“’Do you know how to tell who the enemy is in wartime…? The guy who’s shooting at you—that’s how you tell.’” These words from Rick Yancey’s The 5th Wave, explain wonderfully how people at war should think. In the novels The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey and Need by Joelle Charbonneau, people are at war with one another in some way, shape, or form, and must decide whom to trust. To develop each of the novels, the authors provide the characters with the difficult choice of whom to trust, and when.
Kaylee, from NEED, has to learn when is best to trust herself and when she should trust the people around her. Throughout the first couple of chapters, Kaylee makes it clear that she believes Nate is infallible. This is an outrageous idea because if one is given too much room to move, they are more likely to take advantage of it. For example, in NEED, Nate abused Kaylee’s trust by keeping secrets about being a possible kidney donor for her ill brother (Charbonneau, 207-209). After Nate destroyed Kaylee’s trust for him, Kaylee decided to trust her instincts rather than other people. As she lets go of silly things, Kaylee does great things. Her decision to trust herself led to the discovery NEED, a social media site that was wreaking havoc on Nottowa, Wisconsin (Charbonneau, 212, 216-217). As Kaylee trusts herself and…show more content… Throughout the first several chapters, Cassie is alone and kills every person she sees because she fears they will kill her. As the story proceeds, Cassie is more open to trust. She trusts Evan Walker, an alien, with her and her brother’s lives. Without Evan’s help, Cassie never would’ve seen her brother again. As Cassie is more likely to trust people, she is more likely to succeed. Her goal was to find her brother, and through trusting people she didn’t know, Cassie was able to save him. Being caught in the middle of an apocalypse causes great need for
