The Scorch Trials
Sequel to The Maze Runner
By: James Dashner
Presentation by: Avery Barnes and
Charlotte “Cappy” Pierce
Setting
The setting is the place that the book takes place.
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The Scorch Trials takes place in a post- apocalyptic world, where Sun Flares have gotten
out of hand and spreads a disease that turns ordinary people into basically walking
zombies. They walk around, insane and trying to eat people. These people are referred
to as the “Cranks”. The Setting of The Scorch Trials starts out in a dorm-like building.
Nothing special, just a simple common area with a couple picnic tables. Here, there are
two, large rooms attached on either side with sets of bunk-beds and a bathroom. The
boys stay here for a couple nights before they enter the Flat Trans that will take them to
the Scorch. The Flat Trans is described to be similar to a dark, never-ending hallway.
They walk through it for what feels like eternity, before emerging from the other side.
Once they emerge, they end up in the Scorch. The Scorch is a huge desert land that
stretches for hundreds of miles in every direction. Here, nothing is unheard of. The
weather is blazing hot, the sun beating down on the Gladers for hours everyday. Once
the sun goes down, it becomes a little more manage able to walk in. This desert is
similar to every desert, no food or water (except those that they have brought); hot and
dry. All of those typical stereotypes. Here, they have crazy lightning storms that strike
people, including some Gladers. There are a couple cities far off in the distance so that
shows that they may not be completely alone in this challenge. They soon find out that
these cities are where the Cranks are taken to keep them from harming the healthy
people. This keeps the Cranks isolated but makes these cities very dangerous to go
through.
Setting cont.
This resembles the Scorch, a flat desert,
with mountains in the distance and
lightning storms.
http://www.aps.k12.co.us/gateway/academi
cs/business_dept/multimedia_000.html
Plot
Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action,
Resolution
Plot – Rising Action
Because this is a sequel, there is a lot of background given at the beginning for the story. This is
more background than rising action.
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Thomas, Teresa and the Gladers are taken to a dorm to stay for a couple days. There they encounter some
of the “Cranks”, or people infected with the Flare.
Teresa was taken to another room to sleep but when Thomas woke up, he went to check on her, she was
gone. And replaced by a boy names Aris, who has no idea who Teresa is or where she went.
The boys talk to Aris and learn about where he is from. His story shows that he and Teresa had similar
stories. She was the only girl in a sea of boys, like Aris was the only boy in the sea of girls. He and one of
the girls, had a special connection and could talk to each other in their minds, the same way Thomas and
Teresa could. In short, they discovered that Aris was their “Teresa”.
“Rat Man” tells them that they are to walk 100 miles north within 2 weeks time, and then they will receive
the cure for the Flare.
To insure that they go, the Gladers are told that they have been infected with the Flare themselves.
Teresa and Thomas have always been able to talk to each other in their minds. But suddenly, once Teresa
is taken away, she no longer responds to his “messages”. And when she does, she says, “Get out of my
head!...Whoever you are, get out of my shuck head!... Shut up! Just shut up! I don’t know who you are!
Leave me alone!... Leave me alone, or I’ll hunt you down and cut your throat. I swear it” (pg.41).
Plot – Rising Action
This is the actual rising action of the novel.
The Rising action in a book is the series of events that lead up to the climax.
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The Gladers step through the Flat Trans, which will take them to the Scorch, the
desert where they must complete their trial.
Once in the Flat Trans, they walk for miles and miles. Soon, a large ball of molten
metal is dropped and attacks some of the Gladers. It causes terrible burns and
blisters on their skin.
The Gladers found an opening in the Flat Trans and step out into the Scorch.
In the Scorch, the boys walk for miles and miles and miles after seeing a city in the
distance, determined to get there.
Through the Scorch they hear a girl screaming and Thomas runs after, thinking it’s
Teresa. It is her, and when he approaches her to talk, she still fears him. But then
after a moment of staring at each other, she kisses him. But quickly pushes him
away saying, “Get away from me Tom… Just Leave. Run!” (pg.116). Leaving Thomas
stunned.
Then, as they ran away, they met an old man, withered and grey. When asked
about the city he told them that there were bad people there. Stay away (pg. 132).
