Escaping the Giant Wave

“Of course, it’s always easy to know the right choice after it’s too late to go back and change your mind. Figuring out the right choice ahead of time is the hard part.”

The author foreshadows through Kyle’s inner monologue that the Davidsons made the wrong choice by going on their vacation to Oregon. If they had known that the earthquake and tsunami were going to happen, they would have made the right choice by not going at all.

“I didn’t want to spend the first really good vacation of my life hiding from Daren, so I knew I had to take some action.”

Kyle demonstrates his self-awareness as he understands his conflict avoidance will hinder his enjoyment of his family vacation. Daren serves as a foil to Kyle’s character, and as Kyle is motivated to change the way he responds to Daren, his bully remains static until the novel’s end.

“My dream vacation was beginning to seem like a nightmare.”

Kyle realizes that his timeline to confront and deal with Daren’s bullying is growing closer to him as he learns they’re sharing a hotel on vacation. Though he wants to change their relationship dynamic, Kyle provides insight into his emotions as he thinks it will be a nightmare to stay in the same hotel. This dramatic response shows how Kyle isn’t quite ready to confront Daren and alludes to the real nightmare of the tsunami to come.

“Then I thought how scary it would be to get stuck in an elevator, and I couldn’t do it, not even to Daren.”

Kyle’s empathy skills shine through as he thinks of how another might feel in a frightening situation. He works through his dislike for Daren enough to understand that Daren is still human, humanizing himself further in the process. Kyle’s maturity growth and moral compass take a front seat to his decision-making process.

“Tomorrow, after I reported how smoothly our evening had gone, I would ask again about an increase in my allowance.”

Kyle is determined to get paid more for babysitting his little sister BeeBee. His determination demonstrates the safety in which he feels he can make a case for himself in his home for more funding. Kyle always has a plan and is prepared to make his case and be heard for a higher allowance to his parents. He shows his forethought as he knows his time babysitting his sister will go well, with no issues, also highlighting his sibling relationship with BeeBee as a positive one.

“It was hard to stay mad now that everything had turned out okay.”

After BeeBee returns to the hotel room after Kyle can’t find her, Kyle is grateful that she is okay. Instead of staying mad at her, Kyle lets go of those negative feelings and moves on. This emotional range shows how logical and kind Kyle is as he takes on a parental role to BeeBee while their parents are absent.

“It was as if the entire building had been placed in a large box and now a giant was shaking the box.”

The imagery of the earthquake helps the reader feel what Kyle and BeeBee are feeling while the earthquake is happening. The violence of the earthquake comes to life with the idea that it feels like a giant shaking a box. Kyle’s feeling of being shaken echoes throughout the rest of the novel as he navigates the fire and tsunami waves with a sense of overwhelmed logic.

“I wondered how she thought the cooks were supposed to bake pizza without electricity. My sister might be smart about money, but she wasn’t using her head now.”

BeeBee is very smart for an eight-year-old, but only about topics that interest her. This moment of emotional response from BeeBee shows how she still needs Kyle to watch over her and take care of her. She does not have the same ability as Kyle to think logically about their situation, as her maturity has not reached his since she’s the younger sibling.

“I also knew it would be wrong to save ourselves and leave Daren behind, no matter how much I disliked him.”

Kyle’s moral compass does some heavy lifting in the face of an emergency, and he’s forced to face the fact that he must save his bully’s life. Although Daren is a terrible bully and Kyle’s life would be easier if Daren was dead, Kyle also knows that it would be wrong to leave him behind to perish in the hotel fire. His humanity is still completely intact as he continues to view Daren as another person, instead of an obstacle between himself and safety.

“I felt as if I were in a war zone, dodging land mines. I expected the floor beneath us to ignite into solid flames at any second.”

Kyle feels intense stress as he escapes the burning hotel lobby with BeeBee, to the point of where he assumes it’s what a war zone must be like. His adrenaline kicks in as he grabs BeeBee’s hand and makes a run for it, immersing the reader in the narrative. The imagery of dodging land mines gives the reader insight on how Kyle is feeling and what he is seeing while trying to escape.

“I liked baby-sitting when nothing went wrong. Ordering pizza and tipping the delivery man had been fun—but being in charge during an earthquake and a fire wasn’t fun at all. It was terrifying!”

Kyle likes babysitting his little sister because he enjoys the position of authority and responsibility. However, now that a natural disaster has happened, the amount of responsibility Kyle has is overwhelming. His own maturity can no longer handle the responsibility, and he just wants to be in charge of making sure he and BeeBee get pizza, but he’s now in charge of making sure he keeps them both alive.

“If no tsunami comes, I thought, I’ll never hear the end of this. Daren will tell every kid at Edison School that I ran away while he was brave.”

