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The
Wave Written
By: Todd Strasser
This week, our English class read The Wave, a
book written by Todd Strasser. After
finishing the story, our teacher
assigned different tasks for each of us to complete. We hope you find the information useful, if you’ve found your way
to our site. We’ve included chapter
summaries, personal reflections about the lessons of the story, study
questions, information about the Holocaust, and information about why we read
the story in the first place. We hope
you enjoy the site. If you have any
comments or questions, you may e-mail our teacher, Mrs. Rhodes, at mrscrhodes@msn.com.
Back to Mrs. Rhodes’s
Home Page
“Some time, we are told, when the cycle of years has
rolled around, there is to be another golden age, when all men will dwell
together in love and harmony, and when peace and righteousness shall
prevail for a thousand years. God
speed the day, and let not the shining thread of hope become so enmeshed in
the web of circumstance that we lose sight of it; but give us here and
there, and now and then, some little foretaste of this golden age, that we
may the more patiently and hopefully await its coming!” -Charles
Waddell Chesnutt
Information
compiled and composed by English I students of Trinity High School in December,
2002.
Chapter One | Chapter Two
| Chapter Three | Chapter
Four | Chapter Five | Chapter Six | Chapter Seven
| Chapter Eight | Chapter
Nine | Chapter Ten | Chapter Eleven | Chapter
Twelve | Chapter Thirteen | Chapter Fourteen | Chapter
Fifteen |
Ben Ross was drinking
coffee in the faculty room when someone sent him a message that Principal Owens
wanted to speak to him. Mr. Ross
nervously walked down the hall, sometimes pausing to return The Wave salute to
students, knowing Principal Owens wanted to talk about The Wave. When Mr. Ross walked into the principal’s
office he began to calm down, for he noticed Principal Owens was in a good
mood. Principal Owens asked about The
Wave and wanted to make sure it wasn’t making the students fall behind in their
schoolwork. Mr. Ross explained fully
what The Wave was about and promised he would not let it get out of control.
Study Questions for Each Chapter
Chapter One | Chapter Two
| Chapter Three | Chapter
Four | Chapter Five | Chapter Six | Chapter
Seven | Chapter Eight | Chapter Nine | Chapter
Ten | Chapter Eleven | Chapter Twelve | Chapter
Thirteen | Chapter Fourteen | Chapter Fifteen |
5.
As the leader of The Wave, where did Mr. Ross plan to lead The Wave
members? Explain.
Chapter Fourteen Notes (By Amber)
That afternoon The Grapevine had never been picked up and read so quickly. A few articles were about the sophomore who was beaten up and the anonymous junior’s story. Other stories started to circulate around the school about other kids being threatened or abused for not being members of The Wave. There were rumors of parents complaining to Principal Owens about The Wave.
Ben Ross read the editorial. He wondered what he had started. Ben went to the door of the faculty lounge to leave and he heard two men talking. It was Norm Schiller and some other male voice saying Ben had brainwashed all the kids.
David Collins and
Brian Ammon, after reading The Grapevine, decided they were going to wait for
Laurie after school. The two were going
to tell Laurie she needed to stop writing stories about The Wave or it wouldn’t
have a chance.
Chapter Fifteen Notes (By Britney)
Ben Ross left school
early that day, so he could prepare what was going to happen the next day. Ben realized The Wave was getting out of
control. He had to go and talk to
Principal Owens the next morning; he was a little worried.
Laurie stayed after school, later that usual,
picking up trash from The Grapevine’s celebration. All the papers went very quickly, and it was hard to find another
copy. As she was walking to her locker,
she found out that someone had written “enemy” in large red letters on her
locker door. Laurie heard footsteps
coming and the lights shut off. She got
very scared and took off running but when she got to the door, one of them was
locked. Laurie got very nervous and
finally got another door opened.
As Laurie ran home, David caught
her and tried making her quit talking badly about The Wave. She wouldn’t because it was causing people
to do bad things. David got mad and
threw Laurie to the ground. After David
realized what he had done, and apologized, he agreed that The Wave was a bad
idea. David then decided to get out of
The Wave group. It was changing people
and the way they acted.
Later that night, Christy told Ben he had to stop The Wave the very next day. Ben said he would think of an idea and end The Wave by tomorrow. Later on that night David and Laurie went to Mr. Ross’ house and told him everything that happened and what The Wave was doing to people. Laurie and David told Ben he had to stop The Wave and so Mr. Ross told them that he would. Mr. Ross told the students all they have to do is trust him and not say anything to anyone. Ben asked them what two people were not parts of The Wave. Laurie told him Alex Cooper and Carl Block. David and Laurie agreed that they wouldn’t say anything to anyone and then left.
1.
Why
did the Grapevine staff stay late after school?
2.
Who
waited for Laurie to leave school?
3.
Who
came to Mr. Ross’ house on a late school night?
4.
Does
Ben Ross plan to stop The Wave?
5. What two boys, who aren’t part
of The Wave, are going to help Mr. Ross?
Ben Ross was intrigued by the question that his students asked him about the film of Nazis. After school, Ben went to the library and took a lot of books and he went home.
Christy Ross was in a tennis
game with her friend Betty Lewis.
Christy knew Ben well, and she knew that when Ben did not know the
answers for his students’ questions, he’d try very hard to find them.
Ben Ross thought of a unique way that his students could understand why the Germans denied knowing that the Nazis killed many Jews, and he created an experiment for his class.
6. Did Ben Ross find the answer to his
student’s question?
Chapter Thirteen Summary (By Sara)
Laurie always sits with Amy at
football games, but now that The Wave has started she has trouble getting into
the stands. Laurie has to do The Wave salute in order to go into the stands;
she refuses to do it. When no one is watching,
Brad tells her that she can go up without saluting, but Laurie says she doesn’t
want to go and sit with The Wave members now. Brad also tells her that a lot of
people noticed her not being at The Wave rally, but she doesn’t care.
