The Wave (novel)

The Wave is a young adult novel by Todd Strasser (under the pen name Morton Rhue). It is a fictionalized account of the "Third Wave" teaching experiment by Ron Jones that took place in a Cubberley High School history class in Palo Alto, California.

Plot

The plot of The Wave revolves around a high school teacher named Ben Ross who can't answer the questions his students present regarding Nazi Germany. The only way he can see answering the question in all truth is to start an experiment that shows the students what it may have been like in Nazi Germany.

He starts off by making them be completely obedient as in making them sit up straight in their chairs and stand next to their seats whenever talking. Most of the students enjoy it and feel empowered by doing this. To Ben's surprise, the next day they are still being obedient, so he decides to continue with the experiment. He adds a couple new rules—a salute whenever you see another Wave member, or a chant whenever he orders it. A wave symbol is also created to separate the Wave members from the non-members. The movement also develops a motto: strength through discipline; strength through community; and strength through action. Soon, Laurie, a girl in Ben's class starts to think that the wave is having too much of an impact. There is recruiting going on and almost half the school is in the Wave. She is scared and decides not to go to a rally that is being held for all Wave members. Since her boyfriend David is in the wave, he doesn’t like that she isn't going and breaks up with her.

Not long after, she and some other writers of the school paper put out an article exposing the bad side of the wave. Surprisingly, Laurie's article caused other stories of Wave members bullying non-Wave members to rise up. The students are starting to see the downside of the Wave. A number of the Wave members were upset and angry with Laurie's actions, so they convince David to talk her into not posting any more papers like that. This talk gets a little out of control and David pushes her to the ground. It was at this point that he realizes what the Wave has made him and is making everyone that is in it. David sees that the Wave has turned him against someone he really cared about and he apologizes to Laurie. David and Laurie go to Ben's house to talk to him about their concerns. Ben says that he has got it all figured out and it will be all over by the next day.

The next day David and Laurie find out that Ben is planning a massive rally after school to tell the Wave the plan that the whole country is in on. David and Laurie don't like that so they stand up and disrupt Ben's class and they get sent to the office. As the Wave Rally is in progress and every Wave member is in the gym David and Laurie sneak in to see what is going on. Ben tells everyone that they are about to see the leader of the whole organization and, to the group's surprise he puts a picture of Adolf Hitler on a projection screen. He explains how easy it is to get caught up in a movement, and disbands the Wave in front of the shocked students. Most students are angry with themselves and others are extremely upset. But everyone is relieved that the Wave only got as far as it did.

Characters

Template:Spoiler * Ben Ross: the history teacher turned dictator

• Laurie Saunders: smart girl who's trying to resist the Wave
• David Collins: Laurie's boyfriend who comes to realize that the Wave is bad when he nearly hurts her while trying to force her to participate
• Amy Smith: Laurie's friend, during the story they get increasingly splitted up because of the Wave.
• Robert Billings: at first a weak and shy student. He flourishes in the Wave, the first time being socially accepted and thus tries to defend the Wave also with harsh measures.
• Christy Ross: Ben's loyal wife (also teacher at Gordon High) who persuades her husband to end the experiment.
• Principal Owens: gets under increasing pressure for allowing the experiment and wishes to end it.

Relation to Hitler Youth

This book/movie draws direct parallels between the Wave and Hitler Youth. At first Laurie likes the wave. She tells her parents excitedly about the movement. Just like in Hitler Youth, some parents were for it because it meant that the teenagers were disciplined whereas other parents were against the oppression of individuality. Both sides were represented by Laurie's parents. The book/movie also depicts how the children were excited and jealous if they could not be a part of the movement. This was also the same in Hitler Youth. There are many parallels and they are astonishing. While the book/movie may be exaggerated, the parallels are important to note how the same could happen again.

Literature

• Morton Rhue: The Wave. Puffin Books 1988, ISBN 0-14-037188-5
• Ron Jones: No Substitute for Madness: A Teacher, His Kids, and the Lessons of Real Life Island Pr 1981, ISBN 0933280068