The sense of relief that flooded through Thomas surprised him—he wasn’t completely alone in this place.

Thomas has this thought in Chapter 4 as Chuck approaches him with the sandwich that will be Thomas’s first meal in the Glade. When Thomas arrives in the Box, he is disoriented and scared. His lack of knowledge about the Gladers and their strange language is alienating. The Gladers have also treated him as an ignorant outcast, as they do all Greenies, though Thomas doesn’t yet understand the initiation practices of the Glade. Chuck has been assigned to watch out for Thomas, though as the former Greenie, he is also somewhat of an outsider and doesn’t have much information to share. Here, Chuck’s kind act of bringing Thomas some food to eat is an initiation of friendship, and it temporarily grounds Thomas in his disoriented state. The idea of camaraderie in this foreign place, especially after his harsh introduction to it, is as sustaining as the food Chuck provides.

They headed for the Homestead, Chuck yapping the whole time. Thomas wasn’t complaining—it was the closest thing to normal in his life.

This quote appears in Chapter 29, after Thomas has slept to recover from his night in the Maze with Alby and Minho. Even judging by the unconventional standards of this strange, new place, Thomas’s experiences so far have been extraordinary and alienating. Since his arrival, he has begun to stand out as exceptional and therefore not entirely trustworthy. Chuck brings a dose of levity to Thomas’s life with his lighthearted manner, jokes, and constant prattle. Thomas finds that he is able to overcome his irritation at Chuck’s childish behavior and embraces the young boy’s presence in his life instead. Though some of the Gladers have grown wary of Thomas, Chuck looks up to him and trusts him completely. He inspires hope in Thomas and helps drive him forward when Thomas wants to give up. In all of the Glade, his friendship with Chuck is the one thing that anchors him in a simulation of normalcy.

The sudden feeling of responsibility for his friends almost overwhelmed him—made it hard to run. But he kept going, determined to win.

Thomas has this thought in Chapter 54 as the Gladers start their run through the Maze to attack the Griever Hole and escape. Thomas arrived in the Glade as an outsider, and for much of the time he has felt that Chuck is his only friend. At this point, Thomas has overcome many obstacles to win additional friendships, though he has also demonstrated instinctual loyalty, even to some of the Gladers who haven’t always treated him well. Thomas’s actions have earned him not only a place in their community but also a leadership role in which he now bears great responsibility for others, especially Chuck and Theresa. The care he has developed for the Gladers is bolstering, but it is also burdensome in this moment of great danger with an unpredictable outcome. Though this concern for and duty to his friends drives him forward, it also increases the stakes, giving him something, or someone, to lose.