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Chapter 4
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
Before going to bed, Chuck plays a practical joke. He and Thomas hide below the bathroom window of a building called the Homestead. Chuck waits until a boy walks nearby the window before jumping up and scaring the boy inside. The boy inside starts to curse and Thomas realizes that Chuck must have scared Gally. Chuck runs off, but Gally comes outside and sees Thomas trying to get away. When Gally calls Thomas’ name, Thomas turns around and apologizes. Gally says that if ever pulls something like that again, he will hurt him and Chuck. As Thomas goes to find Chuck, he feels a strong sense of hate for Gally.
Though Chuck had just mocked Thomas for his childish naiveté, now it seems clear that Chuck himself is just an immature kid. Thomas continues to learn about himself: not just an immature “newbie,” he’s becoming an adult, capable of feeling grown-up type emotions like guilt (as shown in his apology to Gally) and hate.
Themes
Most boys sleep in the Homestead but since it’s too full, Chuck and Thomas take sleeping bags and sleep outside in a garden. As Thomas starts drifting into sleep, he has a sudden realization that the Glade and the Maze feel familiar. Although he doesn’t know why this feeling came over him, he feels a strong urge to explore the Maze, just like the four boys he saw coming out of the Doors were doing. He tells Chuck he wants to be a Runner, but Chuck tells him he has no idea what Thomas talking about.
Thomas continues to uncover and refine his identity. He feels an instinctual awareness emanating from within that tells him what he should do with his life in the Glade. One of the hallmarks of growing up is acquiring the capacity for introspection. By feeling and trusting his instincts, Thomas has an epiphany about his identity.
Themes
In another moment of realization, Thomas tells Chuck that he’s been to the Glade before. Surprised, Chuck sits up in his sleeping bag. Thomas doesn’t want to lose the sense of epiphany by talking more about what he feels, so he turns over and falls asleep.
Thomas’ introspective revelations continue. Here he shows how concerned he is about their fragility, however. Even talking about his newfound sense of identity makes him wary.
Themes
