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The Wave Essay Questions

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According to countrystudies.us, the population of Germany during World War 2 was about 80 million, and stated historyplace.com, about 10 percent of Germans were Nazis. This means that 72 million people ignored the gruesome actions of 8 million people, and tried nothing to stop it. Most people find this hard to understand and hard to believe. How could people be so oblivious to what was happening, and how could Hitler make people do such cruel things? The Wave addresses these questions when a high school history is asked these questions by his students. The historical fiction novel The Wave by Todd Strasser is about being yourself and not following the “norms” of society. In The Wave, the character Laurie Saunders stands up for what she …show more content…

Throughout the book, Todd builds on this idea here and there, until he causes Laurie Saunders character to take action that really highlights the theme. Laurie’s mother tells her daughter, “‘I didn’t say that it was wrong to cooperate,’ Mrs. Saunders replied. ‘But still people have to do things their own way. You talk about the greatness of this country and you’re talking about people who weren’t afraid to act as individuals’” (Strasser, 50). As soon as Laurie’s mother hears about what is happening at her daughter’s school, she doesn’t agree with it. Laurie tries to explain that “The Wave” is doing good things to the school environment, and it removes the idea of anyone being better than anyone else, and that people all are equal. But Todd uses Mrs. Saunders as an opposing force against “The Wave”, and that is where Laurie’s doubt in “The Wave” starts to build. As Laurie’s thoughts kept building up and eventually she made up her mind about “The Wave” and published an article in the school newspaper about how “The Wave” is not as good as it seems. (Strasser, 100). This article caused a mix of reactions from different students, teachers, and parents. Laurie learned that it is very important to be her own person and express her opinion, because if she didn’t people would have continued to get hurt from “The

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