On
Sunday, Laurie’s living room is changed into a newsroom. Not all the staff
members show up. Carl says that he has a feeling a few of the members don’t
want to participate in writing bad things about The Wave because they are
afraid. Alex pledges to fight The Wave until the end, and says, “Give me
liberty or give me acne.” The special
edition of The Wave includes: the story by the anonymous junior; a report Carl
has done on a sophomore who had been beaten up; interviews with worried parents
and concerned teachers; and the most important article is an editorial Laurie
has written about The Wave being dangerous and mindless. She also adds that the
football team lost to Clarkstown 42 to 6. The paper will be out Monday.
1. Who wouldn’t let Laurie into the stands?
2. What did Laurie have to do in order to get into the stands?
3. What did Carl say the reason was for the staff members not being
at the newspaper meeting?
4. What did Alex say when he pledged to fight The Wave until the
end?
5. What are two articles the
newspaper included about The Wave?
Chapter 7 Summary (By Ryan & Nathan Rh)
In the beginning, Laurie’s mother doesn’t think The
Wave is a good idea. Her father thinks it is okay. Ben Ross is the person who
started The Wave. His wife, Christi, is
not so sure about The Wave. She thinks he should stop before it gets out of
hand. Ben wants one extra day. Christi thinks this is getting way out of
hand.
1.
What does Laurie’s mother think about The Wave?
2.
What is the name of Laurie’s boyfriend ?
3.
What kind of sport does Laurie’s dad play?
4.
What is the name of Ben’s wife?
5.
What is David studying for?
6.
Why did Christi call Ben a pig?
Chapter Two Summary (By Lyndsay)
In history class,
the students were learning about World War II.
The class watched a film
about the Nazis and the concentration camps. Ben Ross, the history teacher, told the
class about
Adolf Hitler and his cruelty. When the film ended, two of the students were in tears. Some weren't
at all bothered with the contents of the film, and one boy was even
sleeping. A few students began
asking questions, and Amy Smith asked Mr. Ross why no one had tried
to stop the Nazis. This
question really bothered Mr. Ross because he realized that he had
never seen the answer to this
question in any books or articles he had read.
The bell rang for
the students to go to lunch, and the classroom emptied out except for Ben
and a few lingering students.
Laurie Saunders was still sitting in her seat when her boyfriend, David
Collins, asked her to join him for lunch. Laurie was still really upset about the film, so she told David
to go on to lunch without her.
One student, Robert
Billings, tried to sneak past Mr. Ross's desk, but Ben stopped Robert.
Robert was the student who had slept through the film. Mr. Ross asked Robert why he didn't even
make an effort to participate in class, and why he had slept
through the film, and Robert said he
didn't care. Mr. Ross told
Robert that he didn't have to be another Jeff Billings. Jeff was Robert's
older brother, and he was the type who excelled in everything that
he did. Jeff made straight A
grades, and had even been an all-conference pitcher in high
school. Mr. Ross told Robert that all
that
was being expected of him was that he tried. Robert said that he had to go, and left the
room looking
at his feet.
Chapter Eleven Summary (By Brittany A)
In the beginning of Chapter eleven, Laurie Saunders found and envelope in the publications office that had a newsletter in it. A kid in the junior class wrote it anonymously. He didn’t like The Wave and some seniors tried to make him like it. Laurie related to the junior. Laurie knew something was wrong with The Wave. That day The Wave rally was being held. Lots of students were preparing for this rally, putting up banners and hanging up signs. Every single Wave member seemed to be involved in some activity, recruiting new members or spreading some information about it to other students. Ben Ross was getting very tired of all the energy the students had about The Wave, for example, the saluting. In the hallway that day Mr. Ross felt as if someone was following him. He looked back and there stood Robert. Robert asked if he could be Mr. Ross’s bodyguard. Mr. Ross said he could. Mr. Ross thought it could only enhance the importance of his being the leader of The Wave.
Chapter Five Summary (By Haley & Matt)
The day starts out just like any other; the class is coming
into the room slowly. On the board, Mr. Ross has written STENGTH THROUGH
DISCIPLINE! From this, Mr. Ross tries a new way to teach the class.
Mr. Ross explains what discipline is. He says that many people use
discipline in ways like ballet or football. Mr. Ross tells the class that
good posture is a part of discipline. He uses Robert, the loser of the
class, to show as an example of how you are supposed to sit. To prove the
point that organization is a good way to show discipline, Mr. Ross tells the
class to get up out of their seats and walk around the room, and when he says
stop, to run back to their seats as fast as they can. It takes the class
a long time to get back to their seats because of all the
disorganization. Mr. Ross tries the experiment a few more times then
makes the class go out into the hall and try it. The first time it takes
them forty-eight seconds, the second time it takes 30 seconds. When they
try the test again David has an idea to line up in order from who has to go the
farthest and they make it in 16 seconds.
Mr. Ross gives the class three rules they must follow. The first
is to make sure to bring pencils and paper for notes; the second is to stand at
your seat when you answer a question, and third is to begin their sentences by
saying ‘Mr. Ross.’ The class practices answering questions for a while
and when the bell rings nobody moves. Mr. Ross has to dismiss them.
After the bell rings, David goes to
the bathroom. There, after everyone leaves, he sees Robert looking into
the mirror at himself and fixing his hair. David goes to lunch with
everyone else, he has an idea to try to get the football team to be more
organized.
Chapter Eight Summary (By Andrea & Eric)
When David was in tenth grade, he went by her house every day just
hoping to run into Laurie. Soon they
walked every day together.
David said that The Wave was just what the football team
needed. Laurie argued about it,
though. Coach Schiller thought it was a
great idea.
