The Hero’s Journey In The Maze Runner

The hero’s journey can be presented to the audience in different forms.

Not all hero’s journey appears as superheroes, the film “The Maze Runner” does a great job and showing that you do not need to have powers in order to become a great hero. 

At the beginning of the story, Ordinary World is not shown in depth of the main character’s life before but it is still presented in the story. The reasoning for that is because the protagonist, Thomas wakes up in an unfamiliar place which is an underground caged box that is soaring to the surface. As that is happening we get to see him as a lost soul that is confused. We get to feel and see that he is human and as he is reaching the top we can acknowledge that he is leaving the ordinary world to a special world. The Call to Adventure comes very early as Thomas finally reaches it to the top where he greeted by a group of rowdy teens that lives there. They all surround and stares down at him as they all start laughing and talking. He immediately knows that this place is not normal. The place where he is now been abandoned marks the beginning of his hero’s journey, as life before he knows is about to change. As Thomas is still in shock and confused he quickly starts running trying to escape this place that is unknown to him and wanting no part of this new life. This stage is called the Refusal Of The Call. The Mentor for Thomas was a guy named Alby. He was one of the first people to communicate to Thomas on a personal level helping him understand this new lifestyle and explaining the situation on why he couldn’t leave due to the maze.

Thomas crosses the Threshold when he goes against the rules and goes inside the maze to save his mentor Alby and a runner named Minho. They now have to survive the night in the maze as they run and hide from Grievers which are the monsters that live in the maze. As Minho, Alby, and Thomas are stuck in the dangerous maze Thomas is put to a test to show his capabilities. He escapes life-threatening situations as he runs, jumps, and climbs through the maze as he is being chased by Grievers. Thomas met multiple allies such as Minho, Alby, Chuck, and Newt which they all played a part in helping Thomas grow as a character. Minho trained Thomas on the different routes of the maze and told everyone that Thomas should become a runner. Because he was the first person to see Thomas in action. Alby helped by giving Thomas guidance in order to survive this new world. Chuck and Newt both were kind people towards Thomas and taught him how to grow food, shelter, basically essential needs they needed in order to survive in that lifestyle. Thomas had a couple of enemies in the Glade, such as a teen named Gally. He didn’t trust Thomas at all and blamed everything on him when certain events started to take turn for the worst. He tried to make everyone turn their backs on Thomas. The Approach To The Inmost Cave was shown when Thomas and Minho found the place where the Grievers stayed during the day, a place they have never seen before. This is the leap of faith they needed in order to escape that horrible place. The Ordeal comes into play when Thomas and Minho lead the rest of the Gladers who wants to escape to the place they found. Some die on the way trying to survive the obstacles that are put in front of them such as the Grievers but most survived. Thomas Reward was finally escaping the maze with his allies even though they were not freed yet, but they were still safe from danger. Thomas is relieved that he has finally escaped but devastated on the number of people he lost on the way.

The Road Back is presented in the story as Thomas and his allies look around the lavatory where they were being watched and tested on. The Resurrection is present when they thought they were actually free from all danger and Gally shows up with a gun. He is not himself anymore due to being stung by a Griever. He tells them they need to come back to the Glade with him or they are not going to escape alive. They try to persuade Gally but he ends up firing the weapon at Thomas. Chuck one of Thomas closet friends through the story shields Thomas from the gunshot. Chuck ends up dying and Minho throws a metal poll into Gally’s’s chest as the gun was fired. Return with the Elixir they are finally free from danger and leaves the maze due to being reused by soldiers.

The Hero of the story, “The Maze Runner” was Thomas. We got to see him at his lowest point where he was confused, scared and wanted no part of that new environment. To becoming a great hero who outsmarted “WICKED” the people that had them trapped surrounded by a maze and helping his friends get to freedom. The Mentor was Alby he was the leader of the Gladers and was the first person to speak to Thomas on a personal level by giving him guidance and reassurance of freedom. Thomas Ally was Minho because Thomas wanted to become a runner once he found out they were the ones that can go into the maze and found a way out. So in a sense, he looked up to Minho and Minho helped Thomas become a great runner who helped them all escape. The Herald of the story is the Grievers. They were announced at the beginning of the story by a loud noise they made that frightened everyone and made Thomas understand that is the reason why they cannot go into the maze. They were the biggest threat in trying to escape the maze. Chuck was the Trickster in the story he brought humor when the mood was either tense or sad. For example when Gally wanted Thomas to be punished for breaking the code for going into the maze. Chuck broke the awkward tension by chanting Thomas name and which everyone stared at Chuck. The Shapeshifter was Gally at first he was portrayed as the good guy who just wanted the best for everyone. But once Thomas came into the Glade everything change you could start to see his personality change due to jealously and changes in the Glade. Which eventually at the end of the story he ends up trying to kill Thomas. The Guardian is the maze itself, it tests Thomas mentally and physically through the story. It tells the audience and the characters, that what lies inside the maze is the ultimate danger. The Shadow is Wicked the people who tested and watched these teens die and suffer every day. They are the ones who caused all of this misfortune.