“You’re so idealistic, David. You’re so intent on creating some kind of Utopian Wave society full of equal people and great football teams that you don’t see it at all. It can’t happen, David. There will always be a few people who won’t want to join. They have a right not to join.” ~ Page 94 - Laurie.
This shows that the people in the Wave are making others try to join them and threatening them that their friends will leave them if they don't join. They want more people to join so they could have more power I'm guessing. The people that they are targeting are victim of higher authority. Kind of like what the Nazis did to all of the other citizens. But I still agree with Laurie that not everyone is going to want to join the Wave and that there is always going to be somebody that is not going to want to join.
The theme for this quote to me is victimization and bullying because the seniors are forcing the other students into becoming a member of the Wave. Later in the story, a letter from an anonymous writer said “He said pretty soon people in the Wave wouldn't want to be friends with people who weren't in it. He even said I'd lose all my friends if I don't join. I think he was trying to scare me.” This shows that they are trying to force students to join. I agree with Laurie that they have the right to join or not.This is like when the Nazis forced non-Jews to join the Nazi party or they were thrown in jail. Also made all these ridiculous laws that the Jews had to follow.
Hey Alex, good analysis. The above description of this social phenomena sounds a lot like "groupthink" to me. I experience this all of the time in my career. Most people do not want to "rock the boat", in other words, go against what the majority believes. These people feel they will be outcast and ridiculed for thinking and acting against the greater group. I believe there is personal power to be gained when there is a sense of belonging to a group. However, it does take someone of great strength to resist what the group believes in, even if it is for all the right reasons. As in the case of the holocaust, these people faced severe punishment and even death. Keep up the good work! Eric
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