A Comprehensive Analysis of The Maze Runner, a Book by James Dashener

The Maze Runner was published in 2009 and written by James Dashener. The book is set in a strange maze like area filled with a group of teenage boys. The narrative describes an odd society in which its goal is to escape the maze and their only hope is Thomas.

Characters:

• Thomas is the protagonist of The Maze Runner. Thomas is supposedly the last person who is sent into the maze and is often ridiculed because of this. Throughout his welcoming to The Maze he thought to be cursed or an evil person, because he is the “creator” of the maze.
  Don’t waste time
  Get Your Custom Essay on

  “A Comprehensive Analysis of The Maze Runner, a Book by James Dashener”

  Get High-quality Paper

  helping students since 2016

  With this he attempts to find anyway to prove he is to be trusted.

• Teresa upon entering The Glade is the only girl to set foot into the Glade. Throughout, her tenure in The Glade she is often seen as an evil being, instead of an actual person. The reason for this is because of a string of suspicious events begin to occur, as soon as she arrives.

• The Creators even though this a vague group of people, they still serve as the stories antagonist. The creators are the Antagonist because they are the ones who everyone is fighting to defeat, because they are the ones who sent the children to The Glade in the first place, causing them to be the villains in the story.

Themes:

• Death: The theme of death is important to the novel because the fear of what outside The Glade walls is constantly leaving the pack in fear.
  Get quality help now

  

  Dr. Karlyna PhD

  Verified

  Proficient in: The Maze Runner

  4.7 (235)

  “ Amazing writer! I am really satisfied with her work. An excellent price as well. ”

  

  +84 relevant experts are online

  Hire writer

  This fear is so large, that no one has ever lived outside The Glade walls before Thomas had arrived. This allows the reader to take away that a fear of death is put into your mind, not by the task by hand, but yourself.

• Friendship: Friendship is important, because if the teenagers had chosen not to live in harmony, but in hate they would not be able to survive the harsh conditions presented to them by The Maze. Friendship is a constant theme throughout the book because, examples like Thomas saving Alby in the Maze overnight, show that friends are necessary for life because they are a person you can count on to save you in the toughest of times.

Significant Quotes:

• “His memory loss was strange. He mostly remembered the workings of the world— but emptied of specifics, faces, names. Like a book completely intact but missing one word in every dozen, making it a miserable and confusing read. He didn’t even know his age” (Dashner 15) -Narrator of Thomas

This is showing the realization that the kids are pretty much starting their lives over and don’t know anything except what they were allowed to remember “That’s one of the reasons we run this place all nice and busylike. You get lazy, you get sad. Start givin’ up. Plain and simple” (Dashner 77) – Newt

This is a significant, because Newt is hinting that society can only be considered a society if it has order. Without, order then the people will eventually lose hope and give up. “I’ve seen you before. Something’s fishy about you showing up here, and I’m gonna find out what” (Dashner 50)-Gally

This is the first of many instances in which Thomas is being questioned for not belonging in The Glade or just being, overall fishy showing that there is something that Thomas did that Thomas himself doesn’t even know about. Conflicts and Symbols:

The Maze: The maze itself is a symbol. The maze is a symbol of a barrier or an obstacle. In other words, the Maze acts as a barrier that is meant to be unsolvable, and is the only thing that is not allowing them to be free from the clutches of The

Creators.

• The Griever Hole: The Griever hole is a symbol of hope. The Griever Hole is a symbol of hope because this hope gives the Gladers a feeling of freedom. This means that the Griever Hole in total gives the Gladers a hope that there is a chance of freedom from the Maze.

Author’s Styles:

• Imagery: Imagery is constantly being used by James Dashner, but the most vivid Imagery seen is when he describes the Changing. He describes the Changing as “a twisted, pale figure writhing in agony, chest bare and hideous”, while this is only a short excerpt of the piece of imagery James Dashner uses colors and mental pictures to describe an event.

Uncomplicated Vocabulary: Throughout the book James Dashner uses a more teenage vocabulary, which is fine because most of the characters are of a teenage age. James Dashner consistently uses short sentences and uncomplicated writing to keep the reader entertained.