The Mysterious Benedict Society takes place in a world plagued by The Emergency, a non-specific and all-encompassing threat that drives the public to mass panic, and which symbolizes how authoritarian forces can utilize wide-scale deception as a political tactic. In the midst of the Emergency, citizens distrust their governments, and news reports provoke hysteria by reporting that everything is “desperately out of control,” from pollution to school systems to the weather. People clamor for a drastic improvement, but no one clarifies what improvement is needed. This vagueness is intentional—the Emergency has been created by Mr. Curtain, who sows fear with the mind-controlling messages he transmits to the world. Though the Emergency appears to be a state of chaos, that chaos has actually been carefully manufactured so that Mr. Curtain can seize governmental power by promising to usher in “the Improvement.” Mr. Curtain manipulates the public into believing their governments have lost control so they will welcome his control, even if it grants him absolute power.
The Emergency Quotes in The Mysterious Benedict Society
The newspaper that morning had been filled with the usual headlines, several of them devoted to what was commonly called the Emergency: things had gotten desperately out of control, the headlines reported; the school systems, the budget, the pollution, the crime, the weather…why, everything, in fact, was a complete mess, and citizens everywhere were clamoring for a major––no, a dramatic––improvement in government. “Things must change NOW!” was the slogan plastered on billboards all over the city (it was a very old slogan)….
“No one seems to realize how much we are driven by FEAR, the essential component of human personality. Everything else––from ambition to love to despair––derives in some way from this single powerful emotion. Must find some way to make use of this.”
The Emergency Symbol Timeline in The Mysterious Benedict Society
