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Chapter 33
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
The next morning Thomas awakes to shouting and confusion in the Glade. Although his watch says it’s morning, the sky is totally grey and there is no sun. He meets up with the other boys at the Box. Thomas realizes that since sun cannot just disappear, the sun along with the whole sky must have been an artificial illusion. Chuck comes next to Thomas and says the sky looks like a grey ceiling. The memory of Teresa’s warning from the last night creeps into his head and he worries that the sun’s disappearance may be the beginning of the end.
Once again, the appearance of order in the Glade begins to disintegrate. In Greek mythology, the sun is a symbol of order and reason. Thomas, however, realizes that their sun was merely an illusion. This suggests that the order in Glade was also an illusion. The sun’s disappearance foreshadows that the Glade’s illusion of order will also soon disappear and give way to chaos.
Themes
Minho appears and tells Thomas to get ready for the run. Thomas ask why there still going and Minho says that it’s even more important now, since without the sun none of their plants or animal will be able to survive in the Glade for long. Thomas considers telling Minho what he heard in his head the previous night, but decides not to for fear for fear that the Gladers will think that he and Teresa are working for the Creators.
Minho tries to preserve a sense of stability despite the drastic changes in the environment. Leading the other Runners in their daily run through the Maze, Minho hopes to maintain order by adhering to their routine.
Themes
Minho and Thomas run into the Maze and, in Section Eight, they come across a Griever. It runs off, but Minho and Thomas follow in order to see where the Grievers go during the day. The Griever runs to the Cliff and jumps, but instead of falling, it just disappears into thin air.
Minho and Thomas’ understanding of the Cliff begins to shift when they see the Griever disappear. Earlier the Cliff represented punishment and death, but the Griever’s disappearance implies that the Cliff may represent something more: perhaps a real exit?
Themes
