Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Scorch Trials 7: Shit Gets Real

It's Tuesday once again. Hurray! Let's do this! (Sorry, I'm full of caffeine and sugar. I'm super pumped about everything right now).

Chapters 45-48

Fair warning, you're about to be super frustrated.

Okay. So Thomas and Teresa are unhappily reunited.  She and Group B have kidnapped Thomas. At the beginning of chapter 45, the are still with the Gladers. Teresa is being super sketchy, but keeps whispering to Thomas, acting like her old self. She hits him and then quietly whispers that it is for a reason. She says, "They're blocking me from talking to you in our heads. Remember to trust me." Later, she adds, "Hang in there. It'll be over soon." She whispers this only to Thomas. No one else can hear her. At this point, it is impossible to tell if she is lying to him. They then leave the Gladers with a parting threat of harm if they follow.

At this point, Teresa reveals that Group B is only doing this because they have been told to. WICKED has tasked Group B with killing Thomas in order to get into the safe haven. Teresa has also convinced the group that Thomas has done something to her, but won't tell him what it is supposed to be. Yet again, no information is shared. Everyone is hiding things from everyone else. The lack of information in this book is harrowing.

This becomes relevant again.
The girls drag (literally) Thomas up into the mountains. They arrive at Group B's camp and tie Thomas to a tree. Thomas tries to convince them that they don't want to kill him. Two girls, named Harriet and Sonya, seem to have been the leaders of the group before Teresa came along. They seem the most perceptive to Thomas's pleas. Thomas is reminded of the sign that was outside Teresa's door back in the dorm. You know, the one that caller her The Betrayer. However, Thomas still doesn't know if this is a trick by WICKED or an accurate description of Teresa.



At this point, everyone goes to sleep for the day. Thomas sleeps fitfully, but has one of his famous memory/dream thingys. He and Teresa are standing in front of a batch of monitors showing the Gladers. They are about 15, a year before they enter the Glade. It is all very vague, as per usual. Theresa starts out by saying something strange. "I can't believe they're all dead," she says while looking at the monitors. Even Thomas is confused by this. A bit later, it is revealed that she is talking about the original Creators. It's up to them now to do something. Them and the "people in the barracks." I have no idea what this means. No piece of new information is ever discussed right away. That would just be too fucking easy and helpful. Can't have that. There's a bit about replacements, the assumption is that they are replacements for the Creators, but assuming anything is dangerous. They then discuss (and I use that term very loosely) something called the patterns. "All that matters now are the patterns. The killzone. Nothing else." I have no idea what this means.

When he wakes up, Thomas is being stared at by Harriet and Sonya. They want to talk to him. Teresa has gone back to make sure the Gladers haven't followed them into the mountains. While she is away, Harriet and Sonya want him to tell them everything he knows. He tells them that he thinks that they shouldn't kill him (naturally). He says that it's probably a test to see if they can make their own decisions and think rationally. Apparently, they think the same thing. When Theresa gets back, the girls pull her aside and try to convince her not to kill Thomas. Things get heated and she leaves. The chapter ends with Harriet untying Thomas from the tree and telling him they aren't going to kill him. Harriet then tells Thomas, "Teresa does not like you. I'd watch my back around her if I were you." The chapter ends with a bit of internal dialogue from Thomas. That
I will include in picture form because it's easier and I'm lazy at the moment.

Well, that's just wonderful.
Analysis

First and foremost, I just noticed that I have been spelling Teresa wrong literally this entire time. Apparently, there is no 'h.' Who knew?

The way information is revealed in this book is killing me. We get little touches of information that is never discussed. We need to have hope that it will all be revealed in the end. I both love and hate the way this book is constructed. It's awful because it's incredibly frustrating. It's great because it keeps you interested and reading until the end. You are incredibly motivated to get to the end. I know I keep harping on this, but it's only because it's so damn interesting.

What we need to talk about is Teresa. Is she really betraying Thomas, or is she being manipulated? Has WICKED done something to her? It's hard to tell because, unlike Thomas, we don't get Teresa's internal monologue. Her motivations are unclear to us at the present moment. To be honest, her motivations have always been unclear. This section of the book is calling into question every single thing she has ever done. We don't know if we ever should have trusted her. These chapters relate back to her first appearance in The Maze Runner, where we had no idea what she was all about. We're almost done with book two, and she is still an almost completely unknown entity. Hopefully, by the end, we will know what she is all about and whether or not we should have been trusting her all along.

That's it for now. There are only about 80 pages left, so I'm going to try to finish by next week.

Until next time, happy reading.

No comments:

Post a Comment