logo

127 pages 4 hours read

James Dashner

The Maze Runner

James DashnerFiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2009

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Character Analysis

Thomas

Thomas is the novel’s protagonist. He is a teenager who enters the story in a Box and finds himself in the Glade, with no memories other than of his first name. Like every other newcomer to the Glade, Thomas arrives scared and confused. Unlike others, however, he feels a strong connection to the Maze. In record time, he demonstrates his bravery and confidence, and even saves the lives of seasoned Gladers, Alby and Minho. Thomas also shares a telepathic connection to Teresa, the last teenager—and only girl—to be sent to the Glade, and someone he thinks he might have known before arriving to the Glade. With her help, Thomas works to recover his memories and find out who he really is in relation to the Maze, with dramatic consequences. Thomas is also one of the first successful people to challenge the Gladers’ rules, thereby changing day-to-day life in the Glade in a short amount of time and proving himself instrumental to understanding the Maze.

Teresa

Teresa is the first and only girl to arrive in the Glade, and strangely, appears only a day after Thomas arrives,