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1. How is the protagonist introduced in Chapter One? What history is established for this character in the first paragraphs of the novel?

Thomas finds himself trapped in an elevator that jolts alive and lurches upward, knocking him onto the floor. He can only remember his first name; he doesn’t know how he got here and who he was or who his parents were. Thomas can remember vague faces, but his past is generally a blur.

2. How is the setting described that Thomas finds himself in after exiting the Box in Chapter Two? Who surrounds him?

Thomas can see that there are fifty boys wearing dirty, sweaty clothes like workers. The boys are in a large courtyard surrounded by four huge stone walls that are hundreds of feet high; there are openings in each of the four walls that lead to passages and corridors. Thomas sees livestock, crops, and fruit trees in the three corners of the courtyard; an odd, dilapidated building is in the last corner.

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