Character Analysis: The Glade Runner

How would you feel if you woke up in a whole new world, different than you remembered with all of your memories of the outside world erased? Well, imagine that. That is what Thomas felt the day he arrived in the maze. Thomas arrived in the Maze one day, and the next day Teresa arrived. Everybody started to get suspicious, as only one newcomer arrived every month. Teresa then hinted that she had triggered “The Ending”. The Glade as the boys knew it began to fall apart. First, the skies turned gray, and than, the walls didn’t close at night, causing the boys to make and escaped plan and escape the maze. In this journal, I am going to predict what will happen in the next book, evaluate the characterization of Thomas, and connect living in the

As soon as Thomas arrived at the Glade. He seemed to be a very amicable person, except for the fact that Gally acted very belligerent toward Thomas. Gally claimed he has seen Thomas during the Changing. Thomas was very friendly to his fellow Gladers. He quickly made friends with Chuck, the young Slopper from the Glade who was thought to have been 12 years old. Early on, he told Chuck about his instinctive urge to become a Runner. Chuck thought he was crazy but Thomas was very dedicated. You could see his dedication: “He would be a Runner. Deep inside he knew he had to go out there, into the Maze” (Dashner 46). Thomas would be a Runner. He somehow knew that he was meant to be a Runner. Thomas would be a Runner. Despite being told it wasn’t feasible by Chuck multiple times, Thomas didn’t let anything phase him. Thomas would be a Runner. It wasn’t until Teresa showed up that Thomas started acting different. Something about Teresa seemed so familiar but he just couldn’t grasp it. He knew he’d seen her somewhere. They were like magnets and he couldn’t stay away from her or get her out of his mind (Fig. Lang.). After Teresa “triggered the ending”, Thomas felt different, like he needed to do something to help get these kids out of this terrible place. He started investigating and scrutinizing the maps. He came up with the most brilliant idea and eventually, being the leader he is, led them to discover the code. He

In the Glade, there is a strong social system with classes. These classes are the jobs, Baggers, Runners, Sloppers, Slicers etc. Each class has a Keeper, basically the leader, that is in charge of that group of people. An example would be that Minho is the Keeper of the Runners. While we in the U.S. don’t have such a strong class system, many other countries, especially less developed countries, have class systems like this. Where there is a lot of “space” between the rich and poor, or in this case, Runners and Sloppers. The Runners are like the rich. They are the most privileged. Meanwhile, the Sloppers are like the poor. They basically get bossed around and do the jobs that none of the other Gladers. You only become a Slopper if you aren’t good at any job in particular. Chuck is always pushed around because of being a slopper: “‘Ain’t you got a job slinthead’, Alby asked, ‘Lots of sloppin’ to do?’” As you can see from that quote, people don’t treat the Sloppers with the same respect that the other Gladers get. I do not think that there are many similarities between living in the Glade and living in the Real