The Scorch Trials- Blog #3

     This book, The Scorch Trials by James Dashner has only continued to get better. After the Gladers reached the outskirts of the town they encountered a huge, life threatening storm. There was blazing wind and giant thunderbolts striking down every other second. About half of the Gladers made it to the building they were trying to reach. Many people either got lost, shocked to death or burned to a crisp like Minho, but, luckily Thomas helped him put out the flames and get back to the safety of the building. Once they made it there a crank called Jorge and his crew came down to ask them what they were doing and they struck a deal, if the Cranks escorted the Gladers to the safe haven which the rat man told them to go to then the Cranks could have the cure. As they went to refuel of food an explosion blocked them into the tunnels which they were eating in. The Gladers and Jorge went off one way and Brenda and Thomas got separated from them. As the couple were running through the Underneath (the abandoned subway tunnels which were infested with Cranks that were past the Gone) they got chased by a group of way past Gone cranks that had no noses, they wanted to take Thomas and Brenda's nose. The two hid in a small crevasse and eventually got found by the crank and were forced to kill the crank or get killed. Thomas was the one that had to kill the crank and this action really ate at Thomas's continence. Thomas was going crazy in all of these dark tunnels and was done with it, he wanted to go outside no matter how dangerous it was out there. As they were sneaking through the town, they got forced into a party of cranks that weren't fully gone at gunpoint. They were fed a drink at gunpoint and during this time Brenda went in to kiss Thomas therefore confirming all of the hints that she loves him and Thomas breaks her heart by telling her she could never be Teresa. When they woke up they had the most painstaking headache imaginable and were tied to chairs with duct tape by the people who had forced them into the town at gunpoint. They wanted Thomas because there are towns all over the city that say he is the real leader in big bold printed letters. When a ruckus breaks out upstairs the 3 cranks go up to see what's going on and when the door opens, Minho and the other Gladers were there to save him.  They get out of the building and Thomas is shot in his shoulder and taken by W.I.C.K.E.D. to get help because he learned that this was not a variable, a gun should not have been in the city of cranks.
     The Scorch Trials is sort of like a rat maze but instead of rats, it is humans that are being tested. "Rats have been used in experimental mazes since at least the early 20th century. Thousands of studies have examined how rats run different types of mazes, from T-mazes to radial arm mazes to water mazes. These maze studies are used to study spatial learning and memory in rats. Maze studies helped uncover general principles about learning that can be applied to many species, including humans. Today, mazes are used to determine whether different treatments or conditions affect learning and memory in rats." (Rats and Mazes). The "rat maze" has different variables to see how the rats will solve problems much like way W.I.C.K.E.D. is throwing variables at the Gladers to see how they react to collect data on the cure.
     I wish that he would find Teresa soon and that she will be of good help. I hope that he will not have been mind washed by W.I.C.K.E.D because I really like Thomas and Teresa as a couple. If she doesn't love Thomas anymore I wonder how Thomas will react and if this is all a part of the killzone patterns that will try to push Thomas and the others further for whatever W.I.C.K.E.D. is trying to gain research for.
   
   
   

The Scorch Trials- Blog #2

   I am reading The Scorch Trials by James Dashner. As you know, it is the second book of a 5 book series. On my last blog, we figured our that Teresa´s memory had been wiped. After they figured this out, they found tattoos marking them as W.I.C.K.E.D.´s property and marking their roles that they were meant to take on. The spooky thing is that they realized Teresa´s marked her as the betrayer and Thomas´s marked him as to be killed by group B. Later, a man that resembles a rat is in the common room, he tells the Gladers that they are going to go through hard trials and that they need to do it because if they don´t, they will die from the flare virus (the virus that turned the Cranks into the Cranks) if they don´t finish what W.I.C.K.E.D. wants them to do, they will become a crank. Or at least that is what the man said. At the end of his speech he told them that they would have to leave through the flat trans early in the morning and that reality is never as it seems. They left through the flat trans early in the morning with backpacks made of sheets filled with food, water and extra clothes for their journeys. When they entered the flat trans, everything was pitch black and they figured out how to journey in the narrow hallway without falling over each other. During their journey they were faced with an old man telling them to go back or they would be sliced. Since they were told that things may not be as they seemed they chose to listen to the rat man and decide to keep moving. Because they keep moving this "molten" ball of steel keeps trying to cut off their heads, they lost two people to this monster. Once they find the opening, they are able to have some light and they figure out that the steel ball has been devouring peoples' heads. It almost takes Winston, but, Thomas saves him. Winston comes out with horrible burns, but at least he is still alive. The next thing to do is to go through the barren dessert land outside of the dark hallway. When they arrived outside, it was unbearably bright and hot, they were struggling to breath. When they started heading North towards what looked like a town and got bigger as they came closer, turning into the size of a city, they took occasional food and water breaks, all as the rat man told them to do. As they got closer to the town they saw two people running towards them, as they neared, it became apparent that they were both cranks that were intelligent unlike the cranks that had been screaming in their window just a few days ago. They informed the Gladers that there are more cranks but not all of them are past Gone. They tell them that they will all die from the flare and so will the other group. As they continue, they hear a girl screaming as if she is being killed or tortured. As they near a shack they see a girl pop out of it and the screaming stops. Thomas insists on going alone hoping that it was Teresa and it ended up being her. She had a terrified look on her face like the one Gally had on when he was being controlled by W.I.C.K.E.D. She tells him to run after they kiss, it was as if she was resisting W.I.C.K.E.D's control and broke free to warn them. They run and run for a long time until they reached the distant city.

     Thomas and Teresa are much like Katniss and Gale from the Hunger Games. They respond to problems much like each other in the fact that they would do anything for the other. Thomas and Katniss are much alike because they are the main characters that are from a similar type of science fiction story- the teenagers/young adults rise above the greater force and fight for what is right no matter what the cost. Whereas Teresa and Gale are the other, less dominate main character. It is obvious that there is a love interest between these two couples, but, the only difference is is that Katniss has two boys to choose from whereas Thomas only has one girl that he loves. In most other ways these couples are very similar in their thought process and reactions to the problems in their world.

     It is still a mystery why the Cranks said that not all of the cranks are past Gone and that they would have to learn to differentiate between the two if they want to stay alive. I can't wait until they get to the broken down city and see what is waiting for they. Will it be group B, the Cranks, or both?