The Maze Runner

Characters and Analysis

The Maze Runner

By: James Dashner

Thomas is the protagonist of the story. He arrives in the Glade with any now of who he is

or was. He only remembers his name and nothing else about his life. Thomas to me he is

brave, loyal, and clever, with telepathic powers and a very limited memory of the Maze.

Soon after arriving in the Glade, Thomas makes both friends and enemies and proves he

is a good leader.

Ably is the leader of the Gladers, Alby has authority in the glade. He is very experienced

and brave. Only a few Gladers, those who have been there the longest like Minho have

the permission to question Alby's decisions. Alby becomes convinced that they should not

return to the outside world. He wishes to stay in the Glade and even tries to escape plan.

Alby dies during the escape attempt by throwing himself onto a Griever.

Newt is a tall, muscular boy with long blonde hair who is the second that command in the

Glade. Sarcastic and direct, Newt was a friend of Thomas and spends time explaining the

way the Glade and Maze work to him. Newt helps Thomas's plans to escape.

Chuck is a boy who is assigned to be Thomas's guide on his first night in the Glade. Chuck

is awkward and one of the youngest Gladers. He talks a lot, innocent, and though he is

also annoying at times Thomas comes to see Chuck as a friend and even as a sort of

younger brother. Chuck gives his life to save Thomas from Gally's knife. His character

represents innocence.

Ben is a thin boy who Thomas first hears screaming from the wooden building. He learns

that Ben has been stung by a Griever. Ben later attacks Thomas in the graveyard and is

struck by Alby's arrow. Ben claims that Thomas is the true criminal and needs to be

punished, though Thomas is not sure for what happen. Following his attempt on Thomas's

life Ben is banished to the Maze for his crime.

Pedro Gonzales

Summary and Analysis

9A

Vanessa Ocampo

Summary and Analysis

Thomas is a boy who wakes up in a place called the Glade, he don't remember anything only his names. He though he was alone there but when the door move he see many other boys. He meets Alby and Chuck, Alby is like the leader there. Chuck is like the only friend Thomas find there. Thomas had many question and he figure out that Chuck was the last person to enter to the Glade also he finds out that the Maze runner is maybe the way of going home. Then Thomas decide to be a runner. For the first time they enter a new girl. Maybe this girl is going to bring many clues to solve many questions everybody have. When Thomas is practicing to be a runner he start to understand many things, like they are different jobs in the Glade. Also inside of the homestead they are Grievers. One day Minho and Thomas enter to the Maze. There's a rule in the Glade that if you do something rude you go to enter to the Slammer. Thomas start to have a really good connection with the new girl and she tells him that this is going to be over. Days before Chuck continue teaching many other things to Thomas like in the Glade there’s a room call the Map Room, that room is like the system that controls the Maze and he explain to him how it works. In a dream Thomas has, the girl is telling him that the Maze is a code. So Thomas is really curious he start to investigate many things about the Maze and he finds out that the Maze had some words like float, catch, bleed, death, stiff, push. What are the mining of these words? Thomas start to understand many other things, so he creates a plan, everyone have to enter to the maze, because inside of it is a Maze they have computer and there they manipulated everything, but everyone has to enter. When they are trying to put the words in the computer Griever attack Thomas and Chuck, but they defend their self, When the finish putting all of the word a door open they, but the only person that couldn´t do it was Chuck, he die. Finale a man picked them up and he explained how everything had happened.

In The Maze Runner Dashner sets a confusion in the story, we can see this presented in different sense. For example, at the beginning of the story when Thomas don't know where he is and he don't remember anything only his name, then he tart to have many questions. This creates a confusion feeling. Later in the novel Dashner continues this feeling in a sense where the start to remember more things, or also when he can communicates with Teresa telepathic, or when they found out that the Maze is a code. Through the use of mystery and the plot, sends the readers a message that he should not put many drama in the story, or so many conflict, he should get to the main point.

Themes and Symbols

Further Reading and Vewing

Simón Munárriz

9A English

September 26, 2014

Student Sparknotes: Themes and Symbols

In the novel The Maze Runner, the theme of being lost and being confused is presented throughout the story. In the beginning of the book Thomas woke up in another world, in a maze. He is really lost and he just know his name. It's important because it develops throughout the story and it's really well explained in the rest of the novel. Toward the end Thomas get to know himself much better. These two examples help to show how James Dashner develops the theme of running in The Maze Runner, as everyone could notice it was really confusing.

Also, another theme that is really important through the story is discovery. More or less in chapter 12 all the characters star to discover new things. One example is when Thomas discovers who he really is by getting stung. This example is really important because he finally knows oh he really is and also he don't like that so he want to redeem himself. Other example from the beginning of the novel is when Thomas gets stung and this is really important because he gets stung in purpose by a griever on purpose and goes through the changing, he gets back some of his memories.

Next we are going to talk about some really important symbols that represent a lot the story. The maze is a symbol expressed in The Maze Runner. This symbol represent lots of confusion for Thomas. A significant example that shows how the maze is used in the novel is when they have to figure out the maze and run. James Dashner's use of this symbol help the reader better understand all the scenario in the story.

