The Maze Runner tells about Gladers who lose their memories except their
names and inhabited the Maze. However, at the end they know that their names taken from i
mportant people‘s name. For example, Thomas comes from Thomas Alva Edison, Gally comes from Galileo Galilei, Teresa comes from Mother
Teresa and so on. Every day, they must run through the Maze outside the Glade, a place
where they live. They are not just running, it is their way to survive because by running they hope to find a way out of that cursed place. However, the trajectory
of the Maze always changes every day, it means that it seems impossible to get out of that place.
One day, the protective stone door is no longer shut down, it means that
the creatures named Griever can go in anytime. Every day, one boy is taken away and disappear. Thomas, one of the Gladers, think that he must solve the Maze to
save himself and the other Gladers. However, it is not easy to escape from the Maze because there are some Grievers which can kill all of them. Although it is
dangerous to leave the Glade, they must take risks in order to change their life.
B. Approach of the Study
In this study, the writer chooses the new criticism with the intention of analyzing James Dashner‘s The Maze Runner because it is appropriate for this
study. The reason why the writer chooses new criticism is because this approach mainly examines the literary work itself. It describes the literary work as an
independent work and it means that the reader is not necessary to connect the literary work to the other aspects.
In order to give evidence for the statement which has been mentioned above, the writer provides some quotation from experts. Wilfred L Guerin in his
book A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature states that a new criticism approach concentrates on the literary work itself 1979:20. From the quotation
above, new criticism delivers the analysis based on the text itself. Selden, Widdowson and Brooker in
A Reader’s Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory
states that new criticism is a method which does not talk about context
– historical, biographical, intellectual and so on in analyzing literary work. However, new criticism
only focuses on analyzing the ―text in itself‖, with its language and organization. New criticism does not reach text‘s meaning but the
way the text ‗speaks itself‘ 2005:19. Then, it emphasizes that new criticism is not affected by the other
elements from outside the novel. Therefore, the writer believes that this approach is the most suitable approach in order to help the writer to analyzing this study.
C. Method of the Study
This study uses library research method in order to analyzing this study. The prim
ary source is the James Dashner‘s The Maze Runner. The second sources are taken from some articles, books, internet and journals. The writer also uses
some studies on the novels and internet references in order to provide additional data
In analyzing this kind of literary work, the writer applies five steps. The first step is the writer begins to read the novel The Maze Runner by James
Dashner and try to understand well about the story. Second, the writer decides the
topic that is going to be discussed and make the problem formulation which discusses about character and characterization, conflict and message. Third, the
writer needs to understand the conflicts before analyzes what the messages that the reader can get from the story.
Fourth, the writer decides the suitable approach for this study and also collects sources and references from book and internet in order to support the
evidences or arguments when analyzes the story. Fifth, the writer analyzes the conflicts which faced by Thomas and the possible messages through the character
of Thomas and his conflicts. The last step, the writer makes conclusion based on the entire analysis in this study.
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CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS
