When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He's surrounded by strangers--boys whose memories are also gone. Outside the towering stone walls that surround the Glade is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It's the only way out--and no one's ever made it through alive. The a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying... EVERYTHING IS GOING TO CHANGE. |
Group Members: Austin, Phillip, Raven, Trent, Grace
The Society and Setting
The overall structure of society in The Maze Runner is not yet fully explained. What is known is that the boys who have been there the longest and prove to be the best fit for leadership are the ones in charge. The Glade is a square patch of land located in the center of a huge maze in which the boys call home. In each corner a certain job or place is set up giving the place a sense of structure and also a way to keep the boys in line. One of the top pieces of information that is known is that there are a group of runners. Runners have a job that entails going out into the maze and trying to find a way out. Surviving and finding a way out are the main tasks taken on by the boys and the most important details revealed so far.
Struggles the main character is facing
The main struggle that the lead character Thomas is facing is not understanding the reasons behind why he has been placed in the glade, and the entire point of the maze. He has been put through many tests and one of the biggest is when he was attacked by Ben. Ben was another boy that was in the glade and had gotten stung by a griever. When he went through the change he said that he remember Thomas and what Thomas was doing was bad. Ben was in such a rage he had tried to kill Thomas which ended in Ben being banished and Thomas being horribly confused and feeling guilty “Deep down he knew that Ben was only part of his many problems.”(Dashner, 96). After this had happened the box that brought supplies and people into the glade brought a girl. This caused another struggle because Thomas thinks he knows the girl and she has not woken up. Since Thomas thinks he knows the girl he has been questioning his previous life even more, along with those questions he also is wondering why he feels the pull to be a runner. “being a runner didn’t sound like such a great idea. But, inexplicably, it still called to him”(Dashner, 96) This leads him to go into the maze after two of the other boys that were not going to make it into the glade that night. Thomas ended up saving all three of them and that caused the struggle he is facing now which is what his punishment will be for breaking the rules. This adds to the problems that him and all of the boys are facing with the incredible amount of questions and small amount of answers, because there are so many questions with no answers it is making all of the boys have a huge distrust with Thomas. Him being the new guy and already changing things is causing everyone's emotions to be on edge. Though Thomas is dealing with the external struggles pretty well his internal struggles with not knowing why he feels the way he does about things is tearing Thomas apart. He questions his every action and is always hiding something from everyone because he just wants answers to the questions that everyone has. People are starting to point fingers at Thomas.
Safety vs. Freedom
The Maze Runner talks about safety only when the boys are about to take a risk that involves the grievers in the maze. They will take into consideration the risks that each boy will have to take and try to turn that into a plan. This was normally discussed when a boy would break the rules or something that was considered normal was disrupted. They were all very careful with their thoughts of freedom because they knew that freedom was not obtainable until they had more information. They would find safety in the small routines that were a seemingly normal thing. When the doors closed every night and when the runners came back at all most the same time everyday. Also things like doing the same jobs and not disrupting their normal. Most of the boys wanted to find personal freedom but sadly each boy was to afraid, they had let fear become their safety and that made their society have a sense of paranoia at all times. Though each glader struggled with the fear of their lives being lost they struggled more with the fact that they could not remember their past. Though this was not fully talked about it had a huge effect on each person's sense of freedom “Can’t take a chance that one day, in one spot, somewhere, an exit might appear. We can’t give up. Ever.” (Dashner 208) They knew that each and every moment of their lives were being watched and they only sense of freedom they had was the made up scene of normal. In today's world the roles that freedom and safety play contradict one another. While everyone wants freedom most are afraid to lose their safety. We find safety in things like working and money but at the same time we as people today are groaning about how we don’t have enough freedom in those things. Every topic that is relevant always has a bad side in today's society. When someone strives for perfection ten other people find a way to make it bad. While in the book the gladers have no options to compare to because money and is not needed and if you don’t work you are deemed worthless and a burden.
Exploring Utopian Society: What makes this society Utopian? Think about the definition of utopian it describes perfection. In the four dystopian that we have either read or gathered information from, a similar theme is brought to attention. People trying to put together a perfect world for an ultimate problem. In the maze perfection is not reached. If perfection was reached each glader would not question his or hers purpose, instead they would enjoy the leisurely life and not depend on an unknown outside force that never gave reason or explanation. The Maze Runner, in its full was dystopian. Though the maze may have been built for good it destroyed many physically and emotionally. In searching for the strongest they broke more then they built. If a society was to be utopian death as an answer would never be the case. Instead it could be assumed that building yourself or others up to survive and stay surviving would be the way. Along with the Gladers being killed The Maze Runner was dystopian because there was more grief then there was joy.
There is good in all bad and with all good comes bad. People are their intentions. If you believe yourself to be good then even if others see you intentions as bad they aren't. Each person is their own being so to say whether a person is good or bad in not easy. People as a whole are different in their own way, but in The Maze Runner everyone follows the leader, but when Thomas arrives things start to begin to twist around. “ If you ain't scared, you ain't human.” (pg. 9)
Utopian Societies usually collapse in our intention to make everything perfect and to be in control. When groups or a certain individual puts together a perfect society it is bound to crumble due to the fact that everyone is hungry for power within even the society itself. It makes everyone turn on each other eventually and question authority which deteriorates the system. "Order," Newt continued, "Order. You say that bloody word over and over in your shuck head. Reason we're all sane around here is 'cause we work our butts off and maintain order. Order's the reason we put Ben out – can't very well have loonies runnin' around tryin' to kill people, now can we? Order. Last thing we need is you screwin' that up." (pg. 65) Even in the the Glade Order was the top priority and if not upheld it will all crash to an end.
As human beings we cannot handle imperfection, we make fun and point out flaws instead of embracing them. When we strive for anything close to perfect we find those flaws because nobody is free of them because no one person has the same mind set. “ No one is perfect... absolutely no one. Like precious stones, we have a few flaws, but why focus on that? Focus on what you like about yourself, and that will bring you happiness and peace.” -Richard Simmons
There is good in all bad and with all good comes bad. People are their intentions. If you believe yourself to be good then even if others see you intentions as bad they aren't. Each person is their own being so to say whether a person is good or bad in not easy. People as a whole are different in their own way, but in The Maze Runner everyone follows the leader, but when Thomas arrives things start to begin to twist around. “ If you ain't scared, you ain't human.” (pg. 9)
Utopian Societies usually collapse in our intention to make everything perfect and to be in control. When groups or a certain individual puts together a perfect society it is bound to crumble due to the fact that everyone is hungry for power within even the society itself. It makes everyone turn on each other eventually and question authority which deteriorates the system. "Order," Newt continued, "Order. You say that bloody word over and over in your shuck head. Reason we're all sane around here is 'cause we work our butts off and maintain order. Order's the reason we put Ben out – can't very well have loonies runnin' around tryin' to kill people, now can we? Order. Last thing we need is you screwin' that up." (pg. 65) Even in the the Glade Order was the top priority and if not upheld it will all crash to an end.
As human beings we cannot handle imperfection, we make fun and point out flaws instead of embracing them. When we strive for anything close to perfect we find those flaws because nobody is free of them because no one person has the same mind set. “ No one is perfect... absolutely no one. Like precious stones, we have a few flaws, but why focus on that? Focus on what you like about yourself, and that will bring you happiness and peace.” -Richard Simmons
Discuss the ways in which your novel is dystopian. How did your novel move from a utopian society to a dystopian society? Why do you think this utopian society was unsuccessful?