The Maze Runner Literary Analysis

Gone to the Glades: A Comparison and Contrast of The Maze Runner

Every reader has their own personal movie in their head when they read their favorite book. It is the dream of every avid literary fanatic to have this visualization brought to life and placed on the silver screen with every detail mentioned. However, for about ninety-nine percent of readers, this cannot and will not ever be the case; for the one percent that is easy to please and does not mind giving up a few details every now and again, this is an easily attainable goal. An example of such would be the adaptation of James Dashner’s The Maze Runner. Produced in 2014, The Maze Runner experienced not only great reviews in its attempts to bring the post-apocalyptic world to life,

Thomas, the main character and narrator of the story, is met with hostility from all of his companions in the setting of the story, The Glade. While the blunt of it is not delivered by him, it appears to be directed by the self-appointed leader of The Glade, Alby. It is important to note in addendum with the facts to come that the book mentions Alby as one of the first Gladers, or inhabitants of The Glade, whereas the movie says he is the first. Some readers and fans of the series claim that Alby’s behavior in the book (getting angry with Thomas when he pursues with his questions, scolding Thomas when he explores places he has not been given permission) is prompted because of the events of the prequel, The Fever Code, whereas others claim it is directly tied to his relationship with Thomas. Thomas is the last and newest male Glader, whereas Alby is one of the first, if not the first. In contrast with Alby’s behavior in the movie, Alby is seen comforting and encouraging Thomas to pursue his curiosity. He reminds Thomas that everyone loses their memories when entering The Glade, and that he will regain them eventually. While some may view it as Hollywood trying to play up the relationship between Alby and Thomas to induce more crying during Alby’s murder later on, others view it as more of a rational and realistic personality to the character. In

However, how stories are viewed across different kinds of media is something to behold. Everyone is going to have one preference or another in regards to which media the story was best told, but the most important part is how the story was told. In Dashner’s The Maze Runner, the interpretation from book to movie was not necessarily the worst executed, however definitely takes away from some points in the original story. At the end of the day, it does not matter how the story was told; instead, the only thing that matters is how well the story was