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Government Surveillance In James Dashner's The Maze Runner

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To provide social commentary regarding the dismal, yet realistic possibility of government surveillance, a human’s capacity for violence, and loss of self, James Dashner creates a futuristic society in which children are under manipulation through supervision. In The Maze Runner, children are stripped from everything they have. This includes materialistic possessions, family, friends, and their memory of all of those things. The teenagers’ reality is living in an experiment and fighting for their lives by the result of a disease. In the world today, there are are a plethora of diseases, but even with advanced medical technology, a lot remain incurable. The Maze Runner presents a possible outcome of a terribly contagious disease. James Dashner uses social commentary to explain the negative aspects of a world which the government is almost in complete control. In The Maze Runner, Dashner exploits social commentary to show the disadvantages of government surveillance. For example, the Glade bears “Beetle Blades---it’s how the Creators [of the Maze] watch [them]” (Dashner 46). Although not relevant in 2009, when the book was published, it is now a reality for people in China. …show more content…

This topic is the most highlighted one throughout the story. All of the children were deprived from everything they had; the world they lived in, the people they knew, and the memories of all of those things. To clarify, the main character Thomas states that “his memory loss was baffling in its complexity” (Dashner 44). Each boy in the Glade was full of knowledge, but no origin of it. Conversely, society today has not experienced much loss in self identity, but the idea of it is one of the most chilling concepts to ponder. By means of social commentary, Dashner demonstrates this exact concept of one’s loss of self

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