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Chapter 60
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
Ben doesn’t want to believe Ringer but can see the sense in what she’s saying. He gets Ringer to take out his own implant. He realizes that all the dead bodies coming into Camp Haven were dead refugees. Ben thinks of Chris and realizes he’s been a tool involved in the killing of many fellow humans.
Ben’s willingness to believe Ringer, even though he doesn’t like what he hears, shows how he is open-minded and fair. Once again, Ben and Ringer complement each other, as Ringer’s theory about the 5th Wave helps Ben to piece the truth together based on his own recent experiences.
Themes
Ben tells Ringer they need to approach and disarm the sniper, not kill. They rush in on the sniper, with Ringer firing a chest shot that wounds him. Ben tells the sniper to stay down. The sniper cries out “Maggots,” and with a shock, Ben recognizes the voice as Reznik.
Ben’s decision not to kill the mysterious sniper, even after hearing Ringer’s theory about the 5th Wave, shows how he remains merciful and judicious, even after learning that he might have been fighting for a lie. The reveal that the drill sergeant Reznik was sniping at his own students seems to confirm Ringer’s theory.
Themes
A wounded Reznik gets up, while Ben and Ringer are still too stunned to react. But when it becomes clear that Reznik has something in his hand, Ringer fires on him again, and he goes down. Ben wonders why Reznik trained the squad just to kill them, but Ringer thinks that wasn’t the intention. She finds a silver device in Ringer’s hand, with green dots to mark all the squad members. Ben and Ringer are missing because their implants are gone. Ringer finds what seems to be a kill switch to end the life of someone with an implant.
Like Cassie, Ringer is a little quicker to pull the trigger in times of danger than Ben is, reflecting her more impulsive personality. The silver device that Reznik was holding reflects how boot camp was ultimately about control. Reznik was literally holding a device that could track his pupils and kill any of them with the push of a button, reflecting how he seemed to hold absolute power—and how this overconfidence may have made him vulnerable to a surprise attack.
Themes
Ben and Ringer want to go back and warn their squad, but they realize there’s a problem: they’ll show up as green dots, and so Poundcake will shoot them on sight. Ben decides their only option is to try to temporarily stick the implants back in.
Although Ben is honest and straightforward, he learns that sometimes survival means relying on deception. He realizes that the one thing that makes him trustworthy and legitimate to his squad mates is his chip—even if that chip is also the thing that dehumanizes him.
Themes
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