AUTHOR'S STYLE

One may think this book was written in an unimaginative, bland style: the novel is straightforward and simple, often journalistic in its attention to necessary details. As the story is based on a real incident that occurred in a Palo Alto school, this stylistic decision creates a sense of reportage. That is, the bare-bones just-the-facts approach makes it easier to imagine the events of the novel as really happening, as being less a.........

IMPORTANT QUOTES - QUOTATIONS AND ANALYSIS

The novel starts with an idyllic moment, one that emphasizes how ordinary the setting and situation is:

1.) Laurie Sanders sat in the publications office at Gordon High School chewing on the end of a Bic pen. She was a pretty girl with short light-brown hair and an almost perpetual smile that only disappeared when she was upset or chewing on Bic pens. Lately she'd been chewing on a lot of pens. In fact, there wasn't a single pen or pencil in her pocketbook that wasn't worn down on the butt end from nervous gnawing. Still, it beat smoking. (pg. 7)

Her ability to stop smoking shows a self-control and willingness to sacrifice that contributes to her future resistance against The Wave. This opening also establishes her role in the novel as the voice of dissent, expressed through the school newspaper The Gordon Grapevine. The introduction of her history teacher Ben Ross is similarly conflicted in tiny details, as he fumbles with the film projector. However, that fumbling is used to contrast what he is truly skilled in:

2.) Thus far in his career at Gordon High - Ben and Christy had been teaching there for two years - he had managed to hide his mechanical inabilities. Or rather, they...........

The complete study guide is currently available as a downloadable PDF, RTF, or MS Word DOC file from the PinkMonkey MonkeyNotes download store. The complete study guide contains summaries and notes for all of the chapters; detailed analysis of the themes, plot structure, and characters; important quotations and analysis; detailed analysis of symbolism, motifs, and imagery; a key facts summary; a multiple-choice quiz, and suggested book report ideas and essay topics.