Short Story: Strength Through Actions

“Yeah, I do.” I tell him. Honest. In moments, I’m above the waves, feeling the soft swell of the water beneath the soles of my feet. Laughing at the tiny fish sucking on my toes. Jumping instead of stepping over the breaker that crashes toward us. Running across a back draw as the ocean pulls up another monstrous wave. The little girl does the same as me, only on the sand. The man with the instrument puts a flower in her hair and she kisses his cheek. I see the tattoo across his chest. A Marquesan Cross. A wave surges across the backs of my legs. “This is amazing!” I cry, elated. “How do you do

For example, Laurie is surprised by the actions of one of The Wave members, that used to be her friend. “ ‘Come on, Laurie, just give me the salute and you can go up.’ Brad said. ‘What are you talking about, Brad?’ Questioned Laurie. ‘You know, The Wave salute.’ Brad said in reply. ‘You mean I can’t go up into the stands unless I give The Wave salute?’ Laurie asked. Brad looked around sheepishly. ‘Well, that's what they decided, Laurie.’ ” In other words, Laurie is not allowed to attend her school’s football game unless she gives in to the pressure of her peers, and gives The Wave salute. The salute is a symbol of the exclusion of The Wave. In this case, the salute is taking over Laurie and her peers and it is dividing the students in a harmful

An important idea in The Wave is ‘words can be used for harm or for good’. This idea means that words can be used to hurt people mentally and create bad things, but, at the same time can cheer a person up and change their life in a good way. The confusing thing is, is that good words can also be bad. For example, if someone said that they won their basketball game and you said ‘good’, then that would be a good thing to say. It’s also quite the same with harmful words. In The Wave, this conundrum is used in a smart way. For example, Ben Ross is taking his first class with The Wave as a base when he introduces the line,

The narrator is hesitant in his first interactions with the wave, as humans often are in love, and may be intimidated by the idea of romantic love.

Laurie is very determined to end the wave because it is hurting people. Laurie doesn’t want people getting hurt therefore she tries to stop it. “Don’t you see” Laurie said, mistaking his hesitation for a glimmer of doubt you’re so idealistic David you’re so intent on creating some kind of utopian society full of football teams. You don’t see it at all. They have a right not to join. Laurie tells her boyfriend no one has to join the wave movement at all because the Wave is out of control. Laurie’s boyfriend is getting out of control about the wave. He thinks extending it to the football team is a fantastic idea which it’s not, which leads to their break up. Laurie is determined to say anything she wants about the Wave in the Gordon Grapevine. “I will write and I will say anything I want to, and you can’t stop me. Laurie is determined to write anything she wants and her friends can’t stop her from doing that. After Laurie edits the Gordon Grapevine, David and Brian try to Catch her and try to take away the paper away from her and they fail. All in all, Laurie doesn’t care whether she gets in trouble or not she wants to be the hero that ends the Wave.

“What’s the problem? I don’t agree with it, but nobody’s going to be hurt because of it.”

He felt almost as if he were coming out of a trance. What had possessed him these last few days that could cause him to do something so stupid?” This quote shows me that David is in shock. He got frightened by his own actions. He no longer had a voice to speak for himself. The Wave was pushing him to fulfill certain actions. He then realizes that The Wave has possessed him to do certain things he would never even think about. He hurt his own girlfriend, the one he loved, in the name of The Wave. At this moment, both Laurie and David agree that The Wave has to end before anyone else gets hurt. Even though this was a classroom experiment, they now both perceive that it is causing harm in many ways. People are losing their individuality and are relying on The Wave to make the choices and actions for them. David obviously did not mean to do this, which is why it is obvious that The Wave has gotten out of

Eventually Laurie persuades her boyfriend (Wave member) that ‘The Wave’ is out of control and he agrees after nearly injuring her is a disagreement about the experiment. The two then take to Mr Ross to stop the social assesment, he

They got comfortable after a few drinks that were made by the narrator and from this we can see that he is already looking at the old man differently, the man drinks hard liquor. Dinner was served and they all dive into the meal and it was just a quiet silent moment no one spoke or looked at each other except for the narrator, pointed out how Robert was eating what first and how he was no ashamed of using one of his

The Wave changed his behavior,

When the wave starts out Laurie likes the concept of it and everybody else does too. But when everybody else started to grow more inclined to it she liked it less. Laurie started to come to multiple realizations about the wave after a supper conversation with her parents. When Laurie told her parent about it her father was supportive of it but her mother was not very fond of it. Her mother disliked how everyone was stripped of individuality. All the students in the wave aside from Laurie barely spoke for themselves as their own person. Just for the wave. Laurie didn't like how the experiment robbed people of their own opinions, how everyone is listening to Mr. Ross and obeying to him and how the people inside the wave treat outsiders.

As time passes, the other teachers and a handful of students become more troubled with the effects of the Wave (the expression

and the narrator were about to be swallowed by the by the wave, K. didn’t notice the wave was there but the narrator did so the narrator yelled of K. but K. didn’t listen. It was too late if the narrator did decide to get K. they both would of possibly died. “Soundlessly (in my memory,at least, the image is soundless) it rose up behind K. to block the sky. K. looked at me for a few seconds uncomprehending. Then as if sensing something he turned towards the wave.

“Thank you Mr. Parker. While we think on that matter, we have a one smaller matter to discuss.”

It was clearly shown that some individuals didn’t want o join the wave. “Let them make up their own minds about the wave. They’re individuals they don’t need me to help them” (Rhue 1981, p.77).