Have you ever been in a school group when too many people join and it gets out of hand? The book that we are talking about is The Wave by Todd Strasser. The Wave is about a high school history teacher who is teaching his students about the Holocaust. He starts an experiment to simulate what it was like to be in the Holocaust. The Wave takes a turn when the experiment gets out of hand. The Wave is positive because of leadership and the importance of a school family. The negative effects of The Wave are peer pressure and bullying.
One of the negative effects of The Wave is peer pressure. The first example of peer pressure is, "The Nazi's might have been a minority, but they were a highly organized, armed, and dangerous minority, you have to remember that the rest of the German population was unorganized, unarmed, and frightened." (Strasser,12) Mr. Ross starts thinking that The Wave will go all through the school. When students hear about the group, they start joining. The second example of peer pressure by Strasser is, "Realize now that I made a mistake. A history class is not a science lab. You can't experiment with human beings. Especially high school students who aren't aware that they're part of an experiment." Mr. Ross and Principal Owens discuss that the wave has gone too far.
Another negative effect of The Wave is bullying. The first quote for bullying is "I'll do anything… Eat my Wheaties, join the wave, do my homework, anything to stop that guy." This quote was said by Brian,(Strasser 45). Brian was scared about the game against Clarksville. Brian is very nervous. The second quote for bullying is "Except the crazy thing was, he'd never given those orders, somehow they'd simply invoked in the students imaginations, and once there, they automatically assumed he'd given them. It was as if The Wave had taken on a life of its own and now he and the students and him were literally riding it." This was said by the narrator,(Strasser writes 122). Mr. Ross has started to lose control of the students all of the students are joining in on the wave and they are bullying other students to join to. Another positive effect of the wave is leadership.
One of the positive effects of the wave is leadership. The first quote for leadership is "Almost subconsciously sensed how much they wanted to lead them, and it was something he could not deny." This quote was said by the narrator, page(Strasser 61-62). The wave effects all of the students and Mr. Ross. After the students know the drills he will have power over them. The second quote for bullying is "You have to understand that this experiment can't go any further than I let it go. The whole idea of the wave is the idea of a group willing to follow their leader. As long as I'm involved in this, I can assure you that it can't get out of hand." This was said by Ben Ross, (Strasser,79). When principal Owens and Mr. Ross, Mr. Ross is still thinking he can control this experiment. The next paragraph is going to be about the importance with a school Family.
Another positive effect of the wave is the importance with a school family. The first quote for the importance with a school family is "He recalled those students in his own history classes who had condemned the Jews for not taking the Nazis seriously for not fleeing their homes and ghettos when rumors of the concentration camps and gas chambers filtered back to them." (Strasser, 118). You should not judge the Nazis and the Jews on there past. The second positive effect of the importance with a school family is "The whole idea of the wave is that the people in it have to support it. If we're really a community, we all have to agree." (Strasser, 64). Roberts intelligence about the wave is scaring everyone. He is usually lazy but now he is popular. The next paragraph is going to conclude the book the wave.
The positive effects of the wave are leadership and the importance with a school family. The negative effects of the book the wave are bullying and peer pressure. Have you ever been in a school group when too many people join? In the book the wave a high school teacher started a classroom experiment that got out of hand. When people found out about it everyone wanted to join. It got way out of hand and most of the students got bullied or peer pressured into joining. You have to treat all people like they are family. If you want to lead a group you have to first learn how to be a good and strong leader. Don't join groups that get out of hand.