David needed help in calculus but didn’t want to ask anybody. David didn’t want anybody to know he needed help.
At school that day Mr. Ross wore something unusual, a suit and
tie. He had little yellow cards for The
Wave membership. Some kids questioned
Mr. Ross about the cards. Some of the cards
had red X’s on the back. If a member’s
card had the red letter, it meant he/she was a monitor and was expected to
report anybody who was not following the rules.
The next phrase that was added to the board was Strength Through
Action. Mr. Ross said students must act upon discipline and community. He said people must believe in the things
they act on.
Members were to go out and try to get other people to join The Wave. The Wave members at lunch all sat together, even Robert. Laurie thought The Wave was getting a little weird. She wondered if everyone else liked it.
Chapter Nine Summary (By Angie & Whitney)
Ben’s history experiment wasn't supposed to go so far; it was
becoming a fad. His history class was getting bigger. People from
different classes were standing in the hall joining in on The Wave.
The students in history didn't participate very much, until the wave came
along. The new members thought they needed more time to learn about The
Wave, so they skipped half of their classes.
David Collins, Eric and Brian influenced their football team to start The Wave,
hoping they could win at least one game.
Ben tried to find out why the students were so attracted to The Wave. He
figured that it was because The Wave was new and different, and because the
children liked the democracy of it. Ben thought it would decrease all of
the popularity contests. Ben started thinking that maybe The Wave was a
mistake.
The school had an editorial meeting for "The Grapevine."
Laurie, Alex, Jeanie, and Carl decided to do a story on The Wave.
Laurie didn't know if they should do a story on it, because nobody had
that much information on it, but she agreed to write a story anyway.
That night Laurie and her mom had a discussion about
The Wave. Her mother was worried about the whole thing.
Mrs. Saunders also said that she had seen
Robert's mom at the store earlier that day. Mrs. Billings told Mrs.
Saunders that they scheduled a Wave Rally for Friday. Laurie told her
mother that it was just a pep rally for the football team and not to worry
1. How was the size of Ben Ross's class affected by The Wave?
2. What did Ben Ross think of The Wave in the start of the chapter?
3. What were two reasons the students joined The Wave?
4. What did Alex Cooper always wear to the Gordon Grapevine meetings?
5. That night in the end of the chapter, what did Laurie’s mother talk to
her about?
Chapter
twelve starts out describing Laurie’s thoughts about The Wave. She says that she knows that The Wave is
bad, but she doesn’t know why. Laurie
hears loud shouting from outside. She
looks out the window and witnesses a big fight. One of the people fighting is Brain Ammon. While they are throwing punches, Brain yells
The Wave motto. Laurie thinks the
fighting is a result of The Wave. David
accuses Laurie that the only reason why she is against The Wave is because she
isn’t special anymore. Laurie decides
that she is not going to the rally. She
feels like she has to hide. She hides
in the publications office. While she
is hiding out, Alex and Carl come in.
They talk about The Wave. Laurie
suggests that they write about it in the Grapevine paper. Laurie invites them over to her house to
work on the paper. She tells them to
spread the word to the rest of the staff.
At the end of the chapter, Laurie is up in her room too worried about
The Wave to worry about David. Her Dad
comes in and they discuss The Wave and the effects it has had on everyone. She tells him her idea for the paper and
they both agree that it would be a great idea.
1. Explain Laurie’s thoughts
about The Wave.
2. What do David and the other
Wave members like about The Wave?
3. What idea did Laurie have for
the paper?
4. Why were Brian and Deutsch
fighting?
5. For what reason does David
think Laurie doesn’t like The Wave?
Chapter Sixteen
Summary (By Daniel)
In chapter sixteen, Ben Ross is in
principal Owens’ office. Principal
Owens complains about Ben’s experiment.
Ben tells Principal Owens about the outline of his plan. All Mr. Ross has to do is find Alex Cooper
and Carl Block. Mr. Ross explains to
his class that The Wave is not just a classroom experiment; it is much
more. Teachers all across the country
have been recruiting and training a youth brigade. Mr. Ross tells the students that they must prove that The Wave
can turn the country around. The Wave has a leader and he will be at this
rally. David and Laurie get up and started disrupting Mr. Ross’ idea for The
National Wave Youth Movement.
David and Laurie think that Mr. Ross has
betrayed them in not dismembering The Wave.
David is depressed over Mr. Ross’ lying to them. David and Laurie remember how people in Germany
said they didn’t know about the Nazis
killing people.
What David and Laurie don’t know is that
Mr. Ross is planning the rally to dismember The Wave.
Chapter Sixteen Study Questions
1. What
is Principal Owens’ reaction to Ben’s experiment?
2. How
did David and Laurie think Ben had betrayed them?
3. What
were the two people that Ben had to find to make his plan turn out right?
4.
What’s the cable television show, that the leader would be on, called?
5. What was the real reason for the rally at the end?
Chapter Seventeen Summary (By Jordan L)
When Mr. Ross arrived at the auditorium, he
saw students at the door checking membership cards. When he walked down the aisle, his wife stopped him. She wished him good luck and told him that
she hoped everything worked out.
Meanwhile all the guards were making sure the doors were locked.
Robert came to Ben, saluted him, and told him all the doors were locked and everything was set. Ben thanked him, and told him that it was time to begin. Ben walked up, onto the stage, and strode to the center. As he stopped between the to television monitors, the students began their mottos,
“Strength through discipline.”
“Strength through community.”
“Strength through action.”
Ben stood on the stage, motionless. Then he held out his arms out
for silence. He said to them “in a
moment out national leader will appear to us on these screens.” Ben took his seat and ordered Robert to turn
the televisions on. Robert flipped them
on but just a blue screen appeared to them.
The students squirmed in their seats. They were having thoughts
going through their heads: Who is our
leader? What are we supposed to do?
