Schools Almost Done!

I am reading The Maze Runner by James Dasher. This week I read from page 298 to 274. The author's style was very interesting this week. At the end of the book a lot of things started to happen really fast. Thomas remembered things from his life before the maze. This led to everyone being able to find a way to escape from the maze. They had to fight the grievers which was hard. A lot of them died. Once they got out of the maze, they saw people that they thought had died. All of a sudden a group of people came in and rushed them onto a bus and killed the lady that was talking to them. That is where the book ends. All these things started to happen really fast at the end of the book. It was really weird. It makes no sense and opens up a lot of new questions. The book related to the hero's journey at the end. Thomas got the ultimate boon by getting out of the maze. The recue from without was sort of when one of Thomas's friends found a button to shut down the grievers. There wasn't a freedom to live because the world turns out to be pretty sucky. A major theme in this book was perseverance. "All this added up to making us think there had to be a solution, just encouraging us to work all the harder while at the same time magnifying our discouragement at not finding one"(304).

Number Four

I am reading The Maze Runner by James Dasher. This week I read from page 233 to page 297 this week. There is a lot of symbolism in this book. The grievers represent evil in the book. They attack people and are now killing one every day until everyone escapes from the maze. "There's no way out-there's no way to win! They're gonna kill you, all of you-one by one!" (257) There is a lot of strange character things in this part. Thomas, the main character, is stung by one of the grievers. This does a lot of weird things to people. Also, a new character arrives. It is the girl that was speaking into Thomas's head. This is especially weird because there are no other girls in the whole place. They people found out that the maze spells out words, so they are able to discover new things that will hopefully lead to the exit of the maze, which is their goal. A personal connection to the text is that there are crazy people. I often feel like there are crazy people in my life. It can be very frustrating to have an opinion that makes sense and others will not listen to you. What is especially frustrating is when you know something and people don't believe you. A spot with interesting imagery is when Thomas goes into the changing. He doesn't feel or see anything for a long time. Then he goes through a storm, and it turns into pain.

Number Three

I am reading The Maze Runner by James Dasher. This week I read pages 146 to 232. This reading has been very interesting for character development. The main character, Thomas, has been hearing voices in his head. He believes that it is the voice of the new girl, but this does not make very much sense because she is in a coma. It is kind of driving him crazy. One of the things he hears is "Tom, I just triggered the Ending" (217). This is even worse because he has no idea what it means. A major theme of this book is that he must continue to work hard and be smart even everything seems hopeless. This is hard because the sun has gone away, they are no longer getting food shipments, and other things are getting weird. Many people are also mad at him due to his recent accomplishments. It is hard for him to still concentrate on his work through these challenges. A connection to the text I have is that it reminds me of Lost. There are tons of confusing things going on that the reader doesn't understand, and neither do the characters. Most of what is going on doesn't make sense because it has very strange ideas. Plus every time something is explained, it opens up another question. Both of these things are also very interesting and make you want to find out what is going on and what happens in the end to the characters.

The Second Post Ever

I am reading The Maze Runner by James Dasher. I read page 67 to page 145 this week. A major theme in this book is friendship. It is hard to have friends in this dangerous world, and many people struggle with it. "Thomas felt a pang of guilt over chuck-felt sorry for him. The kid tried so hard to be everyone's friend, but no one seemed to like him..." Thomas has no friends to start out either. He meets more people as he goes along, and he is looking for people who are kind and helpful to be friends with. He eventually does meet people who are nice, while other characters become more likeable during the story. One part of the author's style is that he is able to keep you in the dark on a lot of things for a long time. With the strange world, everything is completely different from ours. A large part of this section is about him being stuck in the maze with the monsters. It is really terrifying. It is suspenseful and draws you in to the book. This is a good style of writing. Character development has continued. We learn that Thomas is smart and courageous. He gets stuck in the maze overnight where the monsters are. He is able to outsmart the monsters and avoid them. Also, he is courageous by saving another person from the monsters who is hurt. He risks his own life for him. A large part of this section is about him being stuck in the maze with the monsters. It is really terrifying. It is suspenseful and draws you in to the book. This is a good style of writing.

the first post ever

I am reading The Maze Runner by James Dasher. I read up to page 66 this week. This book is about a boy, Thomas, who is in the middle of a giant maze and doesn't know how he got there. This allows for a very interesting plot development. Thomas only knows regular things like what a tree is or what a house is. He is confused about what is going on. He is constantly trying to find the same answers as you are looking for. You know that there is nothing hiding from you. There is no background information about culture or time period or anything because he can't remember anything about his life. Another interesting part of the book is that the central conflict of the story seems simple: Thomas has to find his way out of the maze. But as the story progresses it becomes more complicated. We find out that the maze actually changes every day, so that you can't memorize the paths. There are also mysterious monsters that come out at night, so everyone has to make sure they are in the center of the maze that has gates to keep out the monsters. Character development is very strange in this story because the main character has no recollection of his background. There is nothing to develop. Less is known about Thomas than some of the people he meets in the maze. This is a little confusing because you don't know very much about the main character. It is harder to relate to him.