The Maze Runner Analysis

In surreal worlds where lives are constantly at stake, motivation is key to overcoming obstacles. Both The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and The Maze Runner by James Dashner effectively provide insight on the struggles of a suppressed group versus their antagonist government. The need to endure the obstructions that approach these characters are meant to be solved in a variety of ways. The authors use the foundations of community, persistence and individual development, civilized behavior versus savagery, and sacrificial death to build up to the ultimate theme of survival. Their intuitive vision of probable futures demonstrates undesirable dystopian lifestyles which may not be so elusive from real life.

From the start of both novels, the readers are introduced to the communities of the protagonists. In The Maze Runner, it is evident that things cannot be accomplished alone because without a strong sense of community based on personal relationships, the Gladers would not survive. In a self-sustaining society, it is always better to work together than to fight about single decisions. This theme is shown throughout the novel when Thomas, the protagonist, finds a way to escape the maze. At first, everyone thought he was a felon when acting individually and entering it, but later the rest of the Gladers realize that he was just trying to find a way to free everyone. Thomas becomes friends with the head of the runners, Minho, which is a relationship that critically affects his ability to survive and find a way out of the maze that the creators developed. Minho “[nominates] this shank as keeper of the runners” (Dashner 158), which is proof that the community around the protagonist realizes that Thomas can be trusted. On the other han...

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...s an individual in order to survive the challenges trusted upon her by the Capitol. An example of this is how Katniss adapts to a different persona and pretends to love Peeta in front of the cameras for interviews during the games. She sells herself to the audiences throughout the world to obtain sponsors and to keep her family safe from the dystopian government. Despite the fact that Katniss does not truly love Peeta, "they are both wounded; they could die at any moment. Adrenaline is pumping through them. According to the misattribution of arousal, this physiological arousal could be mistaken for sexual arousal" (Goodfriend 7). This demonstrates that Katniss is capable of evolving her identity in order to survive the Hunger Games. It is evident in both novels that persistence and evolution of the individual is required to survive the suppression of a higher power.