Finally, one student stood up and yelled, “We have no leader, do we?”
Ben looked up and said, “Yes, we do have a leader.” That was the cue that Carl Block was
listening for. He pulled the curtains
back; Alex Cooper, who was in the projection room, flicked on the projector.
“There!” Ben shouted.
“There is your leader!” On the
movie screen, there was a film of Adolf Hitler and some young Nazis.
Ben scowled at the students, telling them how they had acted. He
told them they would have made good Nazis; he said they would have put on the
uniforms.
Ben told them that some of them said that it would never happen
again, but it almost did. He hoped they
had learned a good lesson. He
apologized to them if he had hurt them.
Kids filed out of the auditorium; some had tears in their
eyes. Everyone was silent and had a lot
of thoughts going through their heads.
David apologized to Ben, but Ben apologized to him. Laurie and David left and Ben tried to cheer
up Robert. Ben took Robert out to eat
and he thought they had some things they needed to talk about.
Chapter Seventeen Study Questions
Why did principal Owens get angry with Mr. Ross that morning in the
office?
Why did
Ben hold The Wave Rally?
What
was Ben’s plan to stop The Wave?
Why did
Laurie and David come back to the auditorium?
Why
did Ben take Robert out to eat?
In the
beginning of Chapter eleven, what did Laurie find?
What big event was going on in the school that day?
What
were the members of The Wave doing that day?
How
does everyone feel about The Wave?
Who
asked Mr. Ross if he could be his bodyguard, and does Ross agree?
1.) What are the three
‘times’ it takes for the class to make it to their seats?
2.) What was Robert doing in the bathroom?
3.) What was written on the chalkboard when the students entered class?
4.) Does Cristi like the idea about The Wave?
5.) What happened when the bell rang at the end of class?
Laurie
Saunders is the main person in this chapter. In the first chapter Laurie is in the publications office working
on the Grapevine, Gordon High's school newspaper. Laurie is caught up in the newspaper and the bell for classes to
change is about to ring. She goes out
of the office a little early and stops at Mr. Golandi's class where her best
friend, Amy Smith, is. Laurie gets eye
contact with Amy and starts making funny faces and they both start
laughing. Mr Galondi gives Laurie a bad
look and she turns and hides. The bell
rings and she meets Amy as Amy is getting out of class. The two girls go to their next and favorite
class, Mr. Ross' History class. As the
two girls walk in, Mr. Ross is trying to get a stream of film into the
projector. The class is going to watch
a film on WWII and about Adolf Hitler
killing many Jews. The bell rang;
students flood in late, as usual. While
the class is settling down, Mr. Ross goes through the papers that the class
turned in the other day. There are some
B's, C's and some D's. There are two
people who earned A's, Amy Smith and Laurie Saunders. Amy, Laurie's best friend, has always looked up to Laurie and
always tries to be like her in every way.
For example, Laurie is going out with David Collins, a running back for
the football team, so Amy figures she has to have a football player for a
boyfriend. She is dating Brian Ammon, a
quarterback for the team. People always
look up to Laurie; they always consider her popular and smart. Then there's Robert Billings, loser of the
class, who never does his work and sleeps through most of his classes. Finally, Mr. Ross gets the attention of the
class and talks about their behavior in class and about the messy papers the
class always turns in. After Mr. Ross
stops fussing over the papers he starts the film on WWII.
1.What was the Name of Gordon High's newspaper?
2. What
is Mr. Ross' wife’s name and what subject in school does she teach?
3.What
sport does David play, and what position does he play ?
4.What
were three things that Mr. Ross told his class they did badly in his class?
5.What
is Brian’s girlfriend's name?
Chapter Three Summary (By Justin B &
Natalie)
In the beginning of chapter three, the students had
just seen the video on the Nazis and the concentration camps. David Collins and Laurie were eating their
lunch, David was very hungry but Laurie didn’t have much of an appetite, so he
ate her burger as well. They see Robert
Billings walk past. Robert is a kid who is always to himself; he never combs
his hair or tucks in his shirt. Robert
doesn’t try to succeed, because his brother was good at everything he did,
(football, school, grades). Jeff, the
brother, was even popular. Robert
thinks he could never be any of those things, so he just doesn’t try.
David refers to
Robert as “Gordon High’s own untouchable”.
David and Laurie see Robert as a strange boy. Brian and Amy comes over to where David and Laurie are
sitting. They are fighting about who is
going to sit. Brian says he needs to talk
to David about football; Amy says while they are talking she needs to keep
Laurie company.
Laurie is upset
because she can’t believe the video they watched before lunch. She can’t believe that someone would kill
all those people.
After lunch, during
a break, Amy and Laurie sit in the publisher’s office, where The Grapevine is
written. The Grapevine is the school’s
newspaper. Amy is smoking so they have
the door locked. Someone knocks on the door; Laurie asks who it is, the answer
in Principal Owens. Amy quickly throws
her cigarette out the window. The voice
asks why the door is locked. Amy says
that they must have done it by accident.
Amy unlocks the door; when the door opens Carl Block and Alex Cooper
walk in; they are two of The Grapevine’s investigative reporters.
1) In the beginning of chapter three, what is bothering Laurie?
2) Why doesn’t Robert try to fit in or try to get good grades?
3) What is The Grapevine?
4) What does David plan to be after he gets out of school?
5) Who are two of The Grapevine reporters?
Chapter Six Summary (By Nick & Holly)
1. What
was the second part of the motto Mr. Ross taught the class?
2. Who
was the junior who wanted Brian’s position on the football team?
3. What
did David think the team needed to win more games?
4. Why
was Mr. Ross unsure that he should go on with The Wave?
5.
Describe The Wave’s symbol?
1. What were the students studying?
2. About what subject was the film the students were watching?
3. What is the name of the high school that the characters
attended?
