Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Mysterious Benedict Society, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Confidence and Growing Up
Deception vs. Truth
Loneliness vs. Friendship
Control vs. Freedom
Hope
Summary
Analysis
Sticky is just close enough to his friends that Kate can grab him as he falls through the drapewood. She stumbles forward, and Constance falls off Kate’s back into the hole. Kate grabs the smaller girl, but the weight of two children starts to drag Kate down herself. Kate calls for Reynie, and together, Kate and Reynie are able to pull Sticky and Constance to safety. Once they are all safe, they smile at one another, satisfied at getting out of danger together, and then gather around the hole to peer inside. The drapewood around the hole is growing back to conceal it. Sticky thanks Kate for saving him, and Constance says that she would thank Kate if it wasn’t Kate’s fault she fell in. The children ponder why someone would cover such a dangerous hole, and Reynie concludes that it must be a trap.
In the first moment of danger on their mission, the children prove that they can and will protect each other. They demonstrate their support for each other by literally and physically supporting each other. Their effort is not flawless––Kate accidentally endangers Constance in the process of saving Sticky––but in the end, all four are safe and closer than ever.
Themes
The children return to their rooms to meet Jackson and Jillson, but the Executives arrive more than 30 minutes late. Jillson asks Kate and Constance why their television is off, and she seems confused when Kate lies that they turned it off to leave the room. They meet with the boys and give all the children a tour of the island. They pass a mine, and Jillson explains that Mr. Curtain built his fortune by bringing a colony of miners to the island. He used that fortune to open the tuition-free Institute, but some of the mine shafts remain. They also point out the barracks of the Helpers, the white-uniformed workers, who are not allowed to speak to the students. Jackson remarks that soon the children will forget to even notice the Helpers.
The Helpers are another element of the hierarchy of the school. The rule that they are not permitted to speak to the students allows students to overlook and forget them. This generates entitlement and insensitivity in the students, positioning them as figures of authority over the Helpers. All students rank higher than Helpers, while Messengers rank higher than other students, Executives rank higher than Messengers, and Mr. Curtain controls them all.
Themes
The Executives lead the children past a group of students reciting a nonsensical chant about the “free market.” Jackson casually refers to it as the Free Market Drill, and Constance challenges that it sounds like nonsense. Jillson says that everything sounds like nonsense on some level, and that this is the sort of lesson they will learn at the Institute. She explains that there are no rules at the Institute, but she immediately contradicts herself by listing several rules. Reynie notes this inconsistency, but Jackson rolls his eyes and insists, “Many things that sound like rules aren’t actually rules, and it always sounds as if there are more rules than there really are.” Jackson also refuses to call Sticky by his nickname. Even though “Sticky” is what everyone calls him, Jackson believes that if the name isn’t official, then it can’t be real.
Jillson’s comment about nonsense shows how the Institute deconstructs students’ perception of the world to allow Mr. Curtain to reshape their beliefs. The list of rules is another way muddying the truth and cementing Mr. Curtain’s control: the students are forced to follow rules while the Executive insist there are no rules at all. Jackson continues trying to undermine the children’s perception of reality by claiming that they cannot trust what things “sound like.” This implies the children cannot believe their own perceptions and must instead believe what Mr. Curtain tells them is true. Jackson’s point extends to Sticky’s name; though “Sticky” is what everyone calls him and what he calls himself, the Institute’s paperwork identifies him as “George,” so that must be the truth.
Themes
