Tolerance

"The ability or willingness to allow the existence, occurrence, or practice of something, in particular the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with"

Since tolerance basically means to be cautious of your surroundings because there are boundaries, I would try to be more careful with language that I use in public. There are many people out there in the world that I don't know what they've gone through so it's important that I don't disrespect them in any way. Tolerance to me means to be aware of what is around because my behavior, the way I act, can come back to me at anytime.

The Death Cure Blog 2 - Quarter 4 Blog 1

After these past couple of weeks, I took the time to finish The Death Cure. From where I had left off, Teresa had taken a Berg and flew to an anonymous place. Thomas, Brenda, Jorge, Minho and Newt took Jorge's Berg and went to Denver to find an ex-WICKED doctor named Hans that Brenda knows. Hans's job is to removed the control device in Minho and Thomas's head that controls them both. Meanwhile, Thomas runs into Gally again from the Maze as where Gally and Thomas are friends. Gally explains that there is an anti-WICKED group named The Right Arm. Then, Thomas the the group find Hans where "Thomas" AKA WICKED fights off Hans in which he sedates him and the surgery is successful. Back in the last blog I wrote I had explained that Newt was NOT Immune to the Flare. Denver is a heavily guarded Immune free zone so Thomas and Minho had no choice BUT to leave Newt in the Berg. Jansen runs into Thomas in Denver and explains to Thomas that he his the last piece to the puzzle and they need him to complete the cure. But back to Newt, Jansen also explains that Newt is progressing faster into the Gone than normal. Thomas, Brenda, Jorge, and Minho rush towards the Berg to learn that Newt had been taken to a "Crank Palace". They hurry towards the Palace only to be turned down by their old friend. They return to Denver and are captured by Bounty Hunters where they are held captive in a room full of other Immunes. The group fights back and the guards are only forced to tell them that they were told by THE RIGHT ARM to capture the Immunes. One of the guards takes Thomas and Brenda to Vince, leader of The Right Arm, where they negotiate a plan to destroy WICKED for good. As the plan goes, they use Thomas as bait to get into WICKED HQ and Vince is given a window with the Immunes. But Jansen tells Thomas that they need to perform a surgery on Thomas's brain to take out the final piece of the puzzle. Before the surgery, Thomas and other "captured" Immunes are actually saved by Chancellor Ava Paige who is WICKED's leader. She also leaves Thomas maps for of escape routes for Thomas, Minho, Teresa and Brenda to go underground to the Mazes, where the Immunes are being kept. They arrive back into the Maze to rescue the people when the Right Arm start to detonate their explosives. When most of the Immunes make it to the Flat Trans to escape, Jansen and accompanied by guards try to capture Thomas, but Thomas kills Jansen. Thomas was about to get crushed by a piece of ceiling when Teresa pushes Thomas out of the way and sacrifices herself instead. The survivors enter the Flat Trans and arrive in a green wilderness. At the end of the book, Brenda tells Thomas that they have everyone else to start all over again.

Overall, The Maze Runner Series was unbelievable. Both in the plot and in the way that it connected with the outside world and with other books. I learned that even the smallest group can overcome a huge society. How quickly friends can become family. The relationship with that Chuck and Thomas had, you would almost think that they were brothers. The style that James Dashner wrote, you would think that it was a movie playing in your head. A question I have is if James Dashner took pieces from The Giver, Divergent, or The Hunger Games because they match up soo much! I would defiantly recommend this three book series to a friend because of its told and how it spreads out in your mind. There are infinite connections and thoughts you can have about this series

The Death Cure Blog 1 - Quarter 3 Blog 8

Summary

After finishing the second book of the Maze Runner series, I decided to stay hungry and see what else is in store for the final book of the trilogy. Right now, Thomas finally gets let out of the white room that he was in for 4 weeks by the Rat Man (who's name is finally revealed and is Jansen). Jansen explains that WICKED has agreed to clear the Swipe which is the memory block of the Gladers and Group B. Thomas, Mihno, and Newt refuse to have the Swipe removed as they believe that WICKED would probably experiment on them again. As they are soon forced to have their memories put back by WICKED having them on hard lock down to complete the process, they attempt a getaway. Everything was going great until they run into Jorge (Brenda's partner from the city) in a hanger and is severely injured. He soon explains that he was attacked and the hanger was overrun by Teresa and the rest of the people who had agreed with replacing their memories.

Character Analysis (SHORT)

Before the Swipe had been removed, Jansen had read off the list of people who were immune and not immune to the Flare. Unfortunatly, Newt had been under the "NOT-IMMUNE" part of the list. Thomas had felt a "jolt hit his chest"after he heard the news. Newt had told Thomas to "slim himself" because he was never worried about the Flare and he believed that he'd "never be alive at this buggin' point." This proves that Newt is a brave and courageous person because despite the fact that there was a deadly virus going around, he never gave thought to it and just decided to cross that bridge when he got there.

