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Chapter 42
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
Zombie doesn’t know the real names of anyone in his squad: they go by nicknames like Tank, Dumbo, Oompa, Poundcake, and Flintstone. He is the oldest, and some in the squad, like Teacup, are as young as seven. One day a new kid who is even younger, looking about five, joins the squad. Reznick calls him Nugget, and he has eyes like a teddy bear. When Reznick starts insulting Nugget, making him cry, Zombie intervenes. Reznick responds by chopping Zombie in the neck. Zombie backs down, having heard rumors that another soldier who supposedly died by suicide recently may have actually been murdered for acting out.
Although the nicknames have more personality to them than identity numbers, they still don’t capture the complexity of each person. Many of the nicknames, for example, seem to reference either nonhuman objects (Tank, Teacup) or fictional characters (Oompa, Flintstone). This suggests that although these characters have gained some autonomy for themselves by serving as soldiers, they still aren’t allowed to be full humans.
Themes
