to surf. At 11 years old Thad looks older than most 11 years old, which allows him to hang out with the “cool” kids after a surf session and smoke pot. Thad learns early on that pot and surfing would eventually grow on him as he became more induced into the surfer lifestyle.
...re different and attempts to either ridicule, exemplify, or ignore them. In the Brave New World, society aims to preserve the homologous nature of living. With strict rules, crowd mentality and community actives the Brave New World attempts to get rid of the individual. Hypnopedia messages such as "When the individual feels, the community reels," and "Everybody belongs to everyone else," the Brave New World attempts to diminish the value of individuality and seeks instead to promote the idea of society first. Bernard, Helmholtz, and John are the few individuals of the Brave New World. They differ from the rest of society, because they recognize their uniqueness and realize that they are apart from society. It is because of their self-realization of their individuality that they are condemned to be ostracized from society and to live outside the Brave New World.
From the years of 1938 to 1945, while the entire world was preoccupied with World War II, the Nazi Party led by dictator Adolf Hitler planned and executed the killing of almost six million Jewish people.This calamity snatched the innocence of those who survived in inconceivable manner. They suffer withanimmense amount guilt simply because they believe that are wrong for surviving whereas their loved ones paid the ultimate price. In recent years Holocaust survivors have had an “increased risk of attempted suicide” (Barak, Y). For these people forgetting is a crime but recollection will not allow them to move. However there are some survivors who found a way to optimistically look towards the future. Holocaust survivor and writer, Ellie Weisel, summed up these feelings by explaining that, “Because I remember, I despair. Because I remember, I have the duty to reject despair.” Learning from the past and growing up comes with a certain end of childhood innocence without which the progression to maturity cannot occur. This enlightenment and the journey from innocence to experience are prominent themes in both The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger and The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephan Chbosky. The former outlines four days in the life of a troubled teenaged boy named Holden Caulfield who is expelled from his preparatory school and spends his time roaming the streets of New York City. The latter is a compilation of letters written by a young boy, who goes by the alias Charlie, in which he discusses deepest feeling regarding his grief stricken adolescence. Both Chbosky and Salinger explore the behaviours and minds of teenaged boys who are trying to find themselves in a world that they do not fully understand yet. However, bot...
The Wave, by Todd Strasser, illustrates how easily one can plummet into autocratic behaviors. In the book, Strasser depicts an experiment conducted by a history teacher. The experiment was conducted in order to enlighten the students on the Holocaust (Strasser 26). During the Holocaust, the German dictator, Adolf Hitler, was lured in by the power that an autocratic society provides. He and his group, the Nazi Party, captured and executed millions of Jews in order to benefit Germany with ethnic cleansing.
The major themes related directly to the entire context of the story. The formidable mother-daughter conflict going on throughout the story exposed the clash of their cultural roots. The conflict showed the theme where the mother does not understand the game of chess and does not accept Waverly playing it. Also, it showed it when Waverly felt embarrassed by her mother using her as a trophy metaphorically. Another theme is the symbolic games of chess that Waverly played. Without the use of symbolism the story would have lost a major impact on the plotline. Also, Amy Tan used setting to her advantage to fully show the tone of the story and created a scene of emotion. Its major theme of mother-daughter relationship made it possible for young children to relate the short story to their own
The first concept from the book that I immediately thought of after watching this movie was chapter 4, Behavior and Attitudes. The movie, as a whole, is all about behavior and attitude. Our main character, Rylie, is seen as a “happy girl” by her parents. But when Joy is shut out
Ranging from individuality to self acceptance in difficult times. The Wave shows students why it’s important to learn about history, because history can repeat itself, and it has. It also teaches students to question your authority when you know something they’re doing is wrong. The Nazi’s followed Hitler blindly, doing what they were told when they were told, much like Mr. Ross’s students. Fascism is an important topic to learn about as well, because in the United States we have so many freedoms and rights that other countries don’t have. The Wave also offers topics to discuss like what loyalty truly is in all different aspects; self-loyalty, group loyalty, or the dark sense of loyalty Ben Ross leads with. Laurie Saunders also shows people how to stand up for yourself even when no one stands with you, which is something all teens struggle
Portraying the characters rejection to conformity, American literature illustrates the distinctive following of one's own standards. From what has been analyzed previously, the authors are trying to display a message of change through the characters words and actions. Many times it is apparent that the characters are in there times of most comfort when they are acting in such that makes them their own being, stepping aside from the standards of the rest of society. Writers try to express the importance of stepping outside of that comfort zone in order to grow and develop as a human being. How will one ever know who they are if they conform to be what everyone is told to be? The biggest advocate of rejecting the norms of America is Chris McCandless.