Rules & Order: Do you Follow?

Dear Students,

This week I finished listening to The Maze Runner, and still continuing to read Flora & Ulysses. I did like the Maze Runner, but not enough to want to finish the trilogy.  I can see how this type of novel would be a good fit for many upper elementary readers looking for a challenge. 

I was particularly interested in looking at The Maze Runner in regards to particular themes.  I did some research and found this list @ http://www.shmoop.com/the-maze-runner/themes.html which includes the following themes: 

• Manipulation
• Memory
• Rules & Order
• Fear
• Identity
• Sacrifice
• Justice & Judgment
• Freedom & Confinement

Looking at this list from a teacher’s perspective, this novel could raise some interesting book club discussions.  I’ll discuss one theme within this list, Rules & Order.

I’m very much a rule follower, and I can honestly say I follow rules primarily out of fear—fear I will get caught, fear I will be judged, fear I will set a bad example.  In this novel, I think about the boy’s and their constant adherence to the rules.  The rules kept the glade functioning, but it was Thomas who first broke the major rule (never enter the Maze at night).  My question I ponder is, Was it the system of rules that helped the children find their way out of the maze or was it Thomas’s rule breaking tendencies that allowed the escape?  At first thought, I would say Thomas.  He was the trigger and the one who first questioned the rules.  However, without the rules of the runners to map the day’s route, the code would not have been discovered.  This leads to a larger essential question one could use with students, Are rules meant to be broken? – That could lead to a heated debate and tap into students’ higher order thinking skills for sure!  Of course my mind was constantly making connections to other texts such as my recent novel, Divergent and a classic favorite The Giver.

Overall, I would recommend this book for you to read.  It’s suspenseful and taps into one’s curiosity.  I’m moving out of Science Fiction books this week and reading a realistic fiction book, which is actually my favorite genre. 

Until next week,

Dr. K.