Previous
Chapter 28
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The 5th Wave, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Trust and Belief
Survival and Perseverance
Warfare and Dehumanization
Family
Summary
Analysis
Dr. Pam leads Zombie to go see an example of one of the infected. They go down a corridor to a room with a one-way mirror, and on the other side is Chris. Dr. Pam explains that Chris isn’t who Zombie thinks he is. Something has infected the part of Chris’s brain that makes him human, and the only way to kill the parasite is to also kill the host.
This passage forces Zombie to decide whom he trusts more: Dr. Pam or his old companion Chris. Zombie takes Dr. Pam’s word for it because she’s an authority figure, showing how he can be turned against people he once trusted like Chris.
Themes
Dr. Pam tells Zombie to press a button marked “execute.” She urges Zombie that this is the only way to stop the infestation. Zombie thinks again of his promise to protect Sissy, holding a locket he has from her, then he presses the button down as hard as possible.
This passage resembles the real-life Milgram experiment, where participants were told to press a button that would shock another participant. The experiment (which involved actors and didn’t actually hurt people) was taken as proof that people follow orders and is sometimes cited as an explanation for the Holocaust. This passage shows how Zombie’s trust in Dr. Pam’s authority causes Zombie to overcome his own doubts and conscience to use violence.
Themes
