Imagine awakening in an unfamiliar location with all prior personal memories wiped clean. In The Maze Runner by James Dashner, he depicts this sense of fear and confusion through the young and brave characters, the Gladers. The courageous group of young adults move past this and grow as individuals as they solve the intricate maze. The Maze is symbolic of the plethora of struggles that modern teens find himself battling within today’s society. Therefore, James Dashner’s The Maze Runner reflects the struggles of transitioning into adulthood through the determination of the Gladers to solve the maze and reach freedom.
The setting and the plot of this novel help the characters develop emotionally and mentally …show more content…
Thomas, however, builds a growing curiosity for the maze while working as a slicer and believes he was brought to the Glade to be a runner. After Alby is stung by a Griever in the Maze and Minho, leader of the runners, is trying to carry him out before the walls close. Thomas sees this and squeezes between the narrow space of the closing walls to save them. Everyone believed that they were dead because no one has ever survived a night in the maze but to their surprise, they were wrong. Not only did Thomas save Alby and Minho, becoming the first to ever survive a night in the maze, but he also found a clift which he believes the Grievers emerge from. He received punishment for breaking the rule of entering the maze but later became a runner as he had hoped. After several days, the Glade goes dark, the walls stop closing at nightfall, and the Grievers begin their attacks on the Gladers. Thomas and the other Gladers worked together to decode the Griever entrance and escape from the maze. By exposing Thomas and the other young adults to the harsh environment of being trapped and alone in a foreign place; it forced an early development of maturity and