The Death Cure

The responsibility of each individual is reviewed throughout the novel. WICKED’s responsibility to mankind is the driving force of its staff, particularly Janson, who Thomas believes epitomizes WICKED in human form. Consider Janson’s strong belief that he is helping people despite the unfortunate deaths of some subjects. It is his unwavering responsibility that drives him to reach out to Thomas time and time again, and that brings Thomas back to WICKED for the ultimate sacrifice.

In contrast, Thomas shirks his responsibility to his friend Newt by forgetting to read the note given to him at the start of the novel. With the recurrence of this motif, the novel suggests that responsibility should be met and accomplished. For instance, Janson dies when he forgets his responsibility and simply wants revenge at the end of the novel, fighting Thomas to the death. However, after Thomas meets his responsibility to Newt, he becomes invigorated, and his focus shifts from himself to the greater good of everyone else.

Trust is perhaps the most used motif throughout the novel. Not only is it mentioned in almost every single chapter, but Thomas’s attitude toward each individual rests upon whether or not he trusts that person or not. From the beginning of the novel, Thomas does not trust Teresa. His distrust almost pushes her out of his life entirely. He refuses to believe a word she says, which forces him to take the opposite path than she does, affecting the actions and plot points of his story.

Brenda prevents Thomas from seeing her ulterior motives because she has the one thing no one else does: his trust. In fact, Thomas’s trust in Brenda and in Gally drives him into the WICKED compound once more and keeps him from seeing either the Right Arm’s ultimate plan or Brenda’s allegiance with Chancellor Paige, who aims to begin a new WICKED experiment.