Boys Being Vulnerable
One thing that James Dashner did well was writing boys in The Maze Runner (2009) with emotions
When reading an action-filled book, you’re expected to focus on the action that happens. Dystopian novels like The Hunger Games (2008) and The Maze Runner (2009), despite their complexities, are about fighting their oppressors — Katniss and her resistance against President Snow, and Thomas and the Gladers against WICKED. Those are two of the easiest ways to describe the two books, and it’s dialed down to the actions.
It’s not wrong, but it’s also not entirely true, on account of the emotions that are interwoven into the story. This aspect can be easily overlooked, but I think it’s an important aspect of the writing that can help improve the reading experience.
The Maze Runner would be the best example of this, as I am more familiar with its story than The Hunger Games. The story itself is about boys who were forcefully taken to be experimented on by an institution, WICKED, for their experiment to find the cure to the Flare, a brain-eating virus created by humanity after the Sun Flare. They were put in the middle of a maze that seemed to have no exits. It wasn’t until a newcomer, Thomas, came into the picture that they began to make progress and find their way out.
From the start to the end of the book, you are reading through Thomas’ eyes. You see the world and the Glade through his eyes; what Thomas doesn’t know, you also don’t know. And yet, one thing is sure: the range of emotions among the Gladers.
With the protagonist being a man and almost everyone besides Teresa, another Glader that came after Thomas, who’s notably a woman, are also men, emotions aren’t exactly expected of them.
It’s an infamous stereotype that men shouldn’t be emotional, for it shows weakness. Acting too happy can seem too “girly”. Only stoicism and anger are acceptable enough for men. Crying? A sin. These sexist stereotypes, no matter how much we deny it, are common. While I do oppose this, I can’t help but be reminded of it from how much I’ve heard it my entire life. It’s simply a thing that has existed in our world ever since we could understand words.
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Seeing the boys in The Maze Runner experience a range of emotions made the reading experience much more enjoyable. From happiness, anger, frustration, hopefulness, disappointment, betrayal, hopelessness, despair, skepticism, and even breakdowns, both you and the Gladers experience them whether you realize it or not.
Although this concept isn’t new or revolutionary, it helps the fact that, by reading the series, you can understand that the stereotype of men showing emotions equals showing vulnerability and thus is a bad thing is a harmful thing. Being emotional is what makes us human. You can’t expect a person to always be stoic.
The media have always been, and will always be, the perfect medium to dispel harmful notions like this. Through books, movies, shows, and any form of mass media, you can learn so much. What you consume in your daily life will affect how you think.
Letting the Gladers feel emotions and accepting them as they happen helps break the harmful stereotype. Their happiness after solving the maze codes didn’t make them seem “girly” — they’re simply happy to have finally found a way to get out of their prison after years of being stuck. Their despair upon discovering that the map room had been burned down was entirely justified. Thomas’ breakdown after fighting for his life with Minho the night they were stuck in the maze didn’t make him weak.
Emotions exist because they are what make us human. Repressing them in favor of patriarchy and misogyny isn’t healthy or good. We think and feel even from the moment we are born into the world.
Being vulnerable does not equal to being weak. This notion was built by society simply because men didn’t want to be grouped with women, for women are vulnerable, thus weak. Men didn’t want that, and as a result, they suppress their own emotions; when in reality, emotions are simply ways we communicate our feelings. It’s the only thing that we share with every living thing. It’s what makes us unique.
Emotions might not have been the major issue in The Maze Runner, but the acknowledgment of its existence, even as simple as Minho letting Thomas break down in the maze without saying anything to him about it, added layers to the reading experience.
It’s easy to dismiss their traumas, but with a glimpse of their emotions, you can see the toll WICKED took on them, making you sympathize with and care for them.