4. How did the students react to the film?
5. What
was the question, asked by one of the students, that bothered Mr. Ross?
Hitler came to
power in Germany. When Hitler came to
power he made the Nazi Party the only legal party. All others were outlawed.
When Hitler came to power in Germany, he also came to power over the
army. He used the army to put the Jews
in Labor Camps. That is how the Holocaust started.
The Nazis put people
in very inhumane conditions called Labor Camps. When they didn’t go to their immediate death, they went to a slow
death. The people lived on starvation rations
that had a small piece of black hard breed, some margarine, and a small cup of
something that could be called soup.
That food was all the Jewish prisoners were allowed to eat for 24-hours
at a time. On that they had to do very
hard work. Sometimes officers would
kill one of the Jews for the fun of it.
Some of the Jews
escaped from the camps into the woods.
The Jews killed the Germans from the woods. The Nazis didn’t have endless forces so they could not go into
all the forests to flush everyone out.
If the Nazis went in to kill the people in the woods they would have
most of their men killed before they got all the people in the forests. Instead, they make the camps so secure,
nobody could get out.
I think that if
America had joined the fight sooner we could have stopped a lot of people from
being killed by the Nazis. If we had
stopped the Nazis sooner we would not have had to go into a bigger fight
later.
I found my information on the following
websites:
http://www.aish.com/holocaust/overview/Hitler_in
_power. asp
http://www.aish.com/holocaust/overview/The_Labor_Camps.asp
http://www.aish.com/holocaust/overview/The_Jewish_Undergound.asp
A few
months ago we read the novel, To Kill a Mocking Bird. It is the story of an African-American man
who was accused of raping a white woman in Mississippi in the 1930s. Several
characters in the novel expressed anger and hate toward Tom Robinson, the
African-American man.
During
class one day, a student, Heather, asked Mrs. Rhodes, our teacher, how the
people in the town (in the book) could allow Tom Robinson to be charged with
the crime and sentenced to death when they knew he was not guilty. The people
allowed Tom to have an unfair trial with a racist jury. Mrs. Rhodes thought
this was an excellent question. The question reminded her of the book, The
Wave. In The Wave a history
teacher, Ben Ross, shows a film about Adolph Hitler and the gruesome way he and
his armies persecuted the Jews. Several
of his students asked how the people around these acts could allow them to take
place. Mr. Ross was unsure of the answer to the question. So, the history
teacher began to research the Holocaust.
Mr. Ross thought of an experiment he would perform on his class; it was
called The Wave. This was to help the
students learn how the German people felt about the Nazi group and how their
actions had been “overseen.”
After a few days, the Wave members began showing cruelty to
non-members. Two members beat up a non-member who was Jewish. This activity relates to To Kill a
Mocking Bird and how the people in the book treated Tom Robinson and the
other African-American people of the town.
Mrs.
Rhodes may have also assigned this novel to help us be more aware of our
surroundings and what is going on with our school, friends, and jobs. A lesson
learned: being in the “in crowd” is not always the best choice. Nor is letting others lead you astray.
What We Learned From Reading The Wave
Click link to read An Essay (By Nathan)
Click link to read An Essay (By Jared)
Click link to read Reasons to Hate (and why
they’re wrong) (By Ashley)
Click link to read Reasons to Hate (and why
they’re wrong) (By Brittany A)
Notes From Other Students Below:
One thing we learned from The Wave is to never to be mean to people just because they’re different. Once you start a program/cult, never become too attached to that program because most of the time you will probably become power hungry and the program will get out of control. Another thing that we learned from The Wave is that you do not know your friends until you face a serious choice to do what they do or not. If you do not do what your friends say, they will probably get mad and they will not want to be your friend. We also learned that cults are bad. –Cynthia & Dennie
You should not always go with the crowed. Some time we have to do what we think is right and not what others think is right. We are not sheep so we shouldn’t act like them. We have freewill so we should make the most of it. –Justin
We learn by reading The Wave that power is a big responsibility. We learned that racism is extremely wrong because you shouldn’t judge people by the way they look; it is what is on the inside that counts. You should look at the whole picture instead of what you want to see. You should be an individual, fend for yourself, and not let others live your life for you. Make your own decisions. -Nathan & Ryan
The wave taught Matt and me that all men are created equal, no matter what
race, sex, or age. This book was like the Nazis because in The Wave,
people were prejudiced against people who weren't in The Wave. The story
also taught us all of the bad things in the world today that we don't think
could ever happen again. –Haley & Matt
There
are many different things that we can learn from the book The Wave. You can learn that when you get power
hungry, which means that you have the power to do something drastic, you can
destroy a good relationship with friends, students, and family because you get
so caught up in what you’re doing you’re not thinking about what everybody else
is feeling and what everybody thinks.
People who use the power get too involved in it and forget about the
better things in life. They can lose
interest in things that are good for them and stop concentrating on the things
that aren't helping them. You should
also be an individual, to a certain degree, because you shouldn't always go
along with the crowd because sometimes it hurts you and sometimes it hurts
other people. –Clint & Logan
What we can learn from reading The Wave are a couple of
things. The first one is to be an
individual instead of following what everyone else is doing; you should think
for yourself. The second thing is that
before you get too far into something, you should analyze the whole picture
instead of just what you want to see.
If we just look at what we want to see, when we do something, we really
can’t see the effect it is having on everyone around us. In The Wave Ben Ross gets so caught
up in all the positive things he sees coming from his students, he doesn’t
realize that students are no longer thinking for themselves; they are listening
to him. -Justin & Natalie
The
story of the wave teaches that.....
