Arbeitsblatt: the wave

The Wave Todd Strasser (Morton Rhue) In 1978, Todd sold his first novel, Angel Dust Blues. He used the money to start Dr. Wing Tip Shoo fortune cookie company. For the next 12 years, Todd made more money from selling fortune cookies than he did from writing books. Todd wrote Help! Im trapped in my Teachers body. Since then he has written 11 more Help! Im trapped in . books. All together, he has published more than 90 books. Todd now lives with his family on Long Island Sound. He devides his time between writing books and speaking at schools and conferences. When he is at home, he likes to spend time with family and dog, Mac. He still likes to fish, play tennis and ski. About the novel The story is based on true story:Ron Jones, former high-school teacher from San Francisco, tried in 1969 to teach his pupils the realities of fascism by encouraging them to form kind of classroom Hitler Youth. This movement became so popular that the life of the whole school was affected. Jones later wrote down his experiences with his history class, and published this as report whicht is named The third Wave.Jones was interviewed by radio stations and newspapers, and even appeard on the famous TV news Good Morning America. Later the story was made into succsessful film which was shown on American TV in the autumn of 1981. Then Todd Strasser write book about the wave. This he did under the pseudonym Morton Rhue. Summary Ben Ross, history teacher at Gordon High School, teachs the Second World War and the holocaust. When his pupils ask him why the majority of the Germans didnt do anything against the Nazis, Ross has no answer. It must be something one could only understand by being there or if possible by creating similar situation. In the next history lesson, Ross wrote on the blackboard: Strength through Discipline. This was the first part of his experiment. When he is talking about discipline he is talking about power and success. From that point the students became more interested. First they have to take better sitting position and they have to wander through the classroom and sit down as fast as they can. At the beginning there was chatting and big mess. For the next twenty minutes the class practised, then they did it in half the time. Ross told them three rules: everybody must have pencils and notepapers for notetaking; when they ask or answer question they must stand at the side of their chair and before asking they have to say first Mr.Ross. On the next day the students are already sitting on their seats in their posture. Ross added to the words Strength through discipline, the word community, Their mottos were Strength through discipline and Strength through community. The whole class stood up and repeated the mottos. Then Ross drew on the blackboard circle with the shape of wave in it. This was their common sign. They also had common salute. David, student of Mr. Ross history class, tried to get the whole football team into the wave. He saw possibility to win more games and making real team. On the third day, Ross gave them yellow membership cards. Some had red X on the other side like Brians and Roberts (the classlooser) cards. Those pupils are like monitors. They denounce (anzeigen) other students who dont obey to the rules of the way direct to Mr. Ross. Then they enlarged the motto by third word Strength through action. From this day Ross wants that all are equal and there are no competitionss against each other. The Wave was no longer an idea or game. It was living moment in the students. Laurie (the top pupil) is the only one who feels strange about the Wave. Her mum thinks it is too militaristic The other like it because they are all equal, they didnt have to worry how populate they are. Laurie got letter from younger student who was with his friends in Mr. Ross class, too. After the lesson senior student asked them if they want to join in and how great it is. The students friends joined in but the boy didnt. So the senior told him that he never will have friends because they dont want pupils who arent in the Wave and if he joins not soon it will be too late. Boy wants to know for what it will be too late. And one day boy, who is Jew, was beaten up by wave members, because he didnit want to join in. Robert wants to be Rossbodyguard because such big leader needs bodyguards. At the beginning Ross has some doubts but he agreed because he saw it as part of the experiment. Laurie found some students who are against the Wave too (Alex and Carl). They are writing an article about it. It explains the Wave as dangerous movement. After school Brian and David (Lauries boyfriend, but he breaks up with L, because she doesnt want to join in the Wave) are waiting for Laurie because David has to talk with her, about the article, but Laurie doesnt want to listen him. So David grasped her arm. He says that Laurie hasnt the right to disturb what is so good for nearly all students. When she shouted that she hates the Wave he throw her down on the grass. David couldnt belive that he had done such stupid thing for the Wave. Laurie and David visit Ben Ross for telling him