The grievers is also a symbol expressed in The maze Runner are the grievers. This symbol represents the fear of everyone. A significant example that represents this symbol really well is when Gally screamed that the grievers were going to kill everyone. Maybe as you don't know the grievers are the ones that represent death in the story. The last example and the most significant one is when they killed one kid every night. This symbol helps us understand some kind of fear that is being showed at the story.

Last but not least I choose to talk a little bit more about one theme that for me is the most important one. In the novel, the theme of fighting is also really presented throughout the story. In the book we also could see when Thomas need to fight with Ben. This has a huge significance because after this Ben went crazy and he wanted Thomas dead. Alby was the one that prevent the murder by shooting Ben with a bow. Thomas thought he was dead. This example helps the author explain the differences and problems that were at the glade, and all the desperation they had for going back in time and selecting everything was perfect as before.

Quotations

Isabella Gómez León

9A English

September 26

Student sparknotes: Quotations

"Nice to meet ya, shank" " welcome to the glade." This quotation is important to the development of the mystery theme found in The Maze Runner. It shows the reader that the principal character Thomas gets into a place he doesn't know. Also in the place he arrives called the glade they are different types of people with different types of personalities, who used a different type of vocabulary he does not get or know. Ex: Shank. Pg. 4

"Ain't got time to be nice Greenbean. Old life's over, new life's begun. Learn the rules quick, lisen, don't talk. You get me?" This quotation is important to the development of the desperation theme found in The Maze Runner. Because it shows the reader that people at the glade are adapted of the way of living at the glade. Shows what Alby one of the main leaders tell Thomas the new boy at the glade. Thomas is kind of desperate he is asking questions because he don't know where he is, who is his family.. This makes Alby angry and causes to respond this way. Pg. 10

"Cuz it can't be a coincidence slinthead! You pop in here, then we get us a girl newbie the next day, a crazy note, Ben trying to bite ya, dead grievers, something's goin on and I ant restin till I figure it out." This quotation is important to the development of the mystery- confusion theme found in The Maze Runner. It shows the reader that Thomas arriving have change lots of things at the glade. Also many of the readers can predict the glade organization may change. Most of the readers will get interest and they would like to keep reading the book. Pg. 87

"Can't we climb this thing?" This quotation is also important to the development of the desperation theme mostly found in The Maze Runner. It shows the reader that Thomas is trying to give and idea to Minho keeper of the runners, of how going out of the maze. Both of them in this chapter fell lots of desperation cause grievers may go out at night and attack them. Pg. 117

"Be careful with the girl." This quotation is important to the development of the mystery theme found in The Maze Runner book. It shows the reader that the girl, who is the first girl arriving to the glade might me dangerous, went the girl first arrive she says an important and impacting message who called the glanders attention, this plot might get the readers attention and they will have curiosity to know what is going to happen with the girl. Pg. 174

Emilia R

English

sept, 26, 2014

Student Sparknotes: Further Reading and Viewing

If you enjoy reading novels like The Maze Runner, another book you might is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Colins. These two novels are similars than in both novels the min characters are trapped in somewhere. For example in The Hunger Games, the main character, Petta and Katniss, are trapped in the Arena playing the hunger games.We see similarities in The Hunger Games because in oth they are trapped in some part and they need to find the way out.

If you are more of a movie type, i would suggest, The Ring as a movie to see after reading The Maze Runner. This movie has several similarities with The Maze Runner. For example in the novel, there is lots of suspense and that makes the novel really interesting. In The Ring you also see lots of mystery, but most of the movie there is lots of suspense. This movie and book really complement each other.

The Maze Runner and C.S.I have several similarities. For instance several topics that are posted in the novel can been also found in C.S.I. One example is the topic of mystery. We see in the novel, when thomas at the begging wakes up and he doesn't know where he is, he only remembers his name. This is also a recurring topic in C.S.I. There is one episode where one persons kills someone and escapes, so they need to look for that prson. Another topic posted in the novel is suspense. In the novel a good example is when thomas when thomas is in the maze and he is really scared because he doesn't know whats going to happen to him. This is a topic often seen in C.S.I. In one episode they where about to capture the killer and they where entering to the part where the killer is. So if you are a fan of The Maze Runner and you haven't checked out C.S.I, you should consider watching.

Another movie type suggestion i will suggest if you like the book The Maze Runner is Holes. In both The Maze Runner and Holes the main character is trapped in some part and is desperate to go out. One similarity from the maze runner is that Thomas is trapped in the glade and for surviving in the glade he need to make good friendships and work. I the movie holes, the main character for surviving he needs to walk caving holes and he needs to have good friendships too. Other similarity that happens in both, The Maze Runner and Holes is desperation. We can see this in the novel when thomas is desperate to know how did hw get there and how to get out, We can see this in holes when the main character is desperate for going out of that camp. So if you like the book The Maze Runner you should watch the movie Holes.

And my last suggestion is the movie Divergente. Thus movie is really similar to the maze runner in different ways. One of them is because of the adrenaline. In the book the adrenaline when thomas went out of the glade and he had to survive over there for a few hours. And in Divergente when Tris decides to be clountless. Other topic is survival. In the book we can see this when at the beginning thomas is learning how thing go around over the glade and he is learning how to survive. And in Divergente when someone finds out that theres too divergent and tris and the other main character need to survive. Finally if you enjoy reading The Maze Runner you should totally watch Divergente.

Character list and Analysis

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