The Maze Runner

by: James Dashner

Question: Who has the power in the text?

Thesis: In this book I feel that there is a hierarchy within the glade because there are different groups of people who have control over the glade and its people, each group more powerful than the last.

Keepers- In the glade, keeping order is the number one rule. Part of everyone keeping order includes each glader having a job in the glade, so therefore there are people called 'Keepers' who have control over each  area of the glade. For example, during Thomas's trial, Minho stands up and makes a scene by saying, "I nominate Thomas to be keeper of the runners." Even though this is a crazy request, It is acceptable that Minho suggests it because he is in total control of the runners and can do things like that even if they are crazy. This shows that keepers can get away with a great amount of stuff because they have control over a whole area of the glade.

The council- In the glade, there is also a council which is made up of every keeper and also Newt and Alby who are very powerful and seniors members of the glade. The council is more powerful than an individual keeper because as a group, they decide things like punishment for the gladers. For example, after Thomas had broken many rules but had also saved lives, he was put on trial by the council to decide his fate. Even though many gladers wanted Thomas to be rewarded for his duty, the council overrun what every glader wanted and ended up putting him in jail for a day as punishment because a few council members were suspicious of his actions. This showed how even though the majority of the gladers wanted Thomas to be rewarded for his actions, he ended up being punished because the councils vote means more than anyone else's.

The Creators- Even thought the creators don't live in the glade, they seem to hold the most power of what is happening within the glade. Theyre behind everything in the glade, from what happens in the maze, who is sent up into the glade each month and what every last griever is doing. For example, at the end of the book, when one of the creators comes with Gally into the glade, she vaguely talks about how putting everyone into the maze was an elaborate plan the whole Time, "'Everything has gone according to plan Mr.Newton...One day you'll all be grateful for what we've done for you'" the creator States in reference in putting the kids into the maze. These lines showed that all along every creator had full control and power of what was going on in the maze because the maze itself was part of an experiment and the gladers were just lab rats.