Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Maze Runner, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Memory and Identity
Stability and Order vs. Change and Chaos
Sacrifice
Growing Up
Hope
Sexism
Summary
Analysis
Minho leads the charge into the Grievers near the Hole and then more Keepers followed by the Gladers try to clear a path for Thomas and Teresa. Chuck tries to help the Gladers but Thomas pulls him close. Not wanting Chuck to risk his life for him, Thomas says that he and Teresa will need him in the Hole in case there are more Grievers waiting for them.
Thomas lets the other Gladers sacrifice themselves in the fight, but doesn’t let Chuck, a boy he loves like a brother, risk his life. This reveals a double standard: Thomas is ok if other people die in the fight as long as the people he loves stay alive.
Themes
As they run towards the Hole, there is battle all around them. The sound of the Gladers screaming and being killed by the Grievers surrounds them. Thomas knows he can’t stop to help, that he has to keep running to the Hole. He and Teresa both get slashed by the Grievers and Chuck almost gets taken by one of them. After these close-calls, they make it the edge of the Cliff.
The Gladers’ will to fight must result from a newfound sense hope. Before they hoped that someone would die and the fighting would end, but with that hope squashed, they continue to fight, showing that they now have the kind of hope that Thomas believes in: the hope that if they all fight, they can all survive.
Themes
Teresa jumps in and then Thomas helps Chuck make the jump. As he helps Chuck into the Hole, Thomas feels a love for Chuck as if he were his brother. As the battle rages behind him, Thomas follows them through the Hole.
Jumping off the Cliff is the ultimate symbol of hope. All three of them must take an actual “leap of faith,” hoping that they’ll survive.
Themes
