The Maze Runner Response on Character Change (Thomas)

Margot Supple - The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Blog Post #2

               Imagine being trapped in a huge stone fields, and the only way out is a giant maze surrounding the outside. This is everyday life for Thomas, the main character in “The Maze Runner”. When Thomas is first introduced, he is trapped inside a box, and knows nothing but his first name. He soon finds himself in the glade, a huge field run by 60 boys with nothing but farm land and few supplies. Thomas tours the glade, and starts to feel as if he has been to the place before, which is all very weird to him. But even weirder is when the first girl arrives in the same box Thomas did, and whispers Thomas's name. Together he and his friends try to escape the maze, and defeat the people that brought them to the glade in the first place. Throughout the book Thomas becomes more courageous, and stands up to be a leader for all the lost boys sent to the glade.

             At the beginning of the book, all Thomas can do is ask questions about his surroundings. He countlessly follows his fellow glade members trying to learn where he is and why. He is scared of his new life, but he becomes more used to it as he continues through is journey. In the end he becomes a role model for his peers and learns to trust himself. For instance, at the beginning 'Thomas is humiliated and scared.' He feels out of place at the glade. However he matures as a character and as a hero. For example, when both his friends are in the maze, he jumps through to save them. 'Thomas knew he had no choice. He moved. Forward.'. This shows his want to help others, at his own risk. At the end of the book Thomas leads the glade to finding their "creators". I think the reason that Thomas showed so much bravery was because he wanted to prove himself to the other glade members. He wanted to be a role model for Chuck, (a small boy at the glade who longed for a family). He also wanted to prove to Gally, (his enemy), that he could make a difference.

In conclusion, Thomas became the hero of the story to make his peers believe he was capable of doing great things. He started as a confused and frightened character at the beginning, and through the pressure of the other boys he turned himself to a hero.

Summer Looking For Alaska Response

Margot Supple
Blog Post #1

There was before, then there was after. In John Green’s “Looking for Alaska” the main character Miles goes to a new boarding school, (Colver Creek), to “find a great perhaps”. There he meets his new friends, Alaska Young, Takumi Hikohito, and Chip Martin, (Otherwise known as the Colonel). All three take Miles under their wing and show him how they function at Colver Creek, from smoking, drinking, and fooling their school headmaster, for once Miles feels at home. Throughout the book Miles learns about his friends and himself, while he finds his way through the “labyrinth of suffering”.

Alaska Young is a very complex character. But, behind every complex character is story, so I’ll start there. When Alaska was a kid her mother suffered from a seizure. Young, clueless, and mortified Alaska was unsure of what to do. She sat and watched her mother die until her dad came home. He then blamed her for it, and still did even when she was in boarding school. Later in the book you can find out that behind all the daring things that Alaska did, her memories were always haunting her. My theory is that she wanted to forget, and get out her “labyrinth of suffering”. For example, at one point Miles asks Alaska why she never goes home for vacation. Her reply was, ‘ I’m just scared of ghosts, Pudge. And home is full of them.’. Also, while every one is smoking together she says, ' You all smoke to enjoy it, I smoke to die.'. At the end of the book, you realize her answer to escaping her labyrinth was death. At the end of the book Alaska hits a car driving and not swerving out of the way, killing herself. She thought that to head out the labyrinth straight and fast would be the real true answer, because no matter what you ignore or see your labyrinth is always there.

Miles thoughts on the labyrinth of suffering are very different from Alaska’s. He was always looking for a great perhaps, something he originally thought at the beginning of the book was automatically at the end of the labyrinth of suffering. But towards the end of the book he looked back at all the things he did with his friends that he would never do if he hadn't been with them, and he thought that the great perhaps is not the reward at the end of your journey. It's the journey itself. A feeling that you have completed your life, no matter what bad things happen in it. That's how he ended the book, handing in his end of year essay about Alaska. ' So I still believe in the Great Perhaps, and I can believe it in spite of having lost her.'.

We will all have our own labyrinth, and we will all have our own great perhaps. Many small actions can affect something very big. However, like Miles we should except what comes, when it comes. During your labyrinth you will find things you never knew about yourself, but wait for your great perhaps. As said in the book, ; Thomas Edison's last words were, "It's very beautiful over there". I don't know where there is, but I know it's somewhere, and I hope it's beautiful.'