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Chapter 52
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
Back at Evan’s farmhouse, after he told Cassie that she saved him, Cassie still feels she can’t trust him. That night, when he goes out to visit the grave of his former girlfriend, he’s gone longer than usual. Cassie sneaks out to check if he’s okay and startles him. He gets angry, saying he nearly shot her.
Although Cassie has become perhaps too hard about not allowing herself to trust other humans, Evan keeps giving her legitimate reasons to doubt his motives. His mysterious disappearances are suspicious, keeping him and Cassie from connecting on a deeper level.
Themes
After they go back inside, Cassie asks Evan why he kissed her. He gets shy and doesn’t answer at first, then says she’s pretty and kisses her again. Cassie gets goosebumps and tries to tell herself that she can trust Evan. They cuddle, but Cassie keeps asking questions in her head. She wonders why someone who works on a farm has such soft hands, and she thinks that she smells gunpowder on his hands even though he said he wasn’t hunting that night. She thinks about how when Evan hunts, he never comes back with anything.
Cassie seems to be more receptive the second time Evan kisses her—and yet she still can’t let go of her doubts about him. The gunpowder on Evan’s hands suggests not only that he may be lying to her but also that there may be a violent side to him that Cassie hasn’t seen yet. Still, the softness of those same hands suggests the opposite of a hardened killer, hinting at the possibility that he has a vulnerable side.
Themes
