The Maze Runner Chapter 4 Quotes
How we cite the quotes:
(Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote 1
They'd wiped his memory and put him inside a gigantic maze. It was all so crazy it really did seem funny. (4.39)
Funny isn't exactly the word we would choose. Sadistic, unethical, inhumane, appalling, take your pick. But maybe that was the only emotion Thomas was capable of expressing during his time of shock. Have you ever been so scared that you laugh inappropriately? Maybe that's what we're dealing with here.
Quote 2
Thomas got to his feet and started walking toward the eastern opening. "Well, no one said I couldn't look around." He needed to learn something or he was going to lose his mind. (4.15)
Infamous last words: "No one said I couldn't…" This is probably the most brazen Thomas acts the entire time he's in the Glade, most likely spurred by his innocence. He has no idea what's out in the Maze yet, so how could he be scared?
"How could these walls move? They're huge, and they look like they've been standing here for a thousand years." And the idea of those walls closing and trapping him inside this place they called the Glade was downright terrifying. (4.32)
It kind of goes without saying that being enclosed in a space against your will would be terrifying, no matter who or where you are. Through a heaping pile of the unknown into the mix, though, (moving walls?) and this is just the worst.
Quote 4
They'd wiped his memory and put him inside a gigantic maze. It was all so crazy it really did seem funny. (4.39)
No, it'd only be funny if they solved the maze and found a huge block of cheese. But really, have you ever been in a maze? It can feel like the whole world has been squashed down into the few yards of space surrounding you, and then you turn a corner and the world has gotten even smaller.
Quote 5
It felt as if the whole earth shook; he looked around, panicked. The walls were closing. The walls were really closing—trapping him inside the Glade. An onrushing sense of claustrophobia stifled him, compressed his lungs, as if water filled their cavities. (4.48)
Confinement in and of itself can be horrifying. That's why there are so many claustrophobic people in the world.
Quote 6
Thomas looked around one more time, the feel of the place completely different now that all the walls were solid with no way out. He tried to imagine the purpose of such a thing, and he didn't know which guess was worse—that they were being sealed in or that they were being protected from something out there. (4.57)
Option three: being sealed in with the somethings from out there. Bam.