Blog #10: The Maze Runner

Wow. I'm only a few chapters through, and man this book captures my attention! The Maze Runner by James Dashner diffidently so far exceeds my expectations. It starts with a boy named Thomas who wakes up in a moving upward metal box, only to realize he only knows his name. He is unaware of anything else that has happened, where he lived, his family, friends, he can see face's in his mind, but cannot recognize them. Can you imagine waking up and having no idea on why your there and whats going on? I for sure can't.  When the box comes to a stop, it opens only for Thomas to reveal a group of boys standing over him. Unaware of anything going they lift Thomas out and welcome him. He's the newbie now in this world. Which they call the Glades. And Thomas will soon find out all the belief and understanding of why he is here and what it is. 

I really really like this book. It is super intriguing and I love how it is written in third person so we can get the view of all characters. And I can totally picture how the boys (just like how guys are) totally blow him off and kind of make him learn on his own/gain his own knowledge of where he is. Each character has their own personality which is shown in many ways through actions and speech and you can see it clearly. Which I love! I'm super excited to keep on reading it's addicting haha!

Below I put the trailer of the movie to help give you a vision of what this might look like. It helped me visualize the scenes and the characters. I thought it was super neat. (And the movie looks amazing!) 

Starting: Maze Runner

I have seen the previews, heard the awesome reviews, want to watch the movie, so now I'm beginning The Maze Runner by James Dashner. I have always found fictional stuff so interesting and having a lot of suspense. I was intrigued by the books description. Having boys caught in a maze, with memories forgotten, no knowledge of how they got there, a shifting maze, and that the appearance of a girl would change the way they thought. I found this review, and I have to say hats what I need to keep me reading, and that is how I know it is a good book" The plot was intriguing and kept me reading; in fact, it was probably the only reason why I kept reading it." Reading reviews it reminded me of The Hunger Games, and I really liked those series so I hope I like these just as much.  

I looked up a little on James Dashner the author to learn more about his thoughts and reasons for writing The Maze Runner. He talked about in an interview how he came up with the idea late one night after his inspirations of reading Lord of the Flies by William Golding and Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. And how he is super excited to see how the movie goes just like I am! So I'm going to rush to finish it so I can get to the theaters and watch!

I Am Malala: Multicultural memoir

I am reading I Am Malala which is a multicultural memoir so it is written by Malala Yousafzai. She is a strong willed girl who stood up for education and was shot by the Taliban. While reading this book we had a realization of how lucky we are in America to have equal rights and all education. Sometimes I think we take it for granted, when really over in places like Pakistan they are struggling and have been through way more than we could've imagined. We complain about going to school and learning when the girls in the third world countries don't even have the right to go to school because they are said to be "lower" than any man/boy.


 A young girl named Malala lived in Swat, Pakistan, which was a beautiful valley but had a poor lifestyle. When the Taliban came and took over everything began to change. They took away woman rights to go to school. They were bombing school and killing people just for no reason. And people had rules and restraints that they have never had to deal with before. Malala was a very strong, smart, independent girl who believed fully in education. (Considering her dad owned many schools). So when the Taliban gave girls no more education and began treating them like dirt. Malala spoke out.

 

GENDER DISCRIMINATION IN PAKISTAN TODAY

This article connects to the central idea of I Am Malala since in the story Pakistan deals with discrimination and gender roles play a big part in education. My research says, "Discrimination represents a significant social problem in Pakistan as well as throughout the world. Girls face discrimination everywhere in the world. They often receive less food than boys do, have less entrée to schooling and work long hours." My book can relate to this because it deals with all of Malala's struggles in Pakistan and how her education is a big part of who she is, but since she is a girl she can't have it. Even today as the article explains Pakistan is in need of help with the treatment of people and the equality of everyone.