The Scorch Trials

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2010

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Symbols & Motifs

Gun

When attempting to leave the city and his captors, Thomas is shot by Blondie. The Gladers have yet to see anyone besides WICKED with a weapon as sophisticated as a gun, let alone a Crank. As it turns out, even WICKED is shocked that someone has managed to sneak a gun into the city. To make matters worse, the gun’s bullets are rusted and riddled with bacteria. Thomas quickly catches an infection, even though Jorge removes the bullet. The infection is so severe that Thomas is airlifted from the Scorch and treated by WICKED, who decide break their own rules about interfering in the trials to save Thomas. While WICKED’s ability to save Thomas on a whim demonstrates the enormous power they have at their disposal, the gun shows that no matter how meticulous WICKED’s plan appears to be, no plan is infallible and no organization is omnipotent.

Tattoos

When the Gladers awake the night after their escape from the maze and find that they have been tricked again, they also realize that each of them has been branded with a tattoo. These tattoos identify who they are in relation to the group. Some of the tattoos designate a role, such as Minho’s tattoo, which says Leader. The tattoos are symbolic, in that they brand the Gladers just like a piece of property. As Thomas and the others realize, they are little more than test subjects. They are killed off to bring about reactions and test patterns. As such, they are disposable, and have no identity aside from that which WICKED assigns to them.

The tattoos also hint at another level of manipulation from WICKED, however. Minho’s tattoo says he is the Leader, while Thomas’s tattoo says he is to be killed by Group B. Psychologically, the Gladers are in danger of adhering to the roles given to them by the tattoos. In this sense, the tattoos might be yet another way for WICKED to test the Gladers’ and to see if they are able to change the odds despite the preconceived notions placed in their path.

Dreams

In The Maze Runner, Thomas came to understand that dreams held clues to the Gladers’ lives before The Maze. In The Scorch Trials, these dreams occur more frequently, and show Thomas snippets of his family and his time spent working with Teresa for WICKED. Just as in the first novel, however, Thomas has to ask if the dreams are really memories or images planted in his brain by WICKED. In this sense, dreams are symbolic of alternate versions of reality. They hold the possibility of genuine truth, as well as engineered truth. As with the new environment of the Scorch, Thomas must decide if he can trust these dreams, or if they are yet another Variable thrown in his path.

Madness

Instances of madness run rampant throughout the novel. Thomas and his friends must face the consequences of The Flare, a disease that drives people mad, rendering them animal-like in their thoughts and actions. Thomas learns that Cranks, those infected by the disease, go through various stages during their descent into madness. As an incentive to complete the trials, the Gladers are also told they have the Flare, and that if they make it to the safe haven, they will be given the cure. The fear of going mad is a motivating force for the teenagers in both Thomas’s group and Group B to complete their task of getting to the safe haven. Madness is a motif that can either motivate individuals or, ironically, cause them to lose their sanity for fear of going insane.