1/11/12
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Pages 176-281

1) In this passage of the book, Thomas is pressured into talk to the girl who had come in the Box the day after him. She had been in a coma, but when he gets near her and focuses, she speaks her name. Not through her mouth, but tells Thomas through her mind. Thomas can't believe it, but then she says his name. Thomas is really freaked out now, but she keeps speaking to him, this time that they were the last two, that it will end soon. Thomas, not being able to handle this, began to run away from the Homestead where he and Newt were. He ran straight into the Maze until the voice stopped. He made it a ways, and then started back, noticing the time. He went to bed, and spent the entire next day in the Slammer, or the jail, for it was what was decided by the Gathering of the Keepers. Alby released him after night had set in, and Thomas was happy to see that his friend was okay and walking around after the Changing. The next day, Minho trained Thomas to become a Runner. They started before the dawn, packing their lunches and giving Thomas weapons, running shoes, and a watch. Minho also showed Thomas the Map Room, a metal building that runners came back to after they returned and drew maps, and how it worked. Minho drew out a rough map of the Maze, and they set off.  Thomas followed Minho through his route, and got trained how to track his route by cutting pieces of vines of the walls. Throughout the day, Minho got the message across to Thomas that they haven't really made progress in the two years of running, and that it is almost pointless. After a tiring day of running, Thomas was happy to return to the Glade, although he wished he could explore the maze more than the day allowed. The glamour of being a Runner vanished after the first day for Thomas. As he went to bed, Thomas heard a feminine voice tell him that she had triggered the ending, which explains the next day in the Glade. The sky was completely gray, no sun.  Thomas and Minho then went out to run, but quickly saw a Griever before they had made their route. Suddenly it started to run away from them, and they followed it. It went off the Cliff and disappeared. Minho and Thomas were suspicious of this because everything else just fell of the Cliff, didn't disappear. They experimented and found a small hole that objects disappeared into, and called it the Griever Hole. The two made it back to the Glade and made their Maps.  Alby and Newt came to talk to them, and they told them about the hole, but Alby and Newt seemed very on edge. They explained that the supplies that were supposed to come didn't. This group chatted until commotion at the Homestead interrupted them. The girl was awake. She whispered to Thomas in her head to come see her, and that the Maze was a code. To get away from her voice, Thomas went to the corner of the walls by Deadheads. She found him there, this time in person. They discussed their memories, mostly hers, their relationship to each other, and their current situation. Soon Newt, Alby, and some others found them, and grilled them for answers. They were acting very edgy because the Doors didn't close that night. Alby blamed the girl and had her locked in the Slammer for the night. Necessary precautions were made, and all of the Gladers were put in the Homestead with flashlights and weapons. The windows were boarded up, and everybody waited. They could hear the Grievers outside, and one particular one climbed the house, and lingered outside the window of the room that Thomas was in. At this point, Gally appeared, crazed out of his mind. He said that the Grievers would take one person a day until there were none left, and he began ripping boards off the window. Everyone in the room fled besides Thomas and Newt, and they watched as Gally was grabbed by the Griever and taken out of the Maze. Thomas saw Minho chase after the train of Grievers just as they left. Chaos broke out among the Gladers, and Thomas found Newt. They waited for Minho, and he returned, saying he left to see where they went. They had gone straight to the Griever Hole. Like the leaders of the Glade didn't have enough to worry about, somebody had burned all of the Maps. Thomas then went to Teresa to free her and talk. They discussed the situation and realized something about the Maps. Thomas and Teresa told this to Newt who took them to the actual Maps. Just in case something happened, they had hidden the Maps in the basement of the Homestead. Following a system he had made up along the way, Thomas lined up the Maps in a certain pattern, cut, traced, and shaded them. What he found was a letter. He did this to several other Maps and it began to spell words. They had caught onto something. Letting Teresa, Newt, and Alby do this work, Minho and Thomas packed and ran into the Maze, thinking that they could be useful elsewhere. They set off into the Maze with their backpacks, ready for whatever came at them.

2) "Silently, they did as he asked, sorting through what they'd traced until eight low stacks  of wax paper lined the table.
        Jittery and nervous, Thomas picked up one page from each pile, making sure they were all from the same day, keeping them in order. He then laid them one on top of the other so that each drawing of the Maze matched the same day above it and below it, until he was looking at eight different section of the Maze at one. What he saw amazed him. Almost magically, like a picture coming into focus, an image developed. Teresa let out a small gasp.
        Lines crossed each other, up and down, so much so that what Thomas held in his hands looked like a checkered grid. But certain lines in the middle-lines that happened to appear more often than any other-made a slightly darker image than the rest. It was subtle, but it was, without a doubt, there.
       Sitting in the exact center of the page was the letter F" (Dashner 276-277.) I chose this quote for a few reasons. The first one is that it leads to later in the book. The next page says that the Thomas and those surrounding him kept working, doing the same thing. They kept churning out letters, eventually getting the words FLOAT and CATCH. They don't know what these mean, but think that they will find out if they keep working. I also chose this quote because this discovery by Thomas happens to be pretty much the only progress that the Gladers have ever made in the past two years. The excitement and awe in the room is electric, because they immediately think that this could take them somewhere. The final reason that I chose this quote is that because I expect this discovery by Thomas will eventually lead the Gladers to freedom. It seems like they will spell out an escape plan, making this very instance in the book very significant.

3) Personal connections to this passage of the book are very sparse for me. If I were to draw one distant connection, it would probably be that I can relate to Thomas and his relationship with being a Runner. After his first day of Running, Thomas feels like Running in the Maze is pointless. Minho confesses to him that the Runner's haven't really made any progress, which fills Thomas with hopelessness. This feeling is only multiplied when he figures out an idea about the Maps, only to remember that they were burned. When Newt reveals that the Maps are actually safe, I can relate to Thomas's relief. Also, when Thomas discovers the pattern of the Maze, I can relate to his joy, for he has now discovered the possible escape plan. He can run with Minho for a purpose, and is more than happy to. I can easily associate with Thomas's feelings of hopelessness and excitement/joy displayed in this passage.