The Wave by Morton Rhue is a fictional story based on an incident that occurred at a high school in Gordon. A history professor, Ross conducts an experiment to explain the cruel behavior of German Nazis during the Holocaust. He creates an organization called The Wave in his class, which then quickly spreads throughout the school. Rhue uses characterization and character journey to develop the progression of the wave. Robert Billings, who loves the idea of ​​The Wave, agrees with it straight away; David Collins also liked the idea of ​​The Wave and wants his high school football team to join, and Laurie Saunders, who does not join The Wave and has serious effects due to her non-compliance. The linguistic techniques used in The Wave are foreshadowing and characterization. A major theme that runs through The Wave is conformity. Conformity is explored through the characters of David Collins and Robert Billings. When the reader first learns about Robert Billings, he is weak and timid in many ways, mainly because of his older brother's success and that is why The Wave becomes his salvation. When The Wave begins, he seizes the opportunity to make a change. For a while, it seemed to work and Roberts' grades and social life improved. We know that Robert conforms to The Wave early in the book, from when Robert Billings was in the men's room and "...stood in front of the mirror tucking in his shirt, unaware that he was not alone." As David Collins watched him straighten some of the hair on his head and looked at his reflection. Then he snapped back to attention and his lips moved silently, as if he were still in Mr. Ross's class answering questions. David stood still while Robert repeated the movement. And again. » (p40) Rhue fo...... middle of paper ...... for worse and tells Mr. Ross to close The Wave. Once Mr. Ross understands what the surge is doing to the students, the next day, end the surge for good. After the students hear the news, the shocked students drop all of their Wave cars and slowly leave the auditorium. The only student who was affected by The Wave's shutdown was Robert Billings. Conformity is a dominant theme that runs through The Wave. The effect The Wave has on Gordon High School affects many students and their personalities. Rhue emphasized conformity by having the characters show that they were very strong about The Wave and wanted to join it as soon as they heard about it from Mr. Ross. Rhue demonstrated conformity in two different ways: David Collins and Robert Billings being all for The Wave, and then Laurie who was very aloof about it and was against it all the time..