The Wave

“Ben’s students spoke of his intensity—the way he got so interested and involved in a topic that they couldn’t help but be interested also. He was ‘contagious,’ they’d say meaning that he was charismatic. He could get through to them.”

Ben is a popular, cool teacher, but the author takes care to point out that he’s charismatic and “contagious.” This refers to his infectious enthusiasm and to a latent power and influence that charismatic people have access to. When Ben speaks passionately, he inspires passion in others, at least temporarily. Charisma is ideal for a teacher who wants to help students learn and thrive but disastrous in the hands of someone who wants to gain power and dominate others.

“All I can tell you […] is that the Nazis were highly organized and feared. The behavior of the rest of the German population is a mystery—why they didn’t try to stop it, how they could say they didn’t know. We just don’t know the answers.”

After Ben shows the documentary, the conversation focuses on how the German population could have let the Nazi minority take control. Ben doesn’t pretend that they know they answers, but he doesn’t necessarily believe that the answers don’t exist. His description of the Nazis as organized and feared, and these qualities become a key factor in The Wave’s frightening.

“As something horrible that happened once, it bothers me. But that was a long time ago, Laurie. To me it’s like a piece of history. You can’t change what happened then.”

David tells Laurie about the documentary and his reaction to the Holocaust. He doesn’t want to let the weight of something heinous that occurred in the past crush his ability to enjoy life in the present. Letting it dominate his thoughts and moods would be impractical and wouldn’t change anything. The truth is, reflecting on it more deeply would take time that David would prefer to spend on other things.