Plot - Climax
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In The Scorch Trails, the climax occurs very late in the story. With about 30 pages
left in the story, the climax turns the story around. Before the Climax, Thomas is
very close to Teresa. Whether romantically or more as a sibling, he truly cared
about her. All of this starts to change when Teresa “confessed” that she had
sabotaged him to make him a sacrifice and that she was planning on finishing this
trial with Aris instead of Thomas. Thomas tries to fight them off but even aside
from being outnumbered, Teresa and Aris have weapons. Thomas gets pushed
through the door into an all white room. The doors shut and Thomas is trapped.
A green gas starts to fill the room and Thomas looses consciousness. His memories
go in and out until he wakes up completely, about a whole day later. The doors
open and Thomas walks out, unharmed, to find Teresa and Aris sitting, waiting for
him. That’s when they confess to the rest. They were never together, they only
talked in the maze when Teresa was in her initial coma, and Teresa still wanted
Thomas. She was told that if she didn’t put on this whole act with Aris for Thomas,
Thomas was going to be killed. While all this is being confessed, Thomas is having
a hard time paying attention after how mad he was at her for before. Teresa then
kisses Thomas, expecting her apology to be accepted and Thomas doesn’t feel any
for her at all.
Plot – Falling Action
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After Teresa confessed to Thomas, all three of them, Teresa , Thomas and Aris,
leave the mountain and make their final trek down to the “Safe Haven”. They
meet up with Group B and the rest of the Gladers at the base of the mountain,
where they find the pods, containing more monstrous creatures.
Everyone fights off the creatures until the creatures are all diminished.
At that moment, “the Berg” comes down and everyone jumps on the cargo door
to be lifted into the plane.
Brenda and Jorge are questioned by the man picking them up, David, and forces
Thomas to pick one to kill or they both die.
Thomas, thinking he figured out the game of killing the one Thomas doesn’t pick,
chooses Brenda to kill but he really wanted to save Brenda. When David grabs
Brenda and is about to throw her out of the plane, Thomas grabs a pistol and aims
it at David.
David immediately puts Brenda down and Thomas lowers the gun.
All of the Groups are taken to a similar dormitory that they were the first time, to
shower, eat, put on clean clothes and sleep.
Characters
Thomas, Minho, Newt,
Teresa, and the Creators
Characters - Thomas
• Thomas is a tall, 17 year old boy. He has dark hair and
light eyes. Thomas is very smart and clever, as he
solved the Maze in the previous story. He is very
trustworthy. Very quickly, he makes people comfortable
around him. Thomas is the main character and also the
main protagonist. He is a static character for most of
the story but he starts to change around the climax and
then becomes a dynamic character.
This is how we pictures
Thomas, with dark hair
and light green eyes.
http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/percy-jackson-and-annabeth-chase/images/21593022/title/percy-jackson-olympianslightning-thief-screencap
Characters - Minho
• Minho is a tall, tan skinned boy with dark
hair and is about 18 years old. Minho is
very mature and resourceful. He adds life
and humor to the story line with his witty
comments. Yet he is the leader of the
group, being very mature and
levelheaded. Minho is a main character
but not the main character. He is a
Glader and thus sides with the
protagonist, Thomas. He is mostly static
given that he stays pretty much the same
throughout the story with just one
mission: getting to the safe haven.
This is how we both pictured
Minho to look, dark hair and
tanned skin, a little older than
the rest of the Gladers.
http://www.wattpad.com/6515448-our-alibi-in-process-of-editing
Characters - Newt
• Newt is believed to be a tall and stocky
19 year old boy. He is pictured to have
blonde hair and blue eyes. He is very
controlling but a good leader. He is
brave and mature, but also shorttempered and angry. Newt is probably
a static character and more a victim
than protagonist or antagonist. He’s a
very determined character, as well as
protective of himself and the boys.
These traits make him very important
to the story. Newt is another Glader so
he sides with the protagonist. He is a This is how we pictured Newt to
look, with blond hair and blue
relatively main character. Newt is
eyes.
mostly a static character. He doesn’t
change too much throughout the story.
http://xfinity.comcast.net/blogs/tv/2009/10/14/vampire-diaries-zach-roerig-wants-to-become-a-slayer/
Character - Teresa
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Teresa is about 17 years old. She has dark
brown almost black hair with bright green eyes
and pearly white skin. She is very wise and
leads, thus very controlling. She’s strong willed
which gets turned very quickly into ignorant
and stubborn. She always looks at things from
her more bitter perspective. But she seems to
have everyone’s best interests at heart. Teresa
is a very prominent main character in this
story. She isn’t in this story as much as the last
story but she is brought up a lot in flashbacks
and thoughts of Thomas’. The times that she is
in the story, she is very dynamic. She changes
through the whole story of how she used to be
really sweet and then she acts as if she’s been
brainwashed into being mad at Thomas. Her
storyline goes on and on but basically she
changes in her morals and intentions through
out the whole story. For parts of this story
Teresa could be considered an antagonist.
