Friendship In The Maze Runner, By James Dashner

In the novel, The Maze Runner, by James Dashner, a group of boys are wiped of their memory and placed in The Glade as part of an experiment. The Creators put the boys through a trial to determine who will give up and who will persist. How the boys respond to the trials they go through gives readers insight into the author’s message, or theme, which is that friendship helps those who are lost become found.

In the story, Thomas meets Chuck and they develop a friendship. This incident introduces the author’s idea that friendship helps those who are lost become found. In the beginning of the text, Thomas arrives at the Glade confused and scared. Chuck started to give him some information about the Glade, and made him feel better. In the text it says, “Thomas had just moved his attention to the four vast openings in the middle of the main

In the story Chuck sacrificed himself to save Thomas from a knife. In the text it says, “ ‘I promised him!’ he screamed, realizing even as he did so that his voice was laced with something wrong. Almost insanity. ‘I promised I’d save him, take him home! I promised him!’”(Dashner 358). This shows that Thomas was determined to get Chuck out of the Maze, but he was unable to do so because Chuck was loyal to Thomas and sacrificed himself for him. The text also says, “Thomas hugged Chuck to his chest, squeezed him as tightly as possible, as if that could somehow bring him back, or show thanks for saving his life, for being his friend when no one else would.” (Dashner 358). This means that Thomas realized that Chuck was his only true friend. These quotes show that Chuck was an important friend to Thomas and that his goals were driven by the determination to bring Chuck home, which supports the theme statement that friendship helps those who are lost become found because the friendship between Chuck and Thomas helped Thomas to have a stronger motivation for escaping the