What is the setting in the novel, The Maze Runner?

“The Maze Runner” takes place in a strange place called the Glade. The residents of the Glade are all teenage boys. When Thomas, the protagonist, first arrives in the Glade, he is brought there by the Box. The Box delivers all Newbies (new residents) to Glade as well as the daily supplies that the Gladers need to survive. In addition to being called a Newbie, Thomas is also called Greenbean and the more derogatory “shank” and “klunk.”

The Glade features different sections including the Homestead where everyone eats and sleeps. There is also a Map Room where the Runners draw new maps of the Maze after each day’s run. There are also the Slammer which is the jail and the Blood House where animals are butchered. Livestock and crops are grown on a farm where Track-hoes work. An area known as the Deadheads is a forest area where Gladers can go to relax and to be alone.

The Maze is located off the Glade's courtyard. It is a vast and eerie place consisting of long corridors, high ivied walls, and, perhaps, no way out. No one is allowed to go into the Maze at night because large beasts known as Grievers roam Maze corridors looking for a succulent boy to sting or kidnap or kill. Beetle blades are lizard-like beings that roam the Glade and Maze. They spy on the Gladers for the Creators. The Maze ends in a Cliff that leads to a bottomless abyss. Eventually, the Gladers discover that the only way out is through the Grievers’ Hole, which is invisible and suspended in mid air.