This is how we pictured Teresa to
look, very beautiful with pearly
white skin and dark hair.
http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/elena-gilbert/images/16702284/title/elena-gilbert-photo
Character – WICKED
(the creators)
• WICKED is the company that
created the maze and put all
the gladers in there, they also
put the gladers into the
scorch. They are defiantly the
antagonists. WICKED is
looking out for the greater
good of the society but
meanwhile they seem to be
killing the gladers through a
series of “trials”.
The scientists of WICKED
are described to look as
typical scientists running
tests and trials.
http://myscienceacademy.org/2012/08/14/scientists-create-genetically-modified-plants-to-producepharmaceutical-drugs/
Conflict
Man Vs. Nature, Man Vs. Society, and
Man Vs. Fate
Conflict
• Man vs. Nature – This conflict is man Vs.
because it is Thomas and the other
gladers against the scorch, but it this
extreme desert crazy lightning storms go
on. They cause lightning to strike the
ground in unpredictable places and
patterns. The lightning storms are
believed to be an effect from the solar
flares. These lighting storms killed of
some gladers and throughout the story
many come close or do lose their lives.
This resembles the
lighting storms that
come after the
Gladers.
http://www.wildbackpacker.com/
wildernesssurvival/articles/surviving-alightning-storm/
Conflict
• Man Vs. Society- This conflict is
man against society because it
is Thomas and the gladers
against the creators or WICKED.
WICKED has “trials” to see how
much pain, mentally and
physically, they can inflict on
the gladers before they crack.
WICKED stands for World IN
Catastrophe Killzone
Experiment Department.
Somehow they are doing this
for the good of society.
This group of scientists resemble
how we pictured WICKED to look.
http://ozmonopoly.com/6S.html
Conflict
• Man Vs. Fate- This conflict is
Man against Fate because
when the creators(WICKED)
separate thomas and Teresa
from each other it seems like
they will never see each
other again. But Thomas has
made it his duty to find
Teresa and keep her safe.
Despite the fact that
WICKED wipes her memory
so she has no recollection of
him at all.
This picture represents a
girland boy that are separate,
upset because they can’t see
eachother. This is very similar
to Thomas and Teresa’s
situation.
Girl:
http://www.desicomments.com
/sad/sad-girl-127/
Boy:
http://www.fanpop.com/spots/
emoboys/images/23969673/title/sa
d-boy
Theme and Resolution
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At that moment, “the Berg” comes down and everyone jumps on the cargo door to be lifted
into the plane.
Brenda and Jorge are questioned by the man picking them up, David, and forces Thomas to
pick one to kill or they both die.
Thomas, thinking he figured out the game of killing the one Thomas doesn’t pick, chooses
Brenda to kill but he really wanted to save Brenda. When David grabs Brenda and is about to
throw her out of the plane, Thomas grabs a pistol and aims it at David.
David immediately puts Brenda down and Thomas lowers the gun.
All of the Groups are taken to a similar dormitory that they were the first time, to shower,
eat, put on clean clothes and sleep.
Theme:
We think the theme of The Scorch Trials is to take everything people say with a
grain of salt because you never know what their motives might be.
This is shown in the story when Thomas thought Teresa actually was trying to keep
him safe, saying he needed to trust her but really her motives were that she
wanted him to trust her so that she could take him to the Creators. Basically she
tricked him. “For all he knew, Teresa was just trying to trick him again” (pg.303).
Mood
• The mood of this story was kind of scattered.
• At the beginning of this story, when Thomas has lost Teresa and doesn’t
know where she went, he seems a little distracted. Then, once they get
into the Scorch, they seem to be in sheer panic. Their guards are up, not
sure who they are going to run into or what storms are coming after them.
Another mood for The Scorch Trials might be stressful. Two weeks in a
blazing hot desert? Monstrous humans chasing after you trying to kill you?
Fighting for their lives because otherwise they will end up one of these
monstrous humans themselves? And to top it all off, a love triangle not
going as planned with Thomas, Teresa and Aris? Sounds a little bit
miserable. “… Trials are complete. We are now taking you to a place of
safety - a real place of safety. No more tests, no more lies, no more setups.
No more pretending” (pg. 348).