Although Kyle is hopeful that the tsunami does not come, he is also aware that Daren will make his life harder if it doesn’t show. Even when in grave danger, Kyle is still thinking about Daren, which shows how ingrained Daren is to Kyle’s thoughts and feelings about school. He’s thinking of his current survival and his social survival at school if they return.

“My mind went in circles like Alexander the Greatest when he chases his tail. One second I thought we should hurry up the hill; the next second I wondered if we should return to the hotel area.”

The author’s use of simile compares Kyle’s mind to his family cat when he chases his tail. The comparison shows how unsure Kyle is with his decision-making after the earthquake. Though he is the one in charge and must decide, he feels like he’s chasing his own tail, getting nowhere.

“‘Warning signals only work if people trust them,’ the man said. ‘I’m afraid the folks who live around here have lost their trust.’”

The locals no longer react to tsunami warnings, according to Norm. The lack of concern demonstrates how familiarity breeds contempt for the locals who consistently experience false alarms. The lack of preparation results in loss of life and major destruction to the area, contrasting Kyle’s mental preparation that ultimately saves his own life, as well as BeeBee’s and Daren’s lives.

“He didn’t want anyone to know that he had been overcome by smoke and rescued by that wimpy Kyle Davidson. If Kyle ever told what had happened, Daren would deny it.”

In Chapter 8, the perspective switches to Daren’s point of view. In the face of a serious emergency and potential natural disaster Daren is selfish and self-centered, still very concerned about what other people think about him. This view foils Kyle’s self-sacrificing viewpoint throughout the earthquake, fire, and tsunami waves.

“I also knew that if BeeBee and I had not come to the top of the hill, we would have been washed away along with the unfortunate people below us.”

After the first wave hits, Kyle is reassured in his decision to go uphill rather than stay by the hotel. As the one responsible for keeping them alive, Kyle needs to know that he made the right choice and that his preparedness saved them.

“Fear that comes from personal experience is far more real than fear based on someone else’s ordeal.”

Kyle realizes that the fear he feels about the tsunami is very intense compared to his fear of tsunamis when he was only reading or learning about them. Because Kyle witnesses the destruction of the first wave, he now personally understands how terrifying they are. This change in viewpoint boosts his growth in maturity throughout the novel as he comes to terms with what is happening before his very eyes.

“I felt as if I were having a nightmare—the kind where I know I’m in danger and it’s imperative to run away, but I can’t seem to make my legs work.”

Kyle feels as if it is impossible to run far enough away to be safe from the impending second wave. Now that he has seen the destruction of the first wave, it is imperative that he and BeeBee run as far inland as possible. However, Kyle feels as though their running isn’t as impactful to their safety as it should be because he knows that the second wave will be more dangerous than the first one. Kyle’s mental preparation demonstrates his internal preparation for the worse and his growth in maturity in a matter of hours.

“We should have run as far and as fast as we could. The warning sign had said to go as high us and as far away from the water as possible. Why had I followed only half the instructions?”

Kyle is filled with self-doubt, especially because he has the responsibility of keeping BeeBee and himself alive. Although he is prepared and they ran as far as they could, Kyle still wonders if he could have done more to protect them. He takes on the role of caregiver more fully as he wonders what’s best for his sister and what he could have done in the past to make their situation even better.

“She was alive. That’s all that mattered for Pansy, and for BeeBee and me. We were alive.”

Kyle and BeeBee are grateful that they survived the tsunamis. Even though they are tired, hungry, and don’t know what happened to their parents, they still understand that they are lucky to have survived. Their understanding of life and its ultimate meaning has grown literally overnight and they’re grateful for simply being alive.

“Now I saw that there are worse things in this life than getting thrashed, and one of them is feeling shame for not having the courage to do what’s right.”

When Kyle learns that Daren also bullies BeeBee at school, he feels deep shame for not having stood up to Daren before. He feels that BeeBee getting bullied is significantly worse than if he is getting bullied. Knowing that Daren was also bullying BeeBee helps motivate Kyle to finally stand up for himself later in the novel.

“Gentle waves lapped the shore just as they had before the tsunami. It was as if the ocean had forgotten all about yesterday’s violence and returned to business as usual.”

The author uses personification to explain how the ocean returned to normal after the tsunami waves. The literary device helps the reader to understanding the tone shift from anxiety and adrenaline to one of peace and renewal.

“Last night I had hoped Daren would survive. Now that he was here, I had mixed feelings.”

This is one of the only times in the novel where Kyle is vaguely cruel in his thinking. Kyle is unsure how he feels about Daren surviving the tsunamis, which shows that though he has grown in maturity, he still dreads interacting with Daren. He knows Daren is most likely unchanged from the events before and is emotionally and physically exhausted, not looking for another opportunity to be bullied after surviving a natural disaster.