ipl-logo

The Wave Essay Questions

677 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Social norms and their ngative effects

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

Show More
Related
226 Words | 1 Pages

The book starts with Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose at the grand opening for the panda exhibit. Then the mama panda runs and slams the gate. Next the police went inside the cave to see what was happening. The police found a note that said go to goose island and put a million dollars in the hollow tree. Later they went home to see who did it, luckily Ruth Rose recorded the whole thing, in the video Ruth rose recorded the whole opening of the panda exhibit and the panda looked like he was mad at the microphone.

Read More
1130 Words | 5 Pages

Some people would assume no Jew would oppose Hitler’s ideology because it completely removed any notion of individuality. The ideas he enforced were terrible and made people conform to everything he said. Even though many people lost their lives, Germans resisted the National Socialist ideology. When Hitler established his reign in 1933 over the people of Germany, the younger generation became indoctrinated. Children conformed to Hitler’s plans without questioning them.

Read More
502 Words | 3 Pages

“I also understand now that people have to decide for themselves what is right and stand up for what they believe in. ”I think this is the most important plot in the story even though others might disagree. The reasons I think this is most

Read More
512 Words | 3 Pages

Hitler killed and tortured many innocent people, and gained a following known as the Nazis. World War II lasted six years in Europe, however many people didn’t anything about it for years. Today people have technology and can communicate with others in a matter of seconds. However in 1939 this technology was not available and that lead to people being in the dark to what really was happening. I think the world didn’t do anything because they were scared and thought it was unbelievable or because they didn’t know in the first place.

Read More
180 Words | 1 Pages

In “The Sanctuary of School” Lynda applies her personal life to the fact that some people think cutting down budgets for public schools will benefit when times get tough. Also that art, music and the creative ideas will be the first to go when budgets are cut. Lynda had a rough childhood where her parents had money issues and family members that needed temporarily to stay at her home (Barry, 721). The lack of attention from her parents made her look for attention elsewhere in this case the school. Lynda saw her teacher Mrs. LeSane as a mother figure.

Read More
663 Words | 3 Pages

The quote stated at the beginning also reflects this. “I have more faith in Hitler than in anyone else. He alone has kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people” (Wiesel 81). Many Jews had given up on the Allied forces rescuing them at that point in the war. Even then, they had no idea that the other countries knew what was happening to them.

Read More
1196 Words | 5 Pages

The novel “Speak”, written by Laurie Halse Anderson first published in the year 1999, deals with Melinda, an “outcast” (p. 4), who experiences her first year of high school while simultaneously trying to cope with the aftermath of sexual abuse during a party, which consists mainly of her not being able to speak. Since we are all aware of the fact that Melinda’s traumatic event led to a certain degree of dehumanization for her, the following words intend to focus on and elaborate Melinda’s struggle in school; how she views her teachers, her marks, her periods and to some degree also her peers and classmates. Starting right at the beginning Melinda enters her high school life with a healthy amount of prejudice. Probably having heard or

Read More
289 Words | 2 Pages

Laurie Saunders is the protagonist of the book “ The Wave” and is a fairly well-known student because of her grades and her always answering questions in class at Gordon high school. Laurie participates in extracurricular activities as Laurie is the editor-in-chief of the school paper and has a boyfriend who plays football, David Collins. Initially, she is displayed as a hard-working independent student but as her teacher, Ben Ross, introduces an experiment meant to portray what it felt like to live in Germany during WW2, Laurie begins to follow the horde and like everyone in this Wave movement, begins to lose their individuality. As we go more and more deeper in the novel Laurie starts to question the Wave more and more and eventually pulls

Read More
181 Words | 1 Pages

In school again was the second time she faced an obstacle that stems from her race. This was known as opposition. It seems that educational facilities are the brunt of her problems. “At Pan American University, I and all Chicano students were required to take two speech classes. Their purpose: to get rid of our accents”.

Read More
1586 Words | 7 Pages

As one develops and matures, one begins to grasp an understanding of who they are in this world through experiences. There are a numerous amount of outside forces and social institutions that influence the way people live. These institutions just so happen to be educational, familial, religious, or governmental. Whatever the case may be, it may work in one’s favor or not based on one’s identity. Sexism, racism, classism, and other forms of discrimination continue to persist to this day based on identities that are not necessarily in one’s control.

Read More
1918 Words | 8 Pages

Just as Anne Frank's Book, exposes students to the situation she was in. All of these books are being censored in schools today, taking away from the reality of the past. Chen asserts that, "By exposing students to a myriad of confusing and troubling topics, teachers are guiding students into the reality of the complex adult and social world. Each text is chosen for a specific grade and age group; therefore, the books serve as a scaffold to slowly guide students to build upon more complicated ideas and realities(7). " Having students read these books allows for safe discussions on not just the literature, but also these topics.

Read More
501 Words | 3 Pages

Though it may not seem obvious, the school shows a distinct lack of care for its pupils, they have introduced new systems of learning, people who are not acquainted with the area are chosen to teach there, causing different, more obvious problems with the students. Learning can also be associated with a loss of innocence because ignorance and innocence go hand in hand: the less you know, the less likely you are to try something because you don’t even know of the certain thing, and you know things that make you less innocent in the first place. All in all, the story is based around racism and the Great depression and other such themes. The school represents many of these things, innocence, racism and depression. On the opposite side of the same coin, it could also represent many good things about this period of time, but it exuded these characteristics the most.

Read More
563 Words | 3 Pages

In her narrative essay “The Sanctuary of School,” Lynda Barry recounts a story from her childhood that illustrates her relationships at school vs her relationships at home. She tells us how public school was her sanctuary from her unstable home life. It was a stable environment that she depended on. She tells us this when she says ,"[F]or the next six hours I was going to enjoy a thoroughly secure, warm and stable world." Unlike at home, her school was a place she was noticed and cared about.

Read More
1223 Words | 5 Pages

Ms. Vasquez was the newest member of the first grade team at Westside Elementary School. She, along with three other teachers, made up the first grade teaching staff. Three years before Sally’s employment began, the first grade staff “adopted academic progress and social development criteria for determining whether students should be retained in grade” (Kowalski, pg. 59). While Sally was uncomfortable with retaining students, she was not yet confident enough in her position to challenge the veteran teachers. During her schooling, “Sally had been told that the negative aspects of retaining students far outweighed the benefits-a contention that was supported by several research articles she was required to read” (Kowalski, pg. 59).

Read More
1488 Words | 6 Pages

INTRODUCTION For the purpose of this assignment I have selected the film Freedom Writers (2007). As a teacher in a post-primary DEIS school, this film was of particular interest to me for its high-school setting and the disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds of the students. Freedom Writers is a movie adaptation of Erin Gruwell’s non-fiction book Freedom Writers Diary: How a teacher and 150 teens used writing to change themselves and the world around them (1999). The film follows Erin Gruwell, a newly qualified and enthusiastic English teacher, as she navigates her way through school politics, prejudice, racism and personal circumstance to help a group of at-risk teens to fulfill their potential.

Read More

More about The Wave Essay Questions

Related Topics

Open Document