The Maze Runner

“And yet he didn’t know where he came from, or how he’d gotten inside the dark lift, or who his parents were. He didn’t even know his last name. Images of people flashed across his mind, but there was no recognition, their faces replaced with haunted smears of color. He couldn’t think of one person he knew, or recall a single conversation”

Thomas’s confusion is palpable as he prepares to enter his new life in the Glade. He does not even know how he ended up in the elevator. His identity is nothing but a blur, symbolizing his ignorance, as if a newborn being cast into a strange space.

“His memory loss was strange. He mostly remembered the workings of the world—but emptied of specifics, faces, names. Like a book completely intact but missing one word in every dozen, making it a miserable and confusing read. He didn’t even know his age”

Thomas’s memory loss is symbolic of rebirth. Identity and memory are connected here, and both are related to self-worth. As Thomas has neither at this point, he has no self-worth.

“‘Listen to me, Greenbean.’ The boy wrinkled up his face, folded his arms. ‘I’ve seen you before. Something’s fishy about you showing up here, and I’m gonna find out what’”

Gally’s hatred of Thomas is explored here, and the reader sees that there is more to Thomas than has initially been revealed. In this sense, Thomas’s arrival in the Glade might be more sinister than previously thought.