The Glade

The Glade is the area in the center of the Maze that serves as a living place for the Gladers. The Glade has four large Walls that encase it and separate it from the Maze. Each wall has an opening in its center, called the Doors, that close every night and open every morning. Outside the Glade lies the Maze with many twisting and turning paths that contain horrifying slug-like, spike-covered creatures called Grievers. In the book, the Glade and Maze are actually all underground, below the WICKED headquarters in Alaska, whereas in the movie, the Glade and Maze are in the desert, on the surface.

Description

The Glade is large, according to Thomas, who says it is several football fields in length. It consists of four sections:

1. Homestead (North West): A double story building where some of the boys sleep. It also contains the kitchen. The Gathering is held in a room in the Homestead. At the back of the Homestead is the Slammer, a place that functions as a jail.
2. Gardens (North East): The grassy area where crops are grown and water is pumped, as it never rains in the Glade. Some Gladers sleep on it at night in sleeping bags since there is not enough room in the Homestead.
3. Deadheads (South West): A small forest area with a graveyard.
4. Blood House (South East): A large barn where livestock is raised and slaughtered.

In the center of the Glade, there is a metal elevator that the Gladers call "The Box". Once a month, a Newbie arrives in the Box with their memory wiped. Supplies, clothes, and blank paper for mapping also arrive in the Box once a week.

Near the Box, there is a rectangular concrete building with no windows. It is the Map Room, where the Runners draw and analyze the maps.

Rules

1. Never go outside the Glade, unless you are a Runner.
2. Never hurt another Glader. You have to trust each other.
3. Everyone does their part. No slackers.

In the movie, Alby tells Thomas the rules in reverse order.

Jobs

For more information, see: Maze Roles

Every Glader has a job and works almost all day long, the only regular break being for lunch. Each type of job has a Keeper, who has his own seat at the council during a Gathering.

There are ten known jobs in the Glade, but possibly several more. These and their leaders are, according to Zart:

• Runners (Minho): As the only Gladers allowed enter the Maze, they run through it every day. Runners accumulate information about the wall movements in order to find a way out. At the end of each day, they return to the Map Room to draw maps using their memory and quickly jotted notes from within the Maze. Runners in total spend around ten hours every day exploring the Maze and creating their maps. Each Runner is responsible for their map.
• Builders (Gally): They build new places and upgrade buildings in the Glade.
• Cooks (Frypan): They cook and prepare the meals.
• Slicers (Winston): They work in the Bloodhouse and take care of livestock and slaughter the animals for food.
• Track-hoes (Zart): Gladers who work in the Gardens. Tasks are tilling, weeding, planting and harvesting.
• Med-jacks (Clint): They act as doctors.
• Sloppers: They do dirty tasks, housework, basically any job no Glader wants to do; treated as the lowest-ranked job. This job is given to Gladers who are bad at every other job.
• Bricknicks: They have almost the same job as Builders but are actually tasked with repairing buildings.
• Baggers: They act as guards and deal with any dead bodies.

Trivia

• In The Maze Runner, Newt told Thomas that Newbies were usually assigned to work with Slicers when they first came.
• In The Maze Runner, the sun and sky are artificial images created on the ceiling of the area, which is why it never rains.
• In the movie, it is stated that the Gladers had been in the Glade for three years, whereas in the book, it was two years.

Gallery

The "Fight Circle" in the Glade as shown in the film.