The Maze Runner Series
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Disturbing in many ways - Part 02
Dee
(last edited
Aug 07, 2015 10:19PM
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Aug 07, 2015 10:14PM
***SPOILERS AHEAD: IF YOU HAVE NOT READ ALL THREE BOOKS AND DON’T WANT TO KNOW ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS, READ NO FURTHER***
Explanation of irksome thing #1:
All three of these highly popular fiction series are teenagers or those *just* exiting their teens. I’ll focus on the Maze Runner series because that’s the main series I’m talking about. Let us take Thomas.
- We’re supposed to admire him but for nearly the entirety of the first book, all he does is whine, and he refuses to shut the heck up, even when people are trying to tell him his oh-so-needed information. Then when it comes to the point where people (like Brenda) try to *tell* him more information he suddenly gets with this super other-side-of-the-spectrum attitude stating that he doesn’t need to know…that they just need to move forward…to the point where he is really rude and just cuts people off
- He gets himself purposely stung multiple times by the Grievers (and anyone who has had multiple wasp or bee stings knows that even THAT isn’t fun… needless to say what it feels like to be essentialy STABBED by big blubber-monsters with metal appendages) – JUST to get memories back… but once he’s given the chance to get them ALL back (removing the swipe) he suddenly “doesn’t want to know” – and effectively screws the whole thing by doing a prison-break deal.
- He goes into a big whiny mental tirade about killing a single dude to defend himself in a life-or-death situation (when one of the far-gone Cranks wanted his nose) … but he seems TOTALLY okay with (in fact determined) to NOT let the trials complete and thus a cure be found… essentially murdering 99% of humans on the planet.
- He’s supposed to be super genius intelligent, something of a prodigy… and yet he makes incredibly stupid choices… incredibly illogical… DUMBASS choices. Like…
o “NO I don’t want my memories back!” okay… first time… fine… you don’t know if new ones will be implanted… you don’t trust “the organization”… but then QUICKLY we, the readers and in essence Thomas himself, find out that without his memories… he’s seriously hampering the whole “escape plan”. Remember when he gets into the mall in Denver? How Brenda EXPLICITLY tells him to not say so loud that he doesn’t know what VCT stands for because it’ll be suspicious… which, when you’re a flippin’ FUGITIVE it’s pretty damn simple common sense that you want to BLEND IN. It’s made pretty clear after that he doesn’t know what a MALL is… he doesn’t know what a CAB is… that’s not blending in – you are directly putting yourself and by extension, your friends in a horribly tenuous predicament (which can be easily rectified if you have your memories back… thus remembering normal world stuff, like a mall) – and yet… he STILL tells Hans not to give him his memories back.
o He has now been told in numerous ways that he has to blend in, not be caught, has been repeatedly been told and demonstrated how the infected are treated and how much ‘Munies’ are despised… and how RARE they are… YET… the coffee shop scene occurs. Yes, the coffee shop scene, where this incredibly genius boy, who has been stressed to repeatedly the situation with the Munies (not only the jealous-hatred, but the disappearance-likely-abductions), the high alert and prejudice against those infected and the importance of blending in… decides ‘Oh. Everyone’s running out… so let me sit here like a dumbass… make myself TOTALLY stick out… then announce out loud that I’m immune’… then what happens AFTERWARD
o He knows for a damn fact that NOTHING good is going to come of the bliss-head being discovered… yet he chooses to watch with curiosity… but this is the same guy who is just vehemently against getting his memories back so he doesn’t have to remember all the horrible things he’s done to his now-friends.
- His hypocritical whining and complaining: at one point he talks about all he’s done in his current memory is that he’s been a creator to a failed experiment and thus wants to make something of his life… NOT admitting that the experiment failed *precisely* because of his actions (breaking out, stealing weapons, hiding out and refusing to complete the testing)… it’s like saying to someone “well, you guys made me hungry!!” when all you’ve done all day is refuse food offered to you. WTF?
End impression: Thomas’ attitude seems to be he’s perfectly happy and curious to watch others suffer, die, be tortured (voyeuristically so) … as long as it’s not one of his buddies – and it’s not him doing it. He’s also perfectly satisfied with the prospect of letting most of the human race die-off, because hey, who cares? He’s immune! Doesn’t affect him!
He has been given no indication that a cure isn’t in the works – and in fact gets his sorry arse caught up in essentially a terrorist organization who, despite stating that they’re going to funnel money to protect the uninfected (immune or not), are actually just jonesing to blow up “the corporation” irrespective of lives lost (ie: killing the people they’re proclaiming to want to protect)… and THEN he has to kill his best friend and THEN… and ONLY then… does he think “erm. Hey… maybe I should uh… get this cure done” but then very quickly changes his mind with surprisingly little arm-twisting…by the highly suspicious “Right Arm” people.
