The Maze Runner

1. Sydney Blandford Laryssa Kapitanec The Maze Runner

2. S Setting

3. S The Glade In the Maze Runner, the main character, Thomas, is first in in a steel elevator that ascends to somewhere strange. The elevator brings him to a place called the Glade. The Glade has 50 or 60 teenage boys of all ages living in it. The Glade is like a mini society. It has shacks, a farm, vegetable gardens, forests, and a graveyard. The Glade is a rural area and it seems like it is inside the huge maze. The Glade has huge doors that close every night and locks everything in the maze. In the Glade, there are windows that you can see the maze through. There is also 100 foot walls covered with thick ivory. There is a courtyard in the middle of the glade and it is made of huge stone blocks, many cracked and filled with long grasses and weeds. There is a homestead and one room has chairs in it, no windows, smells like mildew and old books and that is where the Gladers hold their gatherings. This is what we imagined the walls of the Glade/Maze to look like. This is a maze which is what we thought might be like or something in that matter. This elevator button symbolizes the elevator ride up into the maze and that you can only go up and not down. This cow symbolizes that the Gladers raise animals and kill them when older so they can have meat to survive on. This garden is the garden that the Gladers grow all of their fruits and vegetables.

4. C Characters

5. C Gally Gally is a minor character in The Maze Runner. He is also an antagonist in some ways because all he does is mess with all of the other Gladers. Gally has a very deep, scratchy voice. He is also very snobby and mean because he has gone through the Changing. During the Changing, it brings vague flashbacks and memories about their past before they were sent up into the maze. After this they become very depressed about what they have seen. Gally is a dynamic character because at first he is still crazy and mean, but towards the end of the book he becomes a total psycho person and even jumps on top of a Griever because he doesn’t want to go back to the real world. Imagine this character without the smile, and grumpy at all times.

6. C Alby Alby is a major character in the book. He is the leader of the Glade, because he is one of the oldest people and one of the people who have been trapped in the Glade for the longest. He also has dark colored skin and is around 17 years old. He wore normal clothes like everybody else. Alby had short-chopped hair, and a clean shaven face. He is very smart and wise. He is very brave and will do anything to get out of the Glade, but they can’t find a way in almost 2 years. He sometimes says very rude things towards Thomas and the other Gladers. Alby is a dynamic character because he is nice and also strict in the beginning of the book and after he goes through the Changing, he becomes very depressed and crazy, like a whole new person. He is also an antagonist because he tried to burn all of the maps in the map room and other things, because he doesn’t want to go back to the place he saw during the Changing. This is what we picture Alby to look like with a clean-shaven face and dark-colored skin.

7. C Newt Newt is a major character in The Maze Runner. He is the secondary-leader behind Alby. Along with Alby, Newt has been trapped in the Glade for around 2 years. He has an odd accent, he is taller than Alby, but a year or so younger than him. Newt has long, blond hair. Also, Newt is very strong, so strong that his veins stick out of his arms. He is a static character because he doesn’t really change at all. Newt is also a protagonist because he helps everybody out in the Glade and is trying to help with everything to get out of the Maze. When the Gladers are trying to fight off the Greivers, Newt encourages everyone before they go into the fight. Newt has long cut blonde hair and very strong arms.

8. C Thomas Thomas is THE main character of the story, so therefore he is a major character in the book. He is told to be about 5’9”, and that he is around 16 years old. He also has brown hair. Thomas is very intelligent. When Thomas came up into the maze, he had no memories of his past. He could picture faces and things in his mind, but was not able to pin-point whom the faces belonged to and what or where he had seen these basic things before. Even saying this, he had a feeling that he had been in the maze before. He also felt that if he were to become a runner that he would be able to find his way out. Thomas is the second to last person to ever come up into the maze. No more people will ever come up. He is a protagonist because he is always helping to get out of the maze, even though before he was sent up into the maze, he helped to create the whole thing. When he came up into the maze though, he did not remember anything about creating the maze. Thomas is a static character because for the most part he stays the same during the whole book. Thomas is around 16 years old and has brown hair.

9. C Chuck Chuck is one of the minor characters in The Maze Runner. He was the “green bean” (the newest member of the Glade) before Thomas entered. He is younger that Thomas, around 12 or 13 years old. Chuck loves to eat, so therefore is a little chubby. Chuck is a very kind person. He was Thomas’s first friend in the Glade and helped Thomas become a little bit more comfortable in the maze surroundings. Chuck has only been in the Glade for around a month, and is very laid-back and accepting about everything that happens in the Glade. Chuck isn’t quite as smart as Thomas. Chuck is a Slopper, which is a person who can not do much of anything, so therefore they clean toilets, clean showers, clean the kitchen, and clean up the Blood House. Chuck is a protagonist because he does nothing wrong to hurt anything in the Glade. He is also a static character because he stays laid-back and kind the whole time. This is what we pictured Chick to look like, a 12 or 13 year old chubby boy.

