The Maze Runner, by James Dashner

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The novel The Maze Runner by James Dashner begins with a teenage boy waking up in an elevator who has no memory of the past, only that his name is Thomas. When the doors of the elevator open up he is pulled into a humongous square surrounding, called the Glade, by a group of teenage boys. The boys in the Glade refer to themselves as the ‘Gladers’. Thomas learns that the Gladers have lived in there for two years and that the Glade is located in the center of a maze which contains a labyrinth of high walls that move during the night and deadly creatures called grievers. The Glade is led by two boys, Alby and Newt; they both maintain order in the Glade by enforcing strict rules and jobs that keep the Gladers busy. A day after Thomas’ arrival an unknown girl arrives in the Glade. This shocks everyone because the Gladers only receive a new person every month, never within the same week. This also shocks everyone because she was the only girl in a maze full of boys. The girl also gives a message that everything is going to change and that she is the last one ever. Right after her message she immediately falls into a coma. The arrival of the girl causes many things to go chaotic including the sun seizing to rise, the Gladers stop receiving supplies from the creators of the maze, and the doors of the Glade that protect the Gladers from the grievers at night stop closing. When the girl, Teresa wakes up she informs Thomas that they both knew each other in the past and that the maze was a code. Thomas and the people who run around the maze to map out the labyrinth, the runners, look through the archives of the maps and find out the code. Then the leader of the runners, Minho, figures out that the cliff they thought was just a cliff was actua...

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...e creatures can kill him, yet he is able to see an opportunity arise in all the chaos that is happening within the maze. This bravery can be seen throughout the novel because Minho is portrayed as a brave character, especially when it comes to the Glader’s escape.
In conclusion Thomas is portrayed as a heroic, caring and compassionate character. Thomas proves he is heroic when he risked his life to save both Minho and Alby. He also proves to be caring when it comes to his young friend, Chuck, by acting as a brotherly figure. Minho is portrayed as a brave and intelligent character throughout the novel. Minho can be seen as intelligent when he deceived the entire council of Gladers into agreeing to make Thomas a runner. He is also perceived as a brave character when he ran toward the cluster of grievers, risking his life so he can figure out where their camp is.

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