to break up the Wave. Ross allready has plan but he cant tell it to Laurie and David because if the students recognize that he wants to end it they will have learned nothing or theyll fight against Ben Ross and giving up the Wave. Next day Ross explains the students that there is rally where all members should come because their leader speaks to them. David and Laurie are getting angry, because this was not what Ben had promised them. At the rally they had guards who controlled the membership cards and were aware that only wave-members are at the rally. All the pupils are staring on huge, blank movie screen. Then Ben Ross shouted There is your leader! and the film starts. All the wave-members now see speech from Hitler on the screen. Ross added that they have made some good nazis. The pupils are shocked. They see that it could happen again and that they could be the victims. They learnt lot about this experiment and will now see the nazi time with other eyes. The People Laurie Saunders is pretty girl, having permanent smile. She is used to chew on pens when she feels nervous. The reason could be her giving up smoking. She is the editor-in-chief of the schools newspaper, called The Grapevine. She feels responsible for it and its matter of course for her to work for The Grapevine in her free time. So shes reliable (zuverlässig) and she is often angry about her staff. She would really like to manage the issue (Ausgabe) on time. Laurie Saunders is cheerful nature. Shes skilled (talentiert) in cheering up others by making several funny faces. Laurie is smart, clever and intelligent student. She gets A-marks. So all in all we can say that she is strong personality and she has lot of friends. Amy Smith, fair girl, is Laurie Saunders best friend. She also is smart and intelligent. She gets A-marks. Mr. Gabondi is French teacher who isnt loved by the students. His courses are too boring for them. Ben Ross is young History teacher, who has been at Gordon High for two years now. His wife is Christy Ross, teacher in music and choir at the same school. Ben Ross lacks the ability to manage technical problems like treading film into the projector. Asks if the pupils can help him. He has good reputation at school. Students think that he is charismatic. He is very engaged in teaching, interested and involved in his topics. He brings new outlook (Standpunkt)to his classes and tries to teach the practical, relevant aspects of history. Wants to show how it was in the nazi time. Starts the experiment which he called the wave. But his faculty colleagues have different opinions on his way of teaching. Some like his energy, creativity and unusual methods, but others are skeptical about him. They think he would calm down after few years, use the traditional ways of teaching and would wear suits and ties like they do. Maybe, there are some aspects of envy or jealousy. Brian Ammon is quarterback on the football team. Enjoying social life is important for him. He often gets bad marks, although he is able to do better. There is no lack of intellectual capacity on his side. Robert Billings is the class loser. He usually gets bad marks. Ben Ross thinks he is real problem. He is heavy boy and looks little bit untidy (unordendlich) and unkempt. (verwahrlost) Robert has tofight to come on. The other students like to make fun of him. So he is often tormented (quälen) by others, especially by Brian. The Wave gave him the chance to be somebody, was the only one who really lose something in this whole ting. David Collins is tall good looking boy who is on the football team too. He is Laurie boyfriend, has good marks and natural technical skill. What think about the book This work of Todd Strasser (Morton Rhue) shows in sarcastic but also realistic way how easily group can be influenced. The change from normal class to organised troops was executed in only few days. The dramatic part is that all what is described in the book already happend several years before World War II. When Hitler took the power over Germany. It is an interesting fact that everything started as little game to show how something like Nazi Germany could have happened. But the experiment was surely not for the pupils to become little Nazis. Laurie just cannot understand that something as silly and dumb as the Wave could have made David nearly break up with her. As member of the community, he has to obey there is no other possibility for him. If he doesnt, he will be expelled from the organisation. After the terrible film about the concentration camps, where members of the SS killed millions of Jewish people, David told his girlfriend that something like that never could happen again. But in fact the developement in this school was perfect proof that he was not right. Nobody had expected (annnehmen)the horrendous proportions that the game would reach. All in all, this was very interesting book and really enjoyed reading it. was especially impressed by the easy style in which the author tells the thrilling story. Themes/Topics Race, Ethnicity, and Culture The Individual vs. Society The Holocaust Friends and Enemies Challenges and Triumphs