The 5th Waves Analysis

In the books “The 5th Wave” and “All Our Yesterdays” the main characters Marina Marchetti and Cassiopeia Sullivan led ordinary lives then one day they are forced into strenuous situations where they have to risk their lives to save the ones they love. Cassie Sullivan is 16 years old living with her parents and younger brother Sam when aliens, also known as the “Others”, come and cause mass destruction on earth causing her to lose her mother and father and have Sam sent to a military base to train to unknowingly become a soldier for the Others. Marina Marchetti is 16 years old and an only child living with her constantly fighting parents and next door to her best friend and crush James Shaw, but one day during a speech James’ brother Nate was …show more content…
“And then my mother died in a fury of jerks and gargled screams…” (54) Cassie’s mother died because of a deadly infection she considers the 3rd Wave. She later loses her father, he was shot in the head by someone she thought she could trust. “Dad wasn’t moving. I think he was playing dead. It didn’t matter. Vosch shot him anyway.” (104) Cassie had lost both her parents to the Others and her younger brother to them for a while too. “...I told myself to trust Dad, trust the People in Charge, trust the Others not to incinerate the school buses full of children, trust that trust itself hadn’t gone the way of computers and microwavable popcorn…” (94) Cassie soon learned to trust no one, that she could only trust herself because anyone else could be the enemy. “The first rule: Trust no one. Which leads to the second rule: The only way to stay alive as long as possible is to stay alone as long as possible.” (259) The Others possess human bodies, and that’s how they trick everyone into believing that they are allies, not enemies. Sam was taken by the Other’s and trained to be a human killer and was going to be sent out to kill other humans, whom they believe are the enemy. In the end, she gets Sam back, but the book does not end happily. Though Marina doesn’t lose her parents, she does lose some of the people she cared deeply about. “My throat feels raw, and I realize I’m screaming. Nate’s been shot.” (60) Nate is her best friend James older brother, and she is greatly affected by it, both because she cared for him, and James suffered from it. Though Nate survived barely, and after time was fixed it was as if nothing happened at all, but to fix time James had to die, and she lost the one she loved. “On the floor, James exhales his last breath.” (257) She loses James to suicide, or so she thinks, she doesn’t remember that he killed himself to save her and fix