10/4/12
Dear Mrs. Schlotter,
Can you imagine being lifted into a new place where you don’t remember
anything? This is what happens in The Maze Runner by James Dashner. The Maze
Runner is a dystopian book about a 16-year-old boy named Thomas. He wakes up in
an un-known place where the only thing he can remember is his name. The story
progresses as Thomas learns that he is not alone and that there are many other
people in this mysterious place called the Glade. Every month a new Glader, a
person in the Glade, comes up from a loft and joins the Glade. Weird things start to
happen when a girl comes out of the loft the day after Thomas. This is very strange
because all the Gladers are boys. Thomas feels he knows this girl named Teresa and
they realize that they can speak telepathically together. The story progresses as
other weird things start to happen and the Gladers try to find a way out through a
Maze. In The Maze Runner, James Dashner uses many strengths such as suspense,
description, and personalities of the characters. I really enjoyed my experience with
this book.
To begin, James Dashner uses many strengths in The Maze Runner. It is very
suspenseful from the first to the last page. In the beginning, I did not know where
Thomas was or why he was there. James Dashner builds up suspense by leaving me
hanging. Each chapter ended on a new cliffhanger. “Then, in a sudden burst of light
and sound, the Griever came back to life, whirring and clicking. And then it started
to climb the wall.” (Dashner 129). In the quote, Thomas is on a wall trying to hide
from a Griever, which is a monster. This is the end of a chapter, and I just had to turn
the page and read about what happens to Thomas! I could never stop reading
because I couldn’t help wondering what would happen!
Another strength this author uses is description. I was able to visualize each
scene in my head. “They stood in a vast courtyard several times the size of a football
field, surrounded by four enormous walls made of gray stone and covered in spots
with thick ivy. The walls had to be hundreds of feet high and formed a perfect
square around them, each side split in the exact middle by an opening as tall as the
walls themselves that, from what Thomas could see, led to passages and long
corridors beyond.” (Dashner 5). Here, the author is describing the scene around
Thomas. I feel as if I am there with Thomas because I can picture the scene in my
head. I love to visualize images so I really appreciated the mass of description.
A third strength he uses is personalities of the characters. I felt as if I knew
each and every character personally. “No one ever understood what I saw, what the
Changing did to me. Don’t go back to the real world, Thomas! You don’t…want…to
remember!” (Dashner 258). A Glader named Gally speaks this. He got bit by a
Greiver and went through the changing, where you remember certain things about
your past and the real world. Ever since, Gally has been crazy. He would rather die
then go back to the real world. James Dashner does a great job of describing Gally
and all his crazy ways. I don’t like Gally because he is very mean to Thomas. This is
because he saw things about Thomas in the changing and thinks he is evil. Each
character has their own distinct personality.
My experience as a reader was fantastic! I was really into the book. I enjoyed
how it was different and unique from any other book I’ve read. This book took place
in the future. It was during a time period where there was a disease called the Flare,
where people slowly started to go crazy. I thought this was very interesting and I
love futuristic books. I liked how the author left questions open for me to come up
with solutions. A very important theme in this book is to never give up. The Gladers
had been looking for a way to get out through the Maze for two years and they
finally found one!
The passage I have selected takes place soon after Thomas finds his way out
of the Glade. “Thomas cried, wept like he’d never wept before. His great, racking
sobs echoed through the chamber like the sounds of tortured pain.” (Dashner 358).
He had been so strong, and as soon as they got out of the Glade through the Maze,
Thomas’s emotions flooded out. This quote is after some very sad things that
Thomas had to go through. First, Gally was controlled by the makers of the Glade to
kill Thomas. When Gally drew out a gun and pulled the trigger, Thomas could only
stare. Suddenly, Chuck, who is Thomas’s best friend, jumped in front of him and took
the bullet for Thomas. This was especially sad because Thomas had promised Chuck
that he would get him to the real world safely to meet his parents. Holding Chuck in
his arms, all the feelings he had felt came tumbling down his cheeks.
In my opinion, James Dashner did an excellent job of writing this book! I had
heard so many great things from other people about The Maze Runner and now I
cannot wait to share this book with my friends! I recommend this book to readers
from ages 12 to 14 because some scenes are bloody including how people die. This
is definitely my favorite book because I really enjoy dystopian genre books. I hope
you like The Maze Runner just as much as I did!
Sincerely,
Alexa Resnick