10. C Minho Minho is a major character in this book mainly because he is one of the most experienced runners and is also the keeper of the runners. He is an Asian boy with short, black hair. He also has very strong arms. Minho has been in the Glade for around 2 years along with Alby and Newt. Minho also looks older than Thomas. He is a protagonist because he is always running around the corridors of the maze trying to figure out a pattern to a way out of the maze. He is a static character and is always doing the same thing, running. Minho is Asian with short, black hair.

11. C Teresa Teresa is the girl who was brought up in the elevator the day after Thomas came into the Glade. She was in a coma and then she just woke up for only a few brief seconds and went back into a coma. She has bright blue eyes and jet black hair. She has pale skin and is about 16 years old. Teresa is the only girl in the glade and the last person sent up into the maze, EVER. Thomas also feels that he knows Teresa from before they were sent up into the maze, but can’t make out any specific moments. Once she wakes up, Teresa is a major character in the book because she helps figure out the code to punch into the computer in the Griever hole and helps escape the maze. Teresa is a protagonist from helping out to get out of the maze and is a static character because other than just waking up from the coma, she doesn’t really change much. Teresa has pale skin, jet black hair and bright blue eyes.

12. C Beatle Blades Beatle Blades are how the creators of the maze keep an eye out for the Gladers. It is how they can monitor what is going on in the Glade. The only purpose of these little robot-like things is vision. Beatle Blades have red lasers shooting out like eyes, but with lasers. The lasers were like the sun, to bright to look at directly. The torso was a silver cylinder about 3 inches wide and 10 inches long. Also it had 12 jointed legs, so that it could walk around. The legs had some sort of ability to climb trees and walls, mostly everything, to watch the Gladers with a close eye. There were multiple Beatle Blades in the maze. On the backs of the Beatle Blades, there was the word WICKED. A beetle blade is a metal creature with the word WICKED printed on its back.

13. C Grievers Grievers are the monsters in the maze. They are in the actual maze part and not the Glade. The Greivers are known to for sure come out during the night but some also will come out during the day and sting the runners from the Glade. These creatures are like a part animal, part machine creation. They resemble a giant slug covered with little hair and slime all over. The Grievers don’t have a distinguished head or tail, but from front to back they are at least 6 feet and about 4 feet thick. They have mechanical arms in random spots on their bodies, and each arm has a different purpose. Also some Greivers had lights attached to them the would go on sometimes and then turn off at times, and then some Greivers would have long, scary needles that they would use to sting the Gladers when they came their way. A Griever is apart animal, part machine with slime all over it and metal spikes all over it.

14. FL Figurative Language

15. FL Imagery • “ It was followed by a horrible crunching, grinding sound.” (28) • “A twisted pale figure writhing in agony, chest bare and hideous.” (26) • “The bread was thick and white; the carrots a sparkling, bright orange.” (62) • “… A sick mixture of overheated engines and charred flesh.” (127)

16. FL Foreshadowing • “Everything is going to change.” (57) • “I saw you in the changing, and I’m gonna figure out who you are.” (32)

17. FL Simile • “But nothing sent chills up and down Thomas’s spine like the haunted, deathly moans…” (127)

18. FL Metaphor • The smoke was cotton balls billowing from the chimney. http://www.growingwithgrammar.com/files/www5smplelessfinal.pdf

19. FL Alliteration • “Sweat drenched his hair, his hands, his clothes, everything.” (128)

20. FL Personification • Our house is an old friend of ours. http://www.growingwithgrammar.com/files/www5smplelessfinal.pdf • The snow whispered as it fell to the ground. http://www.growingwithgrammar.com/files/www5smplelessfinal.pdf

21. FL Onomatopoeia • “Whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.” (127) • “Click-Click-Click.” (127) • “buh-bump, buh-bump, buh-bump” (119)

22. P Plot

23. P Rising Action • Thomas is sent up into the Glade in an elevator. He remembers nothing but his first name. • The day after Thomas is sent up, a girl, the only girl ever, was sent up into the maze and is in a coma. She has a note from the creators saying, “She is the last one. Ever.” • Thomas goes exploring in the Deadheads (graveyard) and Ben, a boy who had recently been stung by a Griever, starts trying to attack Thomas. Alby comes into the woods and shoots Ben with his bow and arrow. • Ben gets banished (thrown into the maze at night to be attacked by the Grievers) because of attacking Thomas. • Another day, Minho comes back in the middle of the day while he is supposed to be out running and has news that he found a dead Griever.

24. P Rising Action (continued) • The next day Alby and Minho go out into the maze to look for the dead Griever, but when they reach it, it springs back to life and attacks Alby. When Alby and Minho make it so that the Gladers can see them, the doors shut. • Just as the doors were shutting, Thomas jumps between the doors and into the maze. Thomas refuses to get attacked my the Grievers so he climbs up the ivy on the wall and ties Alby to it. Minho and Alby eventually meet up again and kill 3 Grievers by making them fall of the Cliff. • When the morning comes they get into the Glade and Alby gets the Greif Serum and goes through the Changing. • Thomas gets put into the Slammer (jail of the Glade) so that the other Gladers don’t think its okay to dis-obey the rules. • Teresa starts talking to Thomas through theirs minds even though she is still in a coma.

