Imprisonment, captivity, entrapment: these are the themes that keep somehow reappearing in the books I am reading. Books like Incarceron, Monster, Maze Runner and The City of Ember all have some sort of incarceration. In particular, Maze Runner and The City of Ember create worlds that trap their characters.
Both novels take place in a dystopian world with a flaw in the authority. The flaw which occurs in The City of Ember is the fact that the government loses the document that would save humanity and keep it to themselves not telling the citizens. In The Maze Runner the scientists conducting the experiment on the boys went to far by letting them die off and get killed. But does the authority lose in the end? They lose their power and citizens lose faith.
It soon becomes apparent that the main characters are trapped. In a maze, in a cave, in a prison... doesn't matter, it is all the same idea in a different package. Like twinkies individually wrapped but part of a box, each contained the main character against their will. The main character in The City of Ember was literally trapped in a cave while in Maze Runner the main character is trapped in a-- well.. a maze. They are mentally trapped by government authority.
The turning points of both novels show the character that they need to escape.In the book Maze Runner a colony of boys are trapped inside a giant labyrinth and all is good until a girl shows up. That is the point of which things go downhill and change into a big honkin’ mess. In The City of Ember the turning point of the plot is when the city facilities start to run out of supplies needed for human and plant life such as light bulbs, food, and paper.
It soon becomes apparent that the main characters are trapped. In a maze, in a cave, in a prison... doesn't matter, it is all the same idea in a different package. Like twinkies individually wrapped but part of a box, each contained the main character against their will. The main character in The City of Ember was literally trapped in a cave while in Maze Runner the main character is trapped in a-- well.. a maze. They are mentally trapped by government authority.
The turning points of both novels show the character that they need to escape.In the book Maze Runner a colony of boys are trapped inside a giant labyrinth and all is good until a girl shows up. That is the point of which things go downhill and change into a big honkin’ mess. In The City of Ember the turning point of the plot is when the city facilities start to run out of supplies needed for human and plant life such as light bulbs, food, and paper.
They are trapped, they are captured, they are imprisoned, they are repeated millions of times in different plots and story lines. Their torture repeated every time someone opens the book. The theme of being trapped is a very common plot in many young adult novels and in some children’s novels. The reason for this may be to make the readers connect to the story lie with their feelings or emotions of being trapped by parents, friends, or other meaningful people.
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