This document provides a comparison of the science fiction films The Maze Runner and Divergent. It summarizes the main characters, settings, themes, and endings of each film. The protagonist of The Maze Runner is Thomas, a boy who wakes up in a place called the Glade with no memories. The protagonist of Divergent is Tris, a girl who chooses to join the Dauntless faction. The document discusses the differences in the settings and themes of each film, and provides a brief overview of the endings.

1. SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN
THE DESIGN SCHOOL
FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT
NAME: LIM ZI SHAN
STUDENT ID NO: 0320372
FILMS SELECTED: Maze Runner & Divergent
WORD COUNT: 1001 words
ENGLISH 2 (ELG 30605)
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1: COMPARE – CONTRAST ESSAY
LECTURER: CASSANDRA WIJESURIA
SUBMISSION DATE: APRIL 9th, 2015

2. Science Fiction Films are generally scientific, visionary, and imaginative, and
usually portrayed through unrealistic yet imaginative settings, and it sometimes contain
advanced technology such as talking robots or programmed with awesome special effects.
Many Sci-Fi movies highlight time-travels and are situated either on Earth, into outer
space, or most often in the future time. Regardless of all those details, I’ll be writing
about the difference between two Sci-Fi movies which is The Maze Runner and
Divergent about their main character, settings, themes and ending of the movies.
Main character which also known as protagonist is a special character that a
writer has to create that the audience will root for or hate. Protagonist is normally the one
with most screen time and face with most of the obstacles in the movie. In Maze Runner,
Thomas, a simple ordinary guy, found himself woke up in the Glade only knowing his
name. Thomas is a brave person who is eager to find a way leaving the Glade even if that
risks his life while the others intend to survive in the Glade until there’s an exit was
found. Thomas is also a clever and loyal person where he saved Minho from the Griever
and managed to find a way out of the Glade. As for the movie Divergent , Tris is a 16-
year-old girl who chooses Dauntless which devoted to courage and toughness. However
through her aptitude test it was presumed that she was a Divergent - which means that she
can’t be controlled and if she somehow happened to be found out, she will be killed. Tris
is a strong-willed, courageous, where she managed to complete all the challenges given
for the exam to get into Dauntless without any fear. She is also reluctant to show her
weakness when she found out that Four can see her fear during the aptitude test.

3. To make it easier to understand what’s the movie is about, this paragraph will
be talking about the theme of the movies. One of the themes of The Maze Runner is
friendship. Friendship between the Gladers in such harsh condition in the Glade allow
survival. They relied on each other to fill certain roles which allows self-sustaining life.
Thomas is able to make friends with Chuck when he first arrived in the Glade despite the
fact that he was occasionally annoyed by Chuck. He also managed to form a working
bonds with Minho which allows him to lead the others out of the Maze. But it seems that
Thomas has the closest bond with Teresa. They were able to recognize each other even
when they’ve lost their memory about themselves. However in Divergent, the theme
showed is fear. Dauntless are known for their courage but in reality they’re actually more
focused on fear. The Dauntless spent a lot of time confronting their fears, making effort to
move on and refuse to be tormented by their fear any longer. During their confrontation
with their fears, they’ve come to point where they start questioning what courage actually
is. Eventually Tris have come to realized that courage is about standing up for what she
believes in.
You also can see the difference in the settings for both movies. The Maze
Runner was set in the Glade which was the living place for the Gladers. The Glade is
surrounded by four high concrete walls with an opening in the center called the Door. The
Door would be closed during the night and re-opens the next morning. The Glade has
four sections which is Gardens, Homestead, Bloodhouse and Deadheads. Gardens is
where the Gladers grow their crops and pump their water, Homestead is where the

4. Gladers sleep and the Slammer which functions as jail where Thomas was imprisoned
inside when he broke the rules in the Glade is located behind Homestead. The livestock
are raised and slaughter in the Bloodhouse and Deadheads is a small forest area with a
graveyard. In Divergent, The Pit is a large underground cavern with uneven rock walls
that rise several stories high. This is also the place where Tris and others stay after
they’ve chosen their desirable faction which is Dauntless. They also have their training
for shooting and fighting skills to prepare for their test in The Pit. All of the Dauntless
gathered at The Pit after dinner and was injected with some kind of serum that enabled
the Erudite took over their bodies to kill the Abnegations to find Divergents.
Lastly I’ll be writing about the differences between endings of both movies.
Some of the people in the Glade chose to leave the Glade with Thomas while some of
them chose to stay with at the Glade with Gally. During their way out, they had a tough
fight with the Grievers and eventually got out of the Maze. They entered a lab full with
dead bodies and discovered a video that reveals that they were a new generation that
could survive a deadly virus that attacks the brain. At the end of the movie, they were
taken away by some soldiers to another place by a helicopter. In Divergent, reaching the
end of the movie, Four was injected with the serum by Jeanine. He fought with Tris but
right before he could kill her, with her love for him , he fights back against the serum.
Four and Tris then defeated others in the lab and take over Jeanine’s mind with the serum
to stop Tris’ friends from killing innocent people. Tris with her comrades then heading
out of Dauntless as they board the train.

5. To summarize, despite of both movies’ interesting point of their main
character, settings, themes and their endings, both movies are well-known and well-
enjoyed by the viewers. Both of the movies are popular books that made into movies
shelf and viewers are still looking forward for the continuation of the movie.

6. References
Filmsite.org,. (2015). Science Fiction Films. Retrieved 7 April 2015, from
http://www.filmsite.org/sci-fifilms.html
Gradesaver.com,. (2015). Divergent Characters. Retrieved 7 April 2015, from
http://www.gradesaver.com/divergent/study-guide/character-list
Gradesaver.com,. (2015). The Maze Runner Summary. Retrieved 7 April 2015,
from http://www.gradesaver.com/the-maze-runner/study-guide/summary
Roth, V. (2015). Divergent (2014). IMDb. Retrieved 7 April 2015, from
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1840309/
Shmoop,. (2015). The Maze Runner Setting. Retrieved 7 April 2015, from
http://www.shmoop.com/the-maze-runner/setting.html
Themoviespoiler.com,. (2015). Movie Spoiler for the film - DIVERGENT.
Retrieved 7 April 2015, from
http://www.themoviespoiler.com/Spoilers/Divergent.html

7. References
Filmsite.org,. (2015). Science Fiction Films. Retrieved 7 April 2015, from
http://www.filmsite.org/sci-fifilms.html
Gradesaver.com,. (2015). Divergent Characters. Retrieved 7 April 2015, from
http://www.gradesaver.com/divergent/study-guide/character-list
Gradesaver.com,. (2015). The Maze Runner Summary. Retrieved 7 April 2015,
from http://www.gradesaver.com/the-maze-runner/study-guide/summary
Roth, V. (2015). Divergent (2014). IMDb. Retrieved 7 April 2015, from
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1840309/
Shmoop,. (2015). The Maze Runner Setting. Retrieved 7 April 2015, from
http://www.shmoop.com/the-maze-runner/setting.html
Themoviespoiler.com,. (2015). Movie Spoiler for the film - DIVERGENT.
Retrieved 7 April 2015, from
http://www.themoviespoiler.com/Spoilers/Divergent.html