25. P Rising Action (continued) • Thomas and Minho go for Thomas’s first day of actual running and nothing happens. It is just the normal maze walls that have moved. • Teresa tells Thomas, through their minds, that she has just triggered an ending. • When Thomas wake up the next day the sky is grey and everything is commotion around the maze. • Thomas gets put into the Slammer (jail of the Glade) so that the other Gladers don’t think its okay to dis-obey the rules. • Teresa starts talking to Thomas through theirs minds even though she is still in a coma. Newt and Alby are very frustrated because supplies didn’t come up through the elevator like they have been for the past two years and there is no sun so they can’t grow their food.

26. P Rising Action (continued) • Minho and Thomas go running to see if anything changed in the wall movements the night before. They see a Griever and follow it. They discover that the grievers must have an invisible hole that they go in when they aren’t in the maze. • Teresa wake up from the coma and immediately goes to Thomas. Before much of anything could happen Alby rushes over and starts freaking out because the doors to get out into the maze never closed, meaning the Grievers could come into the maze. • Alby puts Teresa into the Slammer because he thinks that she made all of this happen to them. • The grievers come attacking and takes Gally and only Gally because they only take 1 person per night. • Alby goes to the map room and burns it because he doesn’t want to go back to where they were before the maze.

27. P Rising Action (continued) • Teresa, Newt, and Thomas all get wax paper, black markers and scissors and start tracing all the maps onto the wax paper. They come up with a code. • That night Thomas purposely gets stung by a griever so he can go through the changing to remember how to get out of the maze. • 3 day later when he comes out of the Changing, and knows exactly how to get out, but is going to need cooperation and sacrifice from everybody.

28. P Climax • The Gladers had a gathering about Thomas’s memories he had during the changing and about how to get out of the maze. • All of the keepers decide that it’s better to fight for their life, then just sit there and wait to be taken one by one by the grievers. • Then all the Gladers go into the maze and are ready to fight the grievers. • Once they get to all of the Grievers, the Gladers fight the Grievers towards the walls and Teresa, Chuck, and Thomas run through and all jump into the Griever Hole. They all get to the computer and type in the code to shut off all the Grievers. • They go through this mini maze thing to get to where the creators are, and then they meet.

29. P Falling Action • All of the Gladers that survived the fight with the Grievers, along with the creators of the maze are in the Creator’s lab. • People burst through the doors and shoot the Creators because of what they have done to the kids that were in the maze. • The people who came through the doors tell the Gladers to follow them to get out of the lab. • Once they all get outside, they see a woman who yanks Thomas down to the ground and is telling them to save her and them from the Flare.

30. C Conflict

31. C Man vs. Society Man vs. Society = Thomas vs. The Creators An example of Man vs. Society conflict that we found was a very general one. This is just in general, but how Thomas is fighting the Creators by trying to get out of the Maze while they are throwing all of these odd variables at them. This ‘battle’ pretty much goes on for the entire book.

32. C Man vs. Man Man vs. Man = Thomas vs. Ben An example of Man vs. Man conflict in The Maze Runner that we found was: When Thomas went wondering around in the Deadheads and Ben started attacking Thomas. Ben had said that Thomas wasn’t one of them, like he was an outsider that was for some reason not supposed to be in the maze. “He’s not one of us!” Ben shouted. “I saw him-he’s…he’s bad. We have to kill him! Let me gut him!” (73)

33. TR Theme and Resolution

34. TR Theme The theme of The Maze Runner that we came up with is: Even when against all odds, never give up. Because the Gladers never gave up even against such powerful forces, the Creators of the maze. Even as they were throwing all of these variables at them and they had to come up with such complex solutions for them, but still never gave up.

35. TR Resolution In the end of The Maze Runner, all of the remaining Gladers pile onto a bus with the people who rescued them from the Creators and they drove off. They drove for around 2 hours until they got to the place where all of them could sleep. There were bunk beds and everything else they could need. Everyone is happy for now, but nobody knows what the next day could bring them or what will happen to them next…

36. Citations Alby’s, Minho’s, Thomas’s, Teresa’s, Gally’s, and Newt’s Pictures: http://beneaththejacket.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-maze-runner-cast-list.html Chuck’s Picture: http://harrypotterforum.com/discussion/8179/the-maze-runner-trilogy-movie-news-director-wes-ball-has-been-chosen/p4 Beatle Blade Picture: http://acturiesa.deviantart.com/art/Maze-Runner-Griever-and-Beetle-Blade-272308207 Griever Picture: http://mazerunnerfandom.net/tag/griever/ All Setting Pictures: Microsoft Clip-Art