The Scorch Trials Blog 4 - Quarter 3 Blog 7

Summary

The overall ending of The Scorch Trials is simply picture perfect. While the Gladers and Group B, as well as Aris, Brenda, and Jorge were heading towards the Safe Haven, they were severely tired. Just a few miles away with 25 minutes left until deadline, they encountered another set of huge monsters as a final boss round from WICKED. Swirling winds blew as the final stage would determine the fate of the group to earn their cure. As lightning struck and the group fought their way through the horrific creatures, a Berg, which picked up Thomas when he was shot in the city, had appeared in the gloomy sky. The cargo dropped and a couple of WICKED soldiers appeared. In the end of it all, they had provided them with showers, clean clothes, and food on their way to WICKED Headquarters to claim their promised cure. But all of a sudden Teresa had called out Thomas who had woken up in an all white squared room and told him that he had been in the room for a week now because the Flare had taken over. Can't wait to start the third and final book!

Prediction for NEXT BOOK

Before Thomas had fallen back to sleep in the room he was locked in, Teresa had said that WICKED was good. This has been question that has kept every Maze Runner Reader in thought because Brenda had said on page 202 that WICKED had killed her father for protecting her. This is kind of a 50/50 situation because Teresa is trustworthy. She proved it by never letting Thomas go even when she was acting weird but she had to because WICKED had told her, unless she would have died. In the end, my opinion on WICKED is that they are probably good. I am trusting Teresa and my gut and believing that WICKED is actually good because they made the effort of putting many governments together as Brenda had also said.

The Scorch Trials Blog 3 - Quarter 3 Blog 6

Summary

From where I previously left off in The Scorch Trials, Thomas is currently a few miles away from the safe haven. But it wasn't an easy trip. It had involved Thomas getting shot by a group of Crank thugs and getting rescued by WICKED. Thomas had been taken good care by WICKED because he was "a potential Variable in the Scorch Trials". Thomas had wasp escrowed on two of WICKED's troops which had said they didn't want him to die from "an unknown object in the area". The bullet inside Thomas was about to infect him 100% with the Flare if it was never removed from Thomas's left arm. Then, all of a sudden Teresa's came back and kidnapped Thomas while he was walking with his group. She and from Group B, from another maze, held him hostage until she agreed not to kill Thomas upon WICKED's command. Teresa and Aris played out the death of Thomas and escaped which leaves off where I am now, everybody is together once again.

Character Analysis

When the Gladers were attacked by the lightening, Mihno was struck by one of the lightening bolts. He was severely hurt but proved that he was"as tough as nails". In the text he told Thomas, "Shuck it. I'm tougher than nails. I could still kick your pony lovin butt with twice this pain." This proved that despite the fact that Mihno was injured from the bolts, he had the strength and toughness to tell Thomas that he could take on even more from WICKED and Thomas.

The Scorch Trials Blog 2 - Quarter 3 Blog 5

Currently in The Scorch Trials, the Gladers have now started their second session of what WICKED calls the "Second Trials." From the start to now, the Gladers have experienced pure torture and is the definition of courage and being afraid of what has happened. They've so far survived lightning strikes that were being specifically pointed towards the Gladers. They tried being manipulated by WICKED with sounds of girls crying. Not to mention the horrifying heat that they have to fight through. The power of the sun is about 10 times worst than the original temperature and Thomas puts it. Although the many obstacles the Gladers have to go through, they've found ways to cope with it. They taken the rags of their pouches and stretched and tied them to make almost an umbrella as protection from the sun.

There are currently two conflicts in The Scorch Trials that are very clear. One of them is Man vs Nature, Nature being the Lightning strikes and the heat that the Gladers have to fight through. The second being Man vs Society, WICKED being the society to pass the trials and get cured by "The Flare". The third conflict in the story is Man vs Man because the Gladers have to deal with the mind games that WICKED is playing with the Gladers' mind. This reminds me of The Hunger Games, but specifically Catching Fire, when The Capitol was playing with Katniss's mind by the fake screams from her sister in the jungle. It's terrible to see someone suffer so much by another person testing their might just to survive in their society from both novels.

The Scorch Trials - Quarter 3 Blog 4

After I had finished reading one of the most greatest baseball books in the history of baseball books (personally), I decided to continue my reading on The Maze Runner series. I am on the second book of the three book series, and it is called The Scorch Trials. Previously in the Maze Runner, Tohmas and the Gladers had just escaped The Maze and were transported into an unknown location but were treated respectively with food and clothes. Right now, Thomas and the rest of the Gladers are still trapped in that unkown locaton but specifically a three room dorm with zombie looking people outside named "Cranks", begging and begging to get in but look contagious with some sort of disease. Though, the Gladers are lucky enough to have these barred up windows to protect them. But the main problem is food. The Gladers have just experienced three days without eating ANYTHING. Soon after, a man that Mihno, one of the runners previously in the Glade, names Rat Man for his skinny and tall looks, arrives with a bag full of food. Though Thomas is so curious why; "Rat Man" explains to the Gladers that they would have to go through the second set of trials (the maze was the first trial) in order to be cured by a disease named "The Flare".

When the Gladers had no source of food until "Rat Man" showed up, they only had a source of water from a bathroom sink. As Thomas put it, "It's like an animal trapped inside you." He also states that drinking water had done nothing else but drive the beast inside more stronger. I felt like this was a relatable statement to the refugees in Syria and all around the world in general who have nothing to live on. They are just hoping and praying that an organization would save them or even a small town like Zaatari. Thanks to God and my family I have a roof over my head and food to eat every night, but some people don't look at the BIGGER picture. They just seem to only have their mindset of life and cruise right through it like there's nothing wrong with the world.