The Maze Runner Trilogy question

After reading James Dashner’s The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, and The Death Cure, I realized that watching the news, reading online articles, and listening to political speeches are viewed as dull and boring to adolescents, but fantasy and dystopia books allow authors to reach the interests of young adults without them even knowing that what they are enjoying may actually impact their lives in ways they did not think were possible. Dashner creates a world in which young adults must rely on each other for survival, not adults and I believe that Dashner’s ideas are extremely valuable in today’s world.
The protagonist of the story, Thomas, enters the Glade with no memory of his life prior to becoming a pawn in WICKED’s experiment and this can be viewed as a metaphor for what happens when young adults are forced to survive in a world that has been controlled, manipulated, and destroyed by the adults who came before them; when children are forced to grow up too soon in order to survive the “maze” of life that adults have created, they often lose their childhood and innocence, much like the characters of this book have lost their memories. While the futuristic aspects of these books make it difficult for readers to believe any of the content, Dashner is more intent on illustrating a bigger picture of how government, social control, and adult manipulation of our children has the power to cause potentially devastating affects in our world. The adults who created this program are seated in a control center overseeing the progress of the young adults who attempt to find their way through the Maze in search for a cure to the deadly illness that has plagued the world, while “rewarding” the young participants with pieces of their own memories in the form of dreams. I believe that Dashner originally wanted readers to see that adults have created a deadly “maze” of life that our young adults must now struggle to navigate through and that the young adults must learn to trust each other and work together in order to save the world, in theory.
Obviously, these books are meant to be fun and enjoyable for readers as they offer an escape to another world. However, Dashner illustrates very dark ideas and includes death and disappointment far more than some young adult literature authors do and I believe the reasoning for that is because he wants to communicate a bigger message: the problems of the world have been growing for generations and the young adults have the power to change the world, for the better. Thomas and his fellow Runners must work together, make sacrifices, and trust in each other’s abilities, which are all skills that even adults struggle to perfect. Dashner’s trilogy makes young adults feel powerful, which is something that adolescents often want so desperately, and this is an important idea in young adult literature because the author has the opportunity to give adolescents a chance to feel like they are in control of their own lives; young adults are at the mercy and will of those in power, whether it be teachers, parents, or even the politicians that they are not yet old enough to elect. Dashner’s ability to create a world in which young adults have the power to overcome the rules and guidelines set forth by adults attracts adolescent readers as they have an escape to a place where they feel empowered.
While the characters are dealing with so much pressure and negativity, there is also a romance between Thomas and Teresa and this is important to young adult literature because romance is something that is never far from their attention. Dashner shows an ability to reign in his larger motives regarding his bigger ideas and concerns to specifically reach young adults who still try to balance love and relationships with their daily responsibilities and objectives. When Teresa sacrifices herself to save Thomas, there is a moment of softness and beauty that is not the main focus of the plot, but bring adolescent readers back to a place of vulnerability that is necessary to their lives; while young adults have much more to deal with in our own world and in Dashner’s dystopia, by including a romance between two of the main characters Dashner reminds young adults that they must still have open hearts and minds so that they do not become cold and disconnected like the adults that created the devastating world they must now face.
At the end of the series, it is revealed that there was never a cure for the Flare, the deadly disease, and that the Immunes must now repopulate the world and start a new society. I think this could be seen as Dashner’s way of showing that the young adults are our future; children could be Dashner’s ideas of Immunes because they have not yet become corrupt and greedy like the adults that preceded them. In fact, the disease was intentionally released in order to control the population. So, Dashner’s decision to create a disease with no cure and reveal the fact that it was intentionally released only further proves that he wrote these novels with the intention of showing young adults that they must be aware of the world around them so that they can remain “immune” to the manipulative tactics employed by adults, even by our government, and create a better future for themselves. Overall, Dashner’s trilogy is a suspenseful, gripping, and intriguing series of books that young adults can learn from while actually enjoying themselves instead of being forced to listen to, read, or watch adults discuss the issues that Dashner so colorfully personifies through his novels.