He’s dumb as a sack o’ hammers, with all common sense just flying out the window.
Aaand we’re supposed to admire this guy? We’re somehow… supposed to cheer for this selfish son-of-a-gun?
Explanation of irksome thing #1:
All three of these highly popular fiction series are teenagers or those *just* exiting their teens. I’ll focus on the Maze Runner series because that’s the main series I’m talking about. Let us take Thomas.
- We’re supposed to admire him but for nearly the entirety of the first book, all he does is whine, and he refuses to shut the heck up, even when people are trying to tell him his oh-so-needed information. Then when it comes to the point where people (like Brenda) try to *tell* him more information he suddenly gets with this super other-side-of-the-spectrum attitude stating that he doesn’t need to know…that they just need to move forward…to the point where he is really rude and just cuts people off
- He gets himself purposely stung multiple times by the Grievers (and anyone who has had multiple wasp or bee stings knows that even THAT isn’t fun… needless to say what it feels like to be essentialy STABBED by big blubber-monsters with metal appendages) – JUST to get memories back… but once he’s given the chance to get them ALL back (removing the swipe) he suddenly “doesn’t want to know” – and effectively screws the whole thing by doing a prison-break deal.
- He goes into a big whiny mental tirade about killing a single dude to defend himself in a life-or-death situation (when one of the far-gone Cranks wanted his nose) … but he seems TOTALLY okay with (in fact determined) to NOT let the trials complete and thus a cure be found… essentially murdering 99% of humans on the planet.
- He’s supposed to be super genius intelligent, something of a prodigy… and yet he makes incredibly stupid choices… incredibly illogical… DUMBASS choices. Like…
o “NO I don’t want my memories back!” okay… first time… fine… you don’t know if new ones will be implanted… you don’t trust “the organization”… but then QUICKLY we, the readers and in essence Thomas himself, find out that without his memories… he’s seriously hampering the whole “escape plan”. Remember when he gets into the mall in Denver? How Brenda EXPLICITLY tells him to not say so loud that he doesn’t know what VCT stands for because it’ll be suspicious… which, when you’re a flippin’ FUGITIVE it’s pretty damn simple common sense that you want to BLEND IN. It’s made pretty clear after that he doesn’t know what a MALL is… he doesn’t know what a CAB is… that’s not blending in – you are directly putting yourself and by extension, your friends in a horribly tenuous predicament (which can be easily rectified if you have your memories back… thus remembering normal world stuff, like a mall) – and yet… he STILL tells Hans not to give him his memories back.
o He has now been told in numerous ways that he has to blend in, not be caught, has been repeatedly been told and demonstrated how the infected are treated and how much ‘Munies’ are despised… and how RARE they are… YET… the coffee shop scene occurs. Yes, the coffee shop scene, where this incredibly genius boy, who has been stressed to repeatedly the situation with the Munies (not only the jealous-hatred, but the disappearance-likely-abductions), the high alert and prejudice against those infected and the importance of blending in… decides ‘Oh. Everyone’s running out… so let me sit here like a dumbass… make myself TOTALLY stick out… then announce out loud that I’m immune’… then what happens AFTERWARD
o He knows for a damn fact that NOTHING good is going to come of the bliss-head being discovered… yet he chooses to watch with curiosity… but this is the same guy who is just vehemently against getting his memories back so he doesn’t have to remember all the horrible things he’s done to his now-friends.
- His hypocritical whining and complaining: at one point he talks about all he’s done in his current memory is that he’s been a creator to a failed experiment and thus wants to make something of his life… NOT admitting that the experiment failed *precisely* because of his actions (breaking out, stealing weapons, hiding out and refusing to complete the testing)… it’s like saying to someone “well, you guys made me hungry!!” when all you’ve done all day is refuse food offered to you. WTF?
End impression: Thomas’ attitude seems to be he’s perfectly happy and curious to watch others suffer, die, be tortured (voyeuristically so) … as long as it’s not one of his buddies – and it’s not him doing it. He’s also perfectly satisfied with the prospect of letting most of the human race die-off, because hey, who cares? He’s immune! Doesn’t affect him!
He has been given no indication that a cure isn’t in the works – and in fact gets his sorry arse caught up in essentially a terrorist organization who, despite stating that they’re going to funnel money to protect the uninfected (immune or not), are actually just jonesing to blow up “the corporation” irrespective of lives lost (ie: killing the people they’re proclaiming to want to protect)… and THEN he has to kill his best friend and THEN… and ONLY then… does he think “erm. Hey… maybe I should uh… get this cure done” but then very quickly changes his mind with surprisingly little arm-twisting…by the highly suspicious “Right Arm” people.
He’s dumb as a sack o’ hammers, with all common sense just flying out the window.
Aaand we’re supposed to admire this guy? We’re somehow… supposed to cheer for this selfish son-of-a-gun?
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