The theme of The Maze Runner

[Sooph]

The theme of The Maze Runner is friendship. Friendship is the often the reason behind many of the characters actions, the friendship between Thomas and Chuck leads to Thomas vowing to Chuck that he’ll find a way out, it leads to Chuck believing in Thomas and following him through the maze despite how dangerous it is, and ultimately, it leads to Chuck taking a knife and dying for Thomas, who then attacks Gally out of anger and grief. Thomas and Teresa’s friendship is also very important to the story, their ability to work well together and communicate telepathically makes them a very good team, Thomas and Teresa are also the two most important characters in the book, but the only reason why Teresa is more important than some other characters is Thomas. The only person who trusts her is Thomas and Thomas gets everyone to trust her eventually. Thomas’ friendship with Teresa is what makes her more than a plot device or a character that exist almost solely to progress the plot, Teresa’s arrival kickstarts the “end” (supplies stop coming, the sky turns grey, etc.), the first thing she says is pretty much a prophecy saying “everything is going to change” and then goes into a convenient coma, she mumbles things in her coma and receives dreams, Teresa has all of the materials of a plot device, and she is! But! Thomas’ relationship with her gives her the chance to be an actual character, no one else trusts Teresa like Thomas does, he gives her a chance to be more than a plot device or “the girl”, Thomas gives Teresa the opportunity to be an actually kind of cool character rather than just “speak to only if you wish to progress the main story”. Newt’s relationship with Alby allows him to convince Alby to fight through the maze with everyone, Minho and Thomas become friends after Thomas risks his life to help him and Alby in the maze, and because of Minho’s admiration for Thomas he offers for Thomas to become a Runner, most of the leaders question why he would want a “Newbie” to become a Runner and instead of backing down he stands behind his decision and Thomas gets the job he wanted. The relationships between the characters allow structure and it’s a driving force for the characters to get better and it makes survival easier, they need their friendships to survive.