ABSTRACT
The object of this study is a novel entitled The Maze Runner which is written by James Dashner that tells about a group of people who lose their memories except their names and inhabited the Maze. Every day, they must run through the Maze outside the Glade, a place where they live. The purposes of this study are first, identify the main character, Thomas; second, identify the conflicts faced by Thomas; and third, showing the messages as revealed through the conflicts faced by Thomas.
The writer uses New Criticism as the approach of the study to analyze this novel. The writer also conducts some study about character and characterization, conflicts, and message. Then, the writer applied the theories from those books into the analysis to answer the problem formulations. Therefore, it can be said that the method which is used in this study is library research.
The writer can reveal several possible messages from the conflicts faced by the main character, Thomas. Thomas has four characteristics; they are curious, smart, brave, and selfless. Then, those characteristics lead Thomas to survive from the Grievers and find a way out from the Maze. Thomas‘ conflicts are divided into two, internal and external conflicts. The internal conflict happens when Thomas faces dilemma, whether he should help his friends or just stay inside the Glade. Then, the writer divides the external conflicts into three conflicts. First, when Thomas fights against the Grievers in order to survive inside the Maze. Second, when Thomas and Alby have different opinion about their survival chance in the Maze. Third, the conflict happens when Thomas‘ attitude annoys all of Gladers and when he tries to persuade all of Gladers to follow him to find a way out the Maze. The message that are revealed through the conflict of Thomas are: never giving up with the difficult situations, daring to take a risk for our goal, and sacrificing for something we want to achieve.
