The Scorch Trials Sequel to The Maze Runner By: James Dashner Presentation by: Avery Barnes and Charlotte “Cappy” Pierce

Setting The setting is the place that the book takes place. The Scorch Trials takes place in a post- apocalyptic world, where Sun Flares have gotten out of hand and spreads a disease that turns ordinary people into basically walking zombies. They walk around, insane and trying to eat people. These people are referred to as the “Cranks”. The Setting of The Scorch Trials starts out in a dorm-like building. Nothing special, just a simple common area with a couple picnic tables. Here, there are two, large rooms attached on either side with sets of bunk-beds and a bathroom. The boys stay here for a couple nights before they enter the Flat Trans that will take them to the Scorch. The Flat Trans is described to be similar to a dark, never-ending hallway. They walk through it for what feels like eternity, before emerging from the other side. Once they emerge, they end up in the Scorch. The Scorch is a huge desert land that stretches for hundreds of miles in every direction. Here, nothing is unheard of. The weather is blazing hot, the sun beating down on the Gladers for hours everyday. Once the sun goes down, it becomes a little more manage able to walk in. This desert is similar to every desert, no food or water (except those that they have brought); hot and dry. All of those typical stereotypes. Here, they have crazy lightning storms that strike people, including some Gladers. There are a couple cities far off in the distance so that shows that they may not be completely alone in this challenge. They soon find out that these cities are where the Cranks are taken to keep them from harming the healthy people. This keeps the Cranks isolated but makes these cities very dangerous to go through.

Setting cont. This resembles the Scorch, a flat desert, with mountains in the distance and lightning storms. http://www.aps.k12.co.us/gateway/academics/business_dept/multimedia_000.html

Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, Resolution P Plot Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, Resolution

P Plot – Rising Action Because this is a sequel, there is a lot of background given at the beginning for the story. This is more background than rising action. Thomas, Teresa and the Gladers are taken to a dorm to stay for a couple days. There they encounter some of the “Cranks”, or people infected with the Flare. Teresa was taken to another room to sleep but when Thomas woke up, he went to check on her, she was gone. And replaced by a boy names Aris, who has no idea who Teresa is or where she went. The boys talk to Aris and learn about where he is from. His story shows that he and Teresa had similar stories. She was the only girl in a sea of boys, like Aris was the only boy in the sea of girls. He and one of the girls, had a special connection and could talk to each other in their minds, the same way Thomas and Teresa could. In short, they discovered that Aris was their “Teresa”. “Rat Man” tells them that they are to walk 100 miles north within 2 weeks time, and then they will receive the cure for the Flare. To insure that they go, the Gladers are told that they have been infected with the Flare themselves. Teresa and Thomas have always been able to talk to each other in their minds. But suddenly, once Teresa is taken away, she no longer responds to his “messages”. And when she does, she says, “Get out of my head!...Whoever you are, get out of my shuck head!... Shut up! Just shut up! I don’t know who you are! Leave me alone!... Leave me alone, or I’ll hunt you down and cut your throat. I swear it” (pg.41).

Plot – Rising Action This is the actual rising action of the novel Plot – Rising Action This is the actual rising action of the novel. The Rising action in a book is the series of events that lead up to the climax. P The Gladers step through the Flat Trans, which will take them to the Scorch, the desert where they must complete their trial. Once in the Flat Trans, they walk for miles and miles. Soon, a large ball of molten metal is dropped and attacks some of the Gladers. It causes terrible burns and blisters on their skin. The Gladers found an opening in the Flat Trans and step out into the Scorch. In the Scorch, the boys walk for miles and miles and miles after seeing a city in the distance, determined to get there. Through the Scorch they hear a girl screaming and Thomas runs after, thinking it’s Teresa. It is her, and when he approaches her to talk, she still fears him. But then after a moment of staring at each other, she kisses him. But quickly pushes him away saying, “Get away from me Tom… Just Leave. Run!” (pg.116). Leaving Thomas stunned. Then, as they ran away, they met an old man, withered and grey. When asked about the city he told them that there were bad people there. Stay away (pg. 132).

