Maze Runner Themes

The Cold War was a period from 1947 to 1991 that adhered erratic tension and constant threat of nuclear conflict between the two remaining superpowers that emerged from WWII, the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The 1964 film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, directed by Stanley Kubrick, depicts the overlying themes of the Cold War in a comedic fashion. This film’s full embodiment of the Cold War is seen through its representation of the time period, and the sheer competitiveness between the United States and Russia. Additionally, due to many of Kubrick’s movie decisions, the film has helped society

Like many novels in the young adult genre, The Maze Runner by James Dasher can be interpreted as a metaphor of the challenges of growing up. Throughout the novel, many undercover metaphors are revealed. A metaphor for birth, the boys are brought to The Glade with no memories, life in The Glade later becomes comforting like an ideal childhood. Unlike the peacefulness of The Glade, the maze becomes a period of adolescence. Eventually, in the end of the novel, The Gladers manage to fight their way out of the maze, entering the harsh adult world

The title The Death Cure, seems almost oxymoronic, falsely true. From the first book, The Maze Runner, it seems like WICKED is desperately searching for a cure that could possibly prevent the extinction of the human race from the Flare. Mainly, The Death Cure is focusing on the cure to the disease. But as we read on, it seems like there was never a cure, but death. The cure looks like it could be letting everyone who has been infected, die while the immunes get to start over. WICKED should have been searching for a way to stop the spread of the disease instead of finding a cure for death, which has been their main problem.

The Gladers show this by being in a tough situation, but making the most of what they have to exit the maze. Thomas, Theresa, and the rest of the Gladers could have given up when they began being attacked, but they made the most of it to make it out alive. Also this is shown when the rebels come and save the day. On page 361 when the rebels take the opportunity to save the Gladers they say, “Just follow me and run like your life depends on it. Because it does.” This part of the book allows the rebels to take their opportunity and save the Gladers.

I have spotted multiple themes though out this novel but, the main two themes I was were Good vs. Evil and Being Self-Sufficient. The main characters the tin Woodman, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Loin were heavily insecure about themselves. The scarecrow didn’t t think he was smart enough so he traveled with them to get a brain. The lion didn’t think he was brave enough so he traveled with them to get some courage. Though out the novel we see that the scarecrow is the smartest out of the group and that the lion risked he own life many times to save his friends.

In the book, The Scorch Trials, by James Dashner, Thomas and the Gladers are resting after being rescued from the Maze. They soon realize that their situation is far from over. They go through the Scorch Trials, encountering Cranks and other predicaments along the way, emotionally and physically. This page-turning novel displays literary elements such as foreshadowing, imagery, and external conflict.

     The theme of the loss of innocence covers the entire essence of the book. There are many cases in the story where people had lost their innocence of life and it was lost to them

Death and disease are common in today’s world. A person dies every day and for disease everyone gets some kind of disease. But today not everyone panics at death and disease but back in the 1700s people weren’t really familiar with death and disease. In Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson, the author gives details about the effects of death and disease and how it changes people for better or for worse. In the story, a young girl named Matilda is your typical girl who doesn’t want to work, but when the yellow fever strikes Philadelphia, Matilda changes throughout the story. This story suggests that when death and disease happen people can change for better or for worse.

Cruelty is a topic that can function as a major plot point in stories and connect to several different literary elements. An author may use cruelty to express a theme, or a message about the real world, exemplified through a story. Cruelty could also be used as a device in order to progress plot. Even as a character trait, cruelty can give the reader more insight into a story’s plot, setting, or even the characters themselves. In Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, cruelty helps to communicate different themes, progress the plot, and give insight into characters.

There is good and evil in the world, but when impiety manifests itself in civilization, innocence fades. Encountering wickedness changes people’s mood and outlook of humanity. The pieces of literature, Night, written by Elie Wiesel; The Kite Runner, composed by Khaled Hosseini; and To Kill a Mockingbird, created by Harper Lee, all focus on the journey to adulthood marking one’s loss of innocence when the characters must confront the evils in society. Elie’s exposure to annihilation, the rape against Hassan, and Jem witnessing the injustice in humanity contribute to the characters’ development from childhood naivety to maturity, in similar fashions, where they all gain knowledge, understanding, and experience that alters their behavior as well as their perspective of life.

It is these extreme behaviours, which challenge and contradict the values that most individuals have been taught from the very beginning. The values the boy must carry into the future. After the mother’s death, all that stands between him and death is his father’s light. It is this light at the end of the tunnel, which allows the man to continue his quest. Despite all the wrong deeds occurring around the world, the boy progresses through his quest whilst also upholding his values such as dignity, perseverance, justice and faith. But it is a greater story of survival, it is the story of the world surviving with the morals, beliefs and laws that are at risk of losing. This concept of the story profoundly confronts my values and how others reject them for their own survival at any cost. Having experienced the environments of a refugee camp, if people were to abandon their values and beliefs just as the characters in The Road, then there would be no hope or future left for them to look forward to.

Take heed, this book will usher you deep into the minds of the characters. In the garden of good and evil, of war and peace, you will taste and see the agony of hurting hearts and broken minds.

Thesis: In Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, the idea that someone cannot experience goodness before they discover evil is strengthened by the dynamic between the cautious father and the naive and innocent nature of the boy.

A child’s imagination is the most powerful weapon he or she can be armed with and it is within Guillermo Del Toro’s captivating and Academy Award winning film, Pan’s Labyrinth that we are presented with this concept as well as themes of existentialism and duality. Various motifs such as; brutality, innocence, childhood and war, allow Del Toro to construct two worlds that are all too real and very similar for one young girl. Set in Spain 1944 during a time when people are forced to choose between their beliefs and their survival, Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) is compelled to choose her faith in fantasies over her hope in humanity. Ofelia is in a battle of good vs. evil vs. innocence and must realize that all three cannot thrive. The opening and ending scenes of Del Toro’s film show Ofelia’s birth, death and rebirth while simultaneously providing the answers to the frequent philosophical questions Del Toro exhibited.

The Maze Runner, written by James Dashner is the first book in the Maze Runner pentalogy. The story follows the adventures of a sixteen-year-old boy named Thomas, who finds himself waking up in the heart of a labyrinth, titled ‘The Glade’. As it turns out there are many teenage boys accompanying Thomas. The aim is to escape from the labyrinth, but this does not go as effortlessly as it sounds, due to the fact that the labyrinth is constructed by the inexplicable and threatening WICKED (World In Catastrophe Killzone Experiment Department). At nightfall, the walls of the labyrinth move and barricade the four entrances of the labyrinth. The walls prevent the boys from being attacked by creatures called grievers, who walk around the labyrinth every night. Survival intuition, faith and friendship are some of the themes portrayed in the book. In the film adaptation of The Maze Runner, there are three highly visible differences in comparison to the book. In the first place, Dashner delightfully depicts the thought processes of the protagonist in the book, whilst in the film this is not portrayed at all. Secondly, the time frame of the film is diminished, which makes the story less plausible. Lastly, the strong characters Dashner developed for the books are nullified in the film adaptation. Therefore,