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Chapter 40
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 lets Sammy out of the chair he’s been strapped into. He says that he wants his teddy bear, his dad, and Cassie. Dr. Pam assures him everything will be okay. She shows Sammy a silver device like the one that the medic on the bus used to measure Sammy and Megan. She says it doesn’t detect temperature—it looks at something else inside people. Dr. Pam asks Sammy if he’s ever seen an alien before. When he says no, Dr. Pam says actually he has seen one. She says she’ll show him now.
Once again, this passage shows how the camp tries to categorize children in objective ways, using devices like the silver one that Dr. Pam has. Given that Zombie’s story established Dr. Pam as an untrustworthy and possibly sinister figure (she compelled. Zombie to murder Chris, after all), there are reasons to doubt her methods and her goals.
Themes