P Plot - Climax In The Scorch Trails, the climax occurs very late in the story. With about 30 pages left in the story, the climax turns the story around. Before the Climax, Thomas is very close to Teresa. Whether romantically or more as a sibling, he truly cared about her. All of this starts to change when Teresa “confessed” that she had sabotaged him to make him a sacrifice and that she was planning on finishing this trial with Aris instead of Thomas. Thomas tries to fight them off but even aside from being outnumbered, Teresa and Aris have weapons. Thomas gets pushed through the door into an all white room. The doors shut and Thomas is trapped. A green gas starts to fill the room and Thomas looses consciousness. His memories go in and out until he wakes up completely, about a whole day later. The doors open and Thomas walks out, unharmed, to find Teresa and Aris sitting, waiting for him. That’s when they confess to the rest. They were never together, they only talked in the maze when Teresa was in her initial coma, and Teresa still wanted Thomas. She was told that if she didn’t put on this whole act with Aris for Thomas, Thomas was going to be killed. While all this is being confessed, Thomas is having a hard time paying attention after how mad he was at her for before. Teresa then kisses Thomas, expecting her apology to be accepted and Thomas doesn’t feel any for her at all.

Plot – Falling Action P After Teresa confessed to Thomas, all three of them, Teresa , Thomas and Aris, leave the mountain and make their final trek down to the “Safe Haven”. They meet up with Group B and the rest of the Gladers at the base of the mountain, where they find the pods, containing more monstrous creatures. Everyone fights off the creatures until the creatures are all diminished. At that moment, “the Berg” comes down and everyone jumps on the cargo door to be lifted into the plane. Brenda and Jorge are questioned by the man picking them up, David, and forces Thomas to pick one to kill or they both die. Thomas, thinking he figured out the game of killing the one Thomas doesn’t pick, chooses Brenda to kill but he really wanted to save Brenda. When David grabs Brenda and is about to throw her out of the plane, Thomas grabs a pistol and aims it at David. David immediately puts Brenda down and Thomas lowers the gun. All of the Groups are taken to a similar dormitory that they were the first time, to shower, eat, put on clean clothes and sleep.

Thomas, Minho, Newt, Teresa, and the Creators Characters Thomas, Minho, Newt, Teresa, and the Creators

Characters - Thomas C Thomas is a tall, 17 year old boy. He has dark hair and light eyes. Thomas is very smart and clever, as he solved the Maze in the previous story. He is very trustworthy. Very quickly, he makes people comfortable around him. Thomas is the main character and also the main protagonist. He is a static character for most of the story but he starts to change around the climax and then becomes a dynamic character. This is how we pictures Thomas, with dark hair and light green eyes. http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/percy-jackson-and-annabeth-chase/images/21593022/title/percy-jackson-olympians-lightning-thief-screencap

Characters - Minho C Minho is a tall, tan skinned boy with dark hair and is about 18 years old. Minho is very mature and resourceful. He adds life and humor to the story line with his witty comments. Yet he is the leader of the group, being very mature and levelheaded. Minho is a main character but not the main character. He is a Glader and thus sides with the protagonist, Thomas. He is mostly static given that he stays pretty much the same throughout the story with just one mission: getting to the safe haven. This is how we both pictured Minho to look, dark hair and tanned skin, a little older than the rest of the Gladers. http://www.wattpad.com/6515448-our-alibi-in-process-of-editing

Characters - Newt C Newt is believed to be a tall and stocky 19 year old boy. He is pictured to have blonde hair and blue eyes. He is very controlling but a good leader. He is brave and mature, but also short- tempered and angry. Newt is probably a static character and more a victim than protagonist or antagonist. He’s a very determined character, as well as protective of himself and the boys. These traits make him very important to the story. Newt is another Glader so he sides with the protagonist. He is a relatively main character. Newt is mostly a static character. He doesn’t change too much throughout the story. This is how we pictured Newt to look, with blond hair and blue eyes. http://xfinity.comcast.net/blogs/tv/2009/10/14/vampire-diaries-zach-roerig-wants-to-become-a-slayer/

