“The intruder inside him will sleep on and not wake for several years, when the unease of the child’s mother and the memory of that dream have long since faded.

Five years later, at a visit to the zoo with her child, the woman will see an owl identical to the one in the dream. Seeing the owl is unsettling for reasons she cannot understand.

She is not the first to dream of owls in the dark.

She will not be the last.”

The 5th Wave begins with a scene in which a pregnant woman dreams of an owl as her baby is implanted with a foreign consciousness. As the novel progresses, the reader will begin to understand the meaning of this scene when Evan Walker explains to Cassie Sullivan that he is one of the Others, but that he is also human. The image of the owl is also important because the Others often use birds (as evident in the third wave), especially owls, to distract and hide their true consciousness from humans (discussed further in Important Quote # 22).

“Aliens are stupid.

I’m not talking about real aliens. The Others aren’t stupid. The Others are so far ahead of us, it’s like comparing the dumbest human to the smartest dog. No contest.

No, I’m talking about the aliens inside our heads.”

Cassie begins her story by comparing the Others, aliens that have invaded Earth, to the aliens that Hollywood and other creators have made up as a form of entertainment. This comparison explains what people expected to happen when an alien spacecraft suddenly appeared over the Earth without explanation. Even Cassie’s father had reason to believe the aliens would be friendly and not want to harm humans. This belief continues even when the first and second waves arrive because humans naturally want to cling to hope, a fact that is explored in the theme Hope and Manipulation.