You
should be careful with the power you can get over people because it can lead to
more serious things then you expect. If
your friends want to do something that you don’t want to do, then they
shouldn’t stop liking you. Your friend
might want you do drink, but you can tell him/her that you don’t want to and
they may tell you that they don’t want to hang out with you anymore. In the story Laurie almost lost her
friendship with some of her friends because she didn’t want to be in The Wave. Her friends realized The Wave was not a very
smart group to be in and decided to be Laurie’s friend again. Friendship is
more important the power. –Nick & Holly
In the
novel The Wave, Mr. Ben Ross taught his history class about the evil
ways of the Nazis. He created The Wave,
an experiment to show how power can take over someone's mind, but the power
also got to him. I learned from the
book that power can imprison us all, and if power gets to someone you trust,
then you should lose some of that trust so that the power doesn't take over his
or her mind. – Lindsay & Jordan
We can all learn a lot from The Wave. We should all keep our individuality. When we do become a member of a group, we need to be careful that
the group doesn’t get overpowering. We
shouldn’t hate people for the choices they make, their religion, or race. It can sometimes be good when bad things
happen; in case things go wrong, they help you learn from your mistakes.
–Andrea & Eric
From
reading The Wave we learned several different things. We learned
that you shouldn't dislike people because of their popularity or because they
aren't in a certain group. We also learned from reading this book that
you shouldn't follow everyone else. Be your own unique person. –Angie & Whitney
We
learned a lot from this novel. Some things including to be more alert of what
is going on around us, and look more closely at how the popular crowd or group
is treating others not associated with their little society. The book has also taught us to question what
we are unsure of even if we feel it is probably true. If Laurie Saunders hadn’t
questioned the Wave, we believe the movement would had spread farther and
caused more damage to students
physically and mentally. -Josh & Vanessa
I don’t approve of some choices that go on in the world
today. Some choices that are made disturb me because you get drawn into them
when you don’t even know it. For example, you get drawn into war. War consumes
people, then all they think about is war. Then the world is drawn into it. There is a chain reaction that keeps on
spreading until everyone thinks about war or hate. -Ashley
Ben's, Cory's & Heather's Essay
What we can learn from reading The Wave (By Nathan)
Another lesson I learned from reading The
Wave is that being prejudiced is wrong.
Wave members were prejudiced because they did not “hang out” or converse
with non-Wave members. The experiment
that Mr. Ross conducted was based upon World War II, in which Adolf Hitler
killed millions of Jews and other people just because he did not like them,
which is an example of prejudice, or racism.
Mr. Ross’s experiment was to give his students a glimpse of what life
under Hitler’s rule was like.
Taking responsibility for your actions
is another important lesson I learned.
Ben Ross began this experiment to give his students an idea of why some
people in Germany denied any knowledge of what was happening a the time and to
help them understand why no one spoke out against Hitler. During the course of the experiment, Ben
Ross decided to prolong it for several reasons: his students’ homework was
finally being completed, he enjoyed having a class that behaved and acted so
well, and he noticed that the class loser, Robert Billings, was
participating and actually enjoying class.
After a few days, things started to get out of hand as members and
non-Wave members began getting into fights and some students’ parents came to
school to talk to Principal Owens. Ben
soon came to the realization that it was his responsibility to put an end to
The Wave.
I discovered that you must trust your
instinct, because you might be partaking in an event that could result in
disaster. Laurie’s mother had
misgivings about the Wave right from the start, but her anxieties were quelled
by Laurie’s affirming reassurances.
Principal Owens also had a foreboding feeling about this experiment, but
was assured by Ben Ross that everything would work out well.
I hope that anyone who reads this
essay, or the novel, will discover some of the important messages that are
hidden in the text, and will apply these lessons to everyday life. The reader may recognize some of the mistakes
made by characters in The Wave and learn to not make some of the same
bad decisions as the characters did, because if we do not learn from our
mistakes, we are doomed.
What I Learned By Reading The Wave. (By Jared)
I learned
many things while reading this novel, but I think there were four main lessons.
The first one is that with leadership comes responsibility, hard decisions, and
the unwanted burdens. The Wave
portrays this well because Principal Owens, Coach Schiller, Ben Ross, Laurie
Saunders, and others all held leadership positions. Laurie, as head of the
Gordon Grapevine, had to make sure the paper was finished on time, decide what
was printed in the paper, and do the jobs that no one else wanted to.
Ben Ross particularly had a rough task as a leader because he had
to risk his job and reputation. I think Ben taught me the most because I
realized that with all the power you acquire by being a leader there is an
equal amount of consequence for misusing it. While a head figure has many
privileges he or she must face the downsides of his/her job.
One of the other most important things
I gained from reading the novel was an awareness of being careful about where I
place my faith. Sightlessly believing
in something just to be accepted or to avoid difficult decisions, is giving up
your right to think for yourself. Also, if you trust a leader unknown to you,
you can be putting yourself at risk because you don’t know his or her
intentions and desires.
The third and most significant moral I
acquired was a lesson to listen to others, and always stop and think something
through thoroughly before making a final decision. I know to imagine the pros and cons that will result from my
choices. David Collins and Amy Smith
both ignored Laurie’s pleading, and backed up The Wave without a thought. They
never paused and wandered why they defended The Wave so strongly. The same
thing can be applied to all The Wave members, and their leader Ben Ross.
The final lesson is that intolerance
is not acceptable in today’s society.
Disliking an individual or group is your freedom and right, but you must
receive that individual as a person. The Wave may have been able to go on, for
better or for worse, if the members had tolerated other non-Wave students.
There were many smaller lessons such
as never delay work until the deadline, put yourself in others shoes, know how
far is too far, don’t be selfish, and many others. I think this book can teach anyone several good morals, and
improve one’s outlook on life.
Character Summaries (By: Derrick)
Laurie Saunders
Laurie Saunders has history class with
Mr. Ross. She is also the chief of the newspaper called “The Gordon Grapevine.”
At first she went along with The Wave, and then she turned against it and tried
to shut it down.
