In the fight against Mr. Curtain, the characters face increasingly dire circumstances, and they struggle to retain hope that they will succeed. The novel thus illustrates how hope drives the characters toward positive action, while a lack of hope leads to inaction and in turn to self-loathing. At the start of the story, Milligan explicitly states that he has lost all hope, and only duty keeps him going. He carries out his duties with abject misery, indicating what the children might become if they give in to hopelessness. Reynie himself starts to lose hope as he struggles to resist the Whisperer, Mr. Curtain’s mind-control machine. He tries to remain optimistic, but he falls into despair as he convinces himself that he lacks the bravery to lead his friends. Losing hope in Mr. Benedict’s plan causes Reynie to lose hope in himself. The Whisperer has exhausted him, and he finds that he is “tired, very tired, of always trying to do the right thing.” Reynie no longer believes or even hopes that he might be able to help his friends, which leads him to give up trying, which only stirs his self-loathing and hopelessness more. A lack of hope becomes a lack of action, since Reynie no longer believes in what he is fighting for.
The children of the Mysterious Benedict Society regain their hope over the course of the novel, which emboldens them to take action against Mr. Curtain. The children take risks because their hope for a positive outcome overpowers their fear of a negative one. Sticky resists the Whisperer because he has faith in Reynie and hopes that his friend’s plan will come to fruition. Kate sacrifices herself to the Executives in Constance’s place because she hopes that she can fight them off. Reynie once again dedicates himself to “do[ing] the right thing” because he hopes he can be brave enough. This connection between hope and morality demonstrates that hope is a vital step to finding the bravery to fight for what is right. The children do not defeat Mr. Curtain through hope alone, but their hope encourages them to overcome their self-doubt and take action.
Related Themes from Other Texts
Hope ThemeTracker
Hope Quotes in The Mysterious Benedict Society
“I want to make some things perfectly clear,” said Mr. Benedict. “It is not my wish to put you in harm’s way. Quite the opposite: I despite the notion. Children should spend their time learning and playing in absolute safety––that is my firm belief. Now then, assuming that I am telling the truth, can you guess why I would nonetheless involve you in something dangerous?”
[…]
“If you’re telling the truth,” said Reynie, “then the only reason you would put us in danger is that you believe we’ll fall into greater danger if you don’t.”
“…Would you consider this a good move?”
“I’m no great chess player, sir, but I would say not. By starting over, white loses the advantage of going first.”
“Why, then, do you think the white player might have done it?”
Reynie considered…. “Perhaps he doubted himself.”
Part of him wanted not to believe Mr. Benedict. Could he really be trusted? ...It would be such a relief to think his predictions about the thing to come were nothing more than wild speculation. And yet Reynie did trust Mr. Benedict, had trusted him almost immediately. What troubled Reynie was that he so badly wanted to trust Mr. Benedict––wanted to believe in this man who had shown faith in him, wanted to stay with these children who seemed to like and respect Reynie as much as he did them.
And so the question was not whether Reynie could trust Mr. Benedict, but whether he could trust himself. Who in his right mind would actually want to be put in danger just because that let him be a part of something?
“You must remember, family is often born of blood, but it doesn’t depend on blood. Nor is it exclusive of friendship. Family members can be your best friends, you know. And best friends, whether or not they are related to you, can be your family.”
Reynie had drunk up those words like life-saving medicine….[He] had gone to bed thinking of the people he might one day––if everything turned out all right––consider a part of his family.
[Sticky] was glaring at Jackson. It was such an angry look––so full of defiant outrage––that Reynie actually felt encouraged. There was strength in Sticky. It was just easy to miss. Easiest of all for Sticky himself.
[Reynie] was hoping against hope that Mr. Benedict would find some way to save them––to save everyone––without requiring anything more from him. Reynie didn’t think he was capable of more, not since the Whisperer. He was worried, deeply worried, that the Whisperer had revealed to him who he truly was.
[Kate] had grand visions of sabotaging the Whisperer, destroying all its computers by herself. Ripping out cables, crushing components, stealing mysterious gizmos that could not be replaced. Not only would she be regarded as a hero, she could prove once and for all that she