Alex Felton First Blog 9/27/12

I am reading a book called Maze Runner, written by James Dashner. Right now I am about half of the way through. This book is about a sixteen year old boy, who woke up one day in an elevator. His memory had been cleared and all he could remember was his name, Thomas. When he wakes up and the elevator doors open he is in a new world called the glade. The glade is a huge room-like area, enclosed by stone walls on all four sides. The Glade is made up of male kids, ranging from 13 to 20. Every 30 days a new boy is sent up the elevator. These boys have made a living in the Glade, but they are trapped inside this stone arena and the only way to get out is to solve the maze. The maze is on the outside of the Glade, and it is huge, but they still haven't found a way out. Things have consistently been this way for two years, but now, all that is about to change. A day after Thomas arrives in the Glade, the elevator doors open and a girl is laying there. She carries a note in her hand, and all it says is, "She's the last one. Ever." Now they are suspicious and they know things are about to change.
I think that this is a good book because it keeps you reading and something interesting always happens. Something that you don't suspect happens a lot and it has a lot of action. I think that the author wrote the book because they had a thought about the future and decided to write about how he thought the world will be in the future.
I think that the themes of this book are courage, friendship, and trying new things. Surviving in the Glade takes a lot of courage because you have to try new things and always be willing to go to the extreme to survive and keep all of the Gladers alive. Thomas would never survive in the Glade without the help and support of his friends. There is no handbook to living in the Glade, so you have to be willing to try new things, and work out problems that the creators give you. To live in the Glade is a struggle every day, so these things help them survive.
I like Chuck the best so far. Right from the first day in the Glade, Chuck has been there for Thomas and helps Thomas solve his problems and fears. Chuck is a bubbly, positive, 13 year old boy who has been in the Glade for about 30 days when Thomas gets there. Before Thomas, Chuck didn't really have any friends, but with Thomas he goes to the extreme to be there for Thomas. I like Chuck because he is really good to everyone, and is polite to everybody.
"But happiness had been ripped from their lives. Love had been ripped from their lives." This quote is important because it shows the turning point of Thomas's mind set of the Glade. This is when Thomas realized that this was his life for now, but he is now determined to get out of the Glade and solve the maze.
It was kind of confusing at the beginning of the book, but now I understand it. My only question is: Why was the Glade and the maze created, and by who?