Character - Teresa C Teresa is about 17 years old. She has dark brown almost black hair with bright green eyes and pearly white skin. She is very wise and leads, thus very controlling. She’s strong willed which gets turned very quickly into ignorant and stubborn. She always looks at things from her more bitter perspective. But she seems to have everyone’s best interests at heart. Teresa is a very prominent main character in this story. She isn’t in this story as much as the last story but she is brought up a lot in flashbacks and thoughts of Thomas’. The times that she is in the story, she is very dynamic. She changes through the whole story of how she used to be really sweet and then she acts as if she’s been brainwashed into being mad at Thomas. Her storyline goes on and on but basically she changes in her morals and intentions through out the whole story. For parts of this story Teresa could be considered an antagonist. This is how we pictured Teresa to look, very beautiful with pearly white skin and dark hair. http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/elena-gilbert/images/16702284/title/elena-gilbert-photo

Character – WICKED (the creators) WICKED is the company that created the maze and put all the gladers in there, they also put the gladers into the scorch. They are defiantly the antagonists. WICKED is looking out for the greater good of the society but meanwhile they seem to be killing the gladers through a series of “trials”. The scientists of WICKED are described to look as typical scientists running tests and trials. http://myscienceacademy.org/2012/08/14/scientists-create-genetically-modified-plants-to-produce-pharmaceutical-drugs/

Man Vs. Nature, Man Vs. Society, and Man Vs. Fate Conflict Man Vs. Nature, Man Vs. Society, and Man Vs. Fate

Conflict C Man vs. Nature – This conflict is man Vs. because it is Thomas and the other gladers against the scorch, but it this extreme desert crazy lightning storms go on. They cause lightning to strike the ground in unpredictable places and patterns. The lightning storms are believed to be an effect from the solar flares. These lighting storms killed of some gladers and throughout the story many come close or do lose their lives. This resembles the lighting storms that come after the Gladers. http://www.wildbackpacker.com/wilderness-survival/articles/surviving-a-lightning-storm/

Conflict C Man Vs. Society- This conflict is man against society because it is Thomas and the gladers against the creators or WICKED. WICKED has “trials” to see how much pain, mentally and physically, they can inflict on the gladers before they crack. WICKED stands for World IN Catastrophe Killzone Experiment Department. Somehow they are doing this for the good of society. This group of scientists resemble how we pictured WICKED to look. http://ozmonopoly.com/6S.html

Conflict C Man Vs. Fate- This conflict is Man against Fate because when the creators(WICKED) separate thomas and Teresa from each other it seems like they will never see each other again. But Thomas has made it his duty to find Teresa and keep her safe. Despite the fact that WICKED wipes her memory so she has no recollection of him at all. This picture represents a girland boy that are separate, upset because they can’t see eachother. This is very similar to Thomas and Teresa’s situation. Girl: http://www.desicomments.com/sad/sad-girl-127/ Boy: http://www.fanpop.com/spots/emo-boys/images/23969673/title/sad-boy

T & R Theme and Resolution Theme: At that moment, “the Berg” comes down and everyone jumps on the cargo door to be lifted into the plane. Brenda and Jorge are questioned by the man picking them up, David, and forces Thomas to pick one to kill or they both die. Thomas, thinking he figured out the game of killing the one Thomas doesn’t pick, chooses Brenda to kill but he really wanted to save Brenda. When David grabs Brenda and is about to throw her out of the plane, Thomas grabs a pistol and aims it at David. David immediately puts Brenda down and Thomas lowers the gun. All of the Groups are taken to a similar dormitory that they were the first time, to shower, eat, put on clean clothes and sleep. Theme: We think the theme of The Scorch Trials is to take everything people say with a grain of salt because you never know what their motives might be. This is shown in the story when Thomas thought Teresa actually was trying to keep him safe, saying he needed to trust her but really her motives were that she wanted him to trust her so that she could take him to the Creators. Basically she tricked him. “For all he knew, Teresa was just trying to trick him again” (pg.303).

M Mood The mood of this story was kind of scattered. At the beginning of this story, when Thomas has lost Teresa and doesn’t know where she went, he seems a little distracted. Then, once they get into the Scorch, they seem to be in sheer panic. Their guards are up, not sure who they are going to run into or what storms are coming after them. Another mood for The Scorch Trials might be stressful. Two weeks in a blazing hot desert? Monstrous humans chasing after you trying to kill you? Fighting for their lives because otherwise they will end up one of these monstrous humans themselves? And to top it all off, a love triangle not going as planned with Thomas, Teresa and Aris? Sounds a little bit miserable. “… Trials are complete. We are now taking you to a place of safety - a real place of safety. No more tests, no more lies, no more setups. No more pretending” (pg. 348).