Amy Smith
Amy is a pretty girl with thick, curly,
good-looking hair. Amy has Ben Ross as a history teacher. Laurie and Amy are
best friends. Amy joins The Wave. When Laurie tries to get her out she wants to
stay.
Ben Ross
Ben is the history teacher at Gordon
High. He wants to show a film about the
Nazis. He cannot answer an important question, so he starts his own cult to
prove the damage that cult control can do in a short time. The cult he started
was called The Wave. The Wave began and got way out of hand. Ben had to come up
with an idea to stop the cult before anything bad happened.
Christy Ross
Christy Ross is Ben’s wife. She also
teaches at Gordon High. She believes in Ben even when she does not know what he
is doing. When Ben is canceling The Wave, Christy is behind Ben all the way.
She has more courage in him that Ben has in himself.
Brian Ammon
Brian Ammon is the quarterback of the
football team at Gordon High. Brian is
a short guy. When The Wave came about Brain got really into it. The Wave made
him think that the football team could win a game. When David Collins, his best friend, tries to get Brian out of
The Wave, Brian does not want to be friends with David anymore.
Robert Billings
Robert Billings is the loser of the
senior class. Ben Ross thinks Robert
has a big problem. When Ben shows the film, Robert goes to sleep. When The Wave begins, Ben gives Robert only
a few words of encouragement and Robert is a brand new person. Robert becomes Ben’s bodyguard.
David Collins
David Collins is in Ben’ history
class. David is Laurie Saunders’
boyfriend. David plays football. He is
the running back for Gordon High. He is in The Wave and Laurie gets him out and
they want to stop The Wave.
Mr. Owens
Mr. Owens is the principal of Gordon
High. At first when Ben Ross starts The
Wave, Mr. Owens goes on with it. As the
week progresses, he starts disliking The Wave.
Mr. Owens tells Ben Ross that Ben will lose his job if he doesn’t stop
The Wave.
Brad
Brad is in history class with Ben Ross. Brad is one of guys who picks on Robert Billings and calls him names. Brad is in The Wave and Robert is too.
The Holocaust was a terrible part of our world's history. It occurred between 1939 and 1945. The Holocaust was a state-sponsored murder of Jews and others under the command of Adolf Hitler. The Jews had been facing persecution long before the time of the Holocaust, for their beliefs and religious traditions.
Beginning one night
in 1938, and continuing for about 24 hours, Nazis destroyed thousands of Jewish
owned businesses and burned a lot of the Jewish synagogues in Germany and
Austria. They beat many Jews and
attacked their homes, the Nazis also sent the Jews to concentration camps. This night became known as Kristallnancht,
which means The Night of Broken Glass in English.
After World War II, in 1939, Germany’s powerful machine conquered country after country in Europe. The Germans also got many more Jews under their control. The Nazis killed many of them and sent others to camps. The slaughter of Jews began with Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union in June of 1941. Hitler's "killing squads" were called Einsatzgruppen, and they would round up Jews, Gypsies
and Soviet leaders, and shoot them to death one by one.
The first
concentration camps of the Nazis were organized in 1933. These camps could hold tens of thousands of
people who were arrested by the Nazis in the late 1930s. Some of the camps in the early 40s had
special gas chambers that were disguised as showers.
When new Jews were
brought in to the camps, doctors would seek out the young and able bodied; the
rest were sent directly to the gas chambers.
The young and healthy would be saved to work tirelessly. The guards seized the people who were
condemned to be sent directly to the gas chambers. The guards stripped the people of their clothes, and herded them
into the gas chamber. The guards shaved
the heads of the people whom they had gassed, and even removed gold teeth they
found in their mouths.
The camp personnel
then tattooed a number on each able-bodied prisoner’s arm. The prisoners were identified by their
number, not their names. All together
there were six of these death camps in German-occupied Poland; Auschwitz, Belzec, Chelmmo, Majdanek,
Sobibor, and Treblinka. Auschwitz was
the most well known, and the largest of the camps. Around 1¼ million people were murdered there.
The Nazis kept their
actions secret for as long as possible during the Holocaust. To prevent resistance, the Nazis tricked the
prisoners in many ways.
Most of the Jews
didn’t try to fight the Nazis, but in a few instances they did. In 1943, thousands of Jews revolted in
Warsaw, Poland. The Jews were
surrounded and poorly armed, but they held out for about four weeks before the
Nazis took them over. Then 60,000 of
the Jews were either killed, or sent to the death camps.
Allies advanced
through Europe in 1944, and found millions of people not in their
homeland. Many of these people were
able to return to their homes. Though,
some of the Jews had nowhere to go; their families had been murdered, and their
homes destroyed.
The Jews began
living among people who were their former persecutors. World leaders began to seek out a place for
the Jews to go. The Jewish people
wanted their own independent nation in Palestine. The Jews began to immigrate to Palestine. The Arabs who were living in the area didn’t
like the wave of Jews coming into their homeland, and fighting broke out. An agreement was designed so that Palestine
would be divided into Arab and Jewish nations.
The leaders of the
Nazi party were eventually charged with four types of crime: conspiracy to
commit crimes against peace, crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes
against humanity.
We gathered our information from The World Book Encyclopedia 2000
CD-Rom Deluxe Edition
Heather Nash, Cory Bickett, Ben Morris
http://history1900s.about.com/library/holocuast/aa030600a.htm
This article is about
the marches the prisoners went through during The Holocaust. On most of the
marches many prisoners would die mostly because if they fell behind, the guards
would shoot them. This article has all the information that you would want to
know about the marches.
http://nazi_medical.tripod.com/doctors.html
This article is about
doctors and how they killed people and how they selected the victims they were
going to kill. It also has information about the struggles some doctors went
through when they did try to heal people.
