The Maze Runner (Books)

James Dashner’s the Maze Runner trilogy is one of the more realistic successors to The Hunger Games series, set in a post-apocalyptic world laid to waste by a zombie epidemic called the Flare. Thomas, the protagonist, after traversing through a treacherous path paved by violence and betrayal, choses to forgo WICKED’s offer of retrieving his memory. Fearing a revival of his old self he breaks out of WICKED’s base with his bosom buddies, enlisting the help of the terrorist organization the Right Hand, creating the background for a brutal and beautiful conclusion to this series.

The following contains spoilers.

(8/10)

Character Analysis

Thomas is definitely one of the best characters crafted in this story, avoiding the trope of the Idiot Hero, endowed with both brains and brawn, and suffering from a serious trust deficit.

Teresa being Thomas’s equal and opposite half, shares Thomas’s capabilities, but nothing else. She is vindictive and subtle, conveying the image of a driven person, a trait Thomas also shares. She is Thomas’s perfect foil.

Brenda , however seems to be a character , created just to make a love triangle. Her optimism , however does ring true with the reader’s desire for some kind of catharsis.

Minho, seems to be a well-crafted archetype of a hot-headed sidekick . The rest of the peripheral characters are flat, that is one-dimensional.

Thematic Analysis

1.  Identity and Community

One of the recurring themes in this series is the quest for identity. The Glader’s loss of memory serves as an excellent blank slate for character development, but also brings out a crucial question.

According to B.J Nebletts, “we are the sum total of our experiences”. If so, isn’t the memory loss, the death of the Self?

The Maze and the Scorch represent some of the fundamental problems faced by human civilization; establishment of a new body politic and the survival of the same during times of chaos. The Glader community, based on a seniority leadership tradition and a monopoly on violence is a State in evolution.

This series follows what can be termed as the Cycle of YA Fantasy , Change to Status Quo (The entry of Tomas and Teresa), Revelation of the World Outside the Cave (The Scorch) and finally Turmoil (as in the case of Hunger Games and Divergent)

2.  Violence

Unlike The Hunger Games where the protagonist becomes desensitized to violence through necessity, acts of violence are random and not directed.

3.  Death

The almost morbid use of memorable deaths as gateways to somewhere important is another recurring theme of The Maze Runner. Chuck’s death before the Glader’s rescue, Newt’s mercy killing outside the airport and Teresa’s self-sacrifice outside the Flat Trans to the safe haven convey the image of death as a medium for hope, mercy and redemption.

4.  Amorality

The absence of a clear-cut evil adversary makes it a struggle for survival, rather than a revolutionary struggler contrasting with The Hunger Games and Divergent. WICKED has a noble goal, saving humanity from the Flare, using the Immunes, while their foe, The Right Hand wants to use WICKED’s resources to protect the healthy population. Both of these organisations has plenty of humane and fanatical members, leaving the readers to pick their own poison.

This gloomy, desperate world was created by desperate governments who used the virus as a last-ditch attempt at population control after a solar flare had denuded the earth conveying the message that power is amoral.

5.  Use of Irony and Foils

Teresa’s death is the culmination of the parallel events happening in both Group A and Group B. Teresa was Thomas’s telepathic partner in Group A, while Rachel was Ari’s telepathic partner in Group B. Since Chuck took the knife intended for Thomas, while Rachel was killed, it follows that Teresa would have to die, leaving two solitary telepaths. While Teresa’s death seems to serve as a way to get over Thomas’s distrust and of steering away from the morass of a love triangle, Teresa’s death following her proclamation of love for Thomas, absolving her of wrongdoing, reminding us of Sidney’s sacrifice in the Tale of Two Cities.

Another embrace of irony is that it is the suffering visited upon them in the Maze which enables the Gladers to start anew in the haven. Thomas and Teresa, WICKED and The Right Hand, The Maze and the Scorch are indicators of the beauty of contradictions.

5.Biblical Symbolism

Surprisingly, this series contains a lot of Semitic references, especially Noah’s Ark Thomas (Noah) leads the Immunes (the Israelites) using the Flat Trans(The Ark) away from the lands being cleansed by the Flare (the deluge).This thesis is further supported by the nature of the Flare virus, which is quite similar to the Flood from the Halo series, a series well-known for its biblical references.

Thomas’s personal journey also has Christian undertones to it. While Thomas is supposedly named after Thomas Alva Edison, he definitely could have been named after St. Thomas the Doubter, with his incessant doubts about the WICKED. Even his memory SWIPE seems to be a kind of absolution of all the sins of his previous life and rebirth into a life of redemption. This concept of redemption through penance is more evident in Teresa laying down her life for Thomas, showing the kind of love described in this quote,” Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

Conclusion

The Death Cure offers a dismal picture of destruction, where our character’s actions make but ripples in a mighty ocean. Our protagonist cannot save the world, for one cannot kick against the storm and his suffering holds no meaning, nor purpose. This very realization that goes against our natural longing for a silver lining, is what disturbs the reader and reinforces Kishimoto’s understanding of the lack of cause-effect relationship between in life. “Things just happen.”(Naruto)