The 5th Wave

Sammy has a teddy bear that has been his since he was a baby. When he realizes he must board the soldiers’ bus without his father or sister, he gives the bear to Cassie as a source of comfort. He makes her promise to bring it back to him when she follows him to Wright-Patterson. She becomes so focused on getting the bear back to Sammy that she carries it everywhere she goes, even adding it to her pack rather than bringing more important supplies. It becomes Cassie’s companion, a symbol of her promise to Sammy. However, when she arrives at the base and finds Sammy, he rejects the bear in favor of her. To him, the important part of their promise was getting to see his sister again.

Guns are dangerous, a symbol of war. However, in The 5th Wave, guns become a source of security for some of the most unlikely characters. For Cassie, her M16 rifle becomes her “bestest of besties” (23) despite never having held a gun before her father gave her one. This gun provides a way to ensure her survival as she makes her way back to Sammy. Unfortunately, when she is shot, the M16 rifle proves useless because the shooter is a sniper who is too far away to fight. Cassie later loses the gun and is surprised when it turns up at Evan’s house and becomes proof of his deception. Evan’s own sharpshooting further speaks to his deception, his true identity as a Silencer, but his desire to protect Cassie (and by extension, Sammy) reiterates the power of a gun in providing security to select characters.

For Ben’s teammate Teacup, the gun is also symbolic of security. When Cassie first meets Teacup, she describes her as “…a little girl not much older than Sams, who might be seriously messed up, and that worries me, because she holds and strokes and cuddles with an M16 that appears to be carrying a full clip” (438). Teacup is only seven, making this scene symbolic of the changes that the Arrival has wrought on the world—changes that are shocking and sobering.