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/refarticle.aspx?refid=761563737
This article has
information on World War II, and how many people were killed, how long it
lasted and so on. It has information about how the war started and when
different countries got involved.
http://www.holocaust-history.org
This article has essays
and documents on topics spanning from a Jewish person’s point of view to a
Nazi’s point of view. This article has more documents than essays, also
pictures of some of the documents. This article also has information on the
trials of major war criminals.
http://www.historyacusd.edu/gen.ww2timeline/camps.html
This article is about
the Nazi concentration camps. The article has all the big information about the
camps through 1933-1945. It gets more detailed in the later years.
http://history1900s.about.com/library/holocaust/blmap.htm
This article is a big
map that shows you the locations of the concentration camps, extermination
camps, and the capitols of different states the Nazis took over.
http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/timeline.html
This article is a big
timeline about everything big that happened from 1933-1961. It has information
from when Hitler was appointed Chancellor to when the war ended.
http://www.unquitmind.com/Hitler.html
This article has
Hitler’s written and spoken letters about his different point of views, but
mostly includes his opinions about the Jews. It also has many pictures under
most of the stuff Hitler said or wrote.
http://www.mtsu.edu/~baustin/holocamp.html
This article is about
the camps the Nazi’s prisoners went through. It tells how many people were
killed in separate camps. It also has a map of the different camps and major
capitols.
http://www.intelinet.org/swastika/swastica_intro.htm
This article is about
the swastika and its history. It also tells how long the swastika has been
around and how many cultures used it before the Nazis. The whole article is
about the swastika.
1. Jealousy- Of what people have
Jealousy-hostility toward a rival or one believed to enjoy an
advantage.
For one thing, you might be jealous of someone’s appearance or what
people have, but you have no clue what other people’s lives have been like.
Everyone has his/her own trails and tribulations. Also, the more you have, the more responsibility you have with
it. Before making judgments we should
ask ourselves one questions: If we get
what another person has, will it make us happy with ourselves?
2. Stereotyping- Fear of a person different from themselves
Stereotyping-developing a mental idea about people
Stereotype comes in many different forms from many different
people. For example, when you see someone in certain types of clothes you think
you know who he/she is and what he/she does. The truth is no matter how someone
dresses you shouldn’t treat him/her differently because you would not like to
be treated in the same way.
3. Fear- Of the unknown
Fear-to be afraid of: expect with alarm apprehensive
If you fear in the unknown you will never fully experience life or
meet new people. There is no need to fear others because you will never
understand your destined journey in life.
4. Beliefs- The way people were raised and their outlook on life
There are many major religions of the
world. People have a tendency to think their choice is the only correct one.
Our narrow-minded attitudes and unwillingness to accept diversity causes grief
and war.
5. Race- Fear of other people being racists
Race-a class or kind of people unified by
community of interest habits, or characteristics
There are many different races.
It shouldn’t matter whether you’re white, black, or Asian, because we
are all equal. No race is better than the other, no matter what it is. No race
has been proven in the history to be better than another. It is the inner
spirit and reaching your potential that are important.
6. Judgment- Being judged by other people
Judgment-the process of forming an opinion
or evaluation by discerning and comparing
Judging other people is not our responsibility. Mankind usually cannot see another person’s
potential. God says, “He will be the judge at the proper time.”
An old Chinese proverb says, “You must
walk in a man’s shoes before judging him.” We are to quick to put a person down
and talk harshly about his/her choices, but we should keep judgmental opinions
to ourselves.
Reasons People Hate Others Different From
Themselves (By Brittany A)
Fear-Some people do not like others because they are scared of what they do not
know or are scared that the person might do something to them (which is a type
of stereotyping). An example of fear would be being scared of or prejudiced
against Middle-Eastern persons just because of what happened on September 11,
2001. There is no need to fear or treat
them differently because not every one of them feels or thinks the same way as
the people who caused this tragedy. Many of them came to the United States for
the freedom we have and most of them probably appreciate what they have.
Stereotyping-Many people categorize others by their appearance or whom they are
with. For instance: if you drive a nice car and have famous friends, then some
people might think you have a perfect life. To me, this is absurd; no one has a
perfect life. Everyone has some trials
and tribulations, but some are more noticeable than others. I believe that the more material objects you
obtain, the more problems and worries you have.
Judgment-One bad experience can make someone judge or categorize people who are
different from him/her for his/her whole life.
For instance: if in some way a person is violated or treated badly by
someone of a different race, then the other person could hate everyone of that
race. To me, this is not a reason; it is an excuse. I can understand the extreme awareness and fear the person may
have, but it is not fair to put the disliking one has for one person on an
entire race. If one does this, one
could miss out on meeting a lot of good people and maybe even the perfect
person. I would like for you to ask yourself this question: Is judging others
worth missing out on a happy and peaceful life?
Hate- It may be hard to believe, but some people are being raised to hate other
ethnicities, races, and religions. For
example: some people who are in groups that discriminate against others (The Ku
Klux Klan, etc.) have grown up with everyone around them, including their
families, having racist attitudes toward others, but this is still no reason to
continue the cycle. No matter how you
have been raised you can still overcome adversity, many have. I believe that you should never judge
others, unless you wouldn't mind someone doing the same to you. (I personally would not like to be judged or
categorized because, by this, I could be limited to not being able to fulfill
my dreams or even experiencing life.)
Jealousy- When passing people on the street, some people's reasons for giving
them a dirty look or saying a rude comment is jealousy. Jealousy is a big problem in the world
today, but it should not be. I believe
that you have what material objects God wants you to have and there is always a
reason why. To want what someone else has means that you are not happy with
what you have accomplished. Just
because someone may have more material objects that you do doesn't always mean
he/she is happy. With material objects and money, come more problems and
obligations. Just ask yourself one more thing: If you had everything you
wanted, would you be happy…even with the everything that comes with it?