The Death Cure

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2011

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Chapters 39-44Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 39 Summary

Thomas questions Newt, but he seems to change and asks them rationally to please leave. Some Cranks come to Newt’s rescue and try to intimidate the group. Minho calls the Crank leader a psycho and the man tries to cut Thomas across the face. Newt threatens them all with the Launcher and shoots the Crank. Newt again asks them to leave. Minho refuses, but Thomas tells them they should leave. Minho is upset. They head out. “Away from Newt. Away from his friend and his friend’s diseased brain” (185).

Chapter 40 Summary

When they exit the bowling alley, the guards who escorted them there are missing. They hurry out of the Central Zone. When they get out of the Zone, the missing guards come running their way, telling them to run. The guards explain as they run that the Cranks were trying to eat them. Thomas and the others run out of the Palace and straight to the Berg. Minho is upset about Newt and asks what will happen to him. “Thomas had no idea how to respond, no way to express the sorrow that filled his chest….Newt was gone” (189).

Chapter 41 Summary

Minho and Thomas talk in the common area. “With time to think, the full reality of what had happened hit Thomas like a falling boulder. Ever since Thomas had entered the Maze, Newt had been there for him. Thomas hadn’t realized just how much of a friend he’d become until now. His head hurt” (190). Minho is upset and Thomas tries to reason that the Newt they know may not be there anymore.

Brenda and Jorge join them and Brenda suggests they figure out what to do. Minho is angry at the suggestion, and Jorge says they should wait a couple days. They all agree. After eating, Thomas remembers the note Newt gave him back in the WICKED compound. The note says, “Kill me. If you’ve ever been my friend, kill me” (192). Thomas realizes he has “failed him” (192).

Chapter 42 Summary

The group ultimately decides to go back to Denver and join Gally and the Right Arm to fight WICKED. When they arrive at the airport, they are greeted by three people in green suits who are not friendly. Thomas notices the gates to the city are wide open. The green suits take them to a beat up van and make them get in and put black hoods on. The van takes them away.

Chapter 43 Summary

When the van stops, the kidnappers take them out and lead them down some stairs. They are thrown into a room, and a woman asks them what it is like out there. She explains that things were getting bad and that a state of emergency was declared. Inside, the group also finds Aris and Teresa. She asks where they went, and when Thomas is confused by the question, she suggests they have a lot to discuss. She tells him to talk to her privately, and Thomas reluctantly agrees.

Chapter 44 Summary

Thomas is guarded as he speaks to Teresa, and she gets defensive. He accuses her of leaving them behind at WICKED, and she tells him that they did not leave him behind. She explains that they were told Thomas and the others escaped into the forest and that they could not find a sign of them anywhere in the compound. Further, she knows that WICKED is preparing another round of the Trials. After a couple moments, Thomas realizes Teresa is telling the truth. She says she wants to make up for the things she did. When she suggests that they work together if they get a chance to escape, Thomas tells her that they will see what happens. She frowns.

Chapters 39-44 Analysis

Minho and Thomas grow more as characters after their encounter with Newt. Not only do we see Thomas see take charge even more by telling Minho to leave Newt behind, deciding that the group will join the Right Arm, and effectively shutting Teresa down, but we see Minho’s rage return once again. Witnessing his friend’s mental decline hurts and confuses him. He is angry at any further suggestion to leave Newt behind. Regardless, Newt is still treated by the narrator and Thomas as a “thing.” He is no longer Newt, he is a boy with a “diseased brain.” It is what defines him.

Thomas grows more when he finally reads Newt’s letter. Newt’s note pleads with Thomas to kill him before he loses his mind. Thomas realizes he is not the only person who has been let down over the past several days. He has let someone down. He has overlooked someone else’s hardships in an effort to survive his own. Thomas forgot about his friend, a friend who needed him the most, and a friend he views as something less than human.