Friday, July 01, 2016

The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials- Ozbun

Growing up and throughout the first two years of high school, I truthfully was not the kind of person who could just pick up a book and read it from cover to cover. I normally tended to resent the idea of reading and it irked me to even think about reading. Books either had to start off very fast or hook me right from the beginning pages. However during this past school year, I was able to stumble upon the “Maze Runner” series as suggested from Mr. Battaglia during seminar which gave me a different mindset when it comes to reading. I had seen the movie and seeing it only intrigued me more to begin the series. This book allowed me to be fond of reading books not only for schoolwork, but for enjoyment. Which definitely makes this book the most influential one in my life.

First reason being that this book gave me the idea that even if things don’t go well in the present, then something good will have to happen sometime in the future. Everyone says today that if something bad happens today, then something good is bound to happen. In the book, the main characters realize early that the organization “Wicked” is back at it again with their old ways in trying to put them into tests. When the boys sneak out of their bunks late at night, they realize that not everything is as it seems. The people attempting to help them are not who they say they are, and have been taking kids to another room in the building to run further tests after knocking them out with whatever drug they had on hand. So the bad has happened, and breaking out of the “Wicked” complex can bring nothing but good or at least something better. Being religious like I am, I believe in this kind of concept day after day. That God truly does have a plan for everyone and he will not put you through anything that you cannot get through. Even through life’s highs and lows I stay tied to this and it has gotten me through some pretty rough times in my life growing up and in recent years.

Furthermore this book is influential to my life in another way. This aspect of the book is the all powerful effect of friendship in your life. The book gave me a furthering knowledge on how important it is to have friends in my life. Friendship is essential to getting through life no matter how hard it gets. To have friends that can be there day in and day out like I do certainly means a lot. Some of the events that have taken place in the past few years of my life have been rough, and without these people in my life I have no idea how I would have been able to make it through all of it. In the book, without the help and use of friends there is no way the main characters would have made it through what they did. I have a very close knit group of friends as they do in the book, who would do anything for me if anything bad happened to come up. As I would do the same for them. The book made me realize how good I have it and how great of friends I have in my life currently. I would not change anything for the world with where I am at right now with friendships. It emphasizes the power of friendship throughout the book and what it is like to not have them around as well. It not only gave me a thought on how valuable friendship is, but how happiness would not be attainable without them as well. The characters were lost without their fellow “gladers” and a visible uncertainty was noticed by myself when they were not with them too. As if the protagonist Thomas was not able to function without them being around. The literature always made sure to reference how Thomas was always thinking about them when they were not around. He couldn’t stop until he had found them. I feel the same way as Thomas, and feel completely lost when my friends are not around or when I am not with them. Therefore, the book taught me to value friendship more than I had in the past and for the coming future.

In The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials, there were several uses of literary techniques. Most of these uses happened to be imagery, characterization, setting, and a few themes in addition. To get the idea of the landscape the characters had to go through, imagery and emphasis on setting were highly sought after in various pages throughout the book. The author James Dashner, did an amazing job on being able to describe the circumstances and scenery the protagonists in the book had to traverse through. It was quite simple to understand the characters and their ideals early in the book with the help of Dashner’s characterization. Not only was he able to explain the plot thoroughly but he described the thoughts and choices the characters had immensely. I felt truly connected to the characters in this book, and it is the first time I could say that for any book.

In conclusion, not having read The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials would have lessened my opportunities to enjoy reading and I would have missed out on some great life lessons. This book happened to influence my life immensely. Without having read it, I would not have a deeper passion for reading as I do now. Not only that but I probably would not have signed up for this class without reading it either. I also have a much, much greater value for friendship in life. Lastly, I know things happen for a reason and only good can come after the bad. This series and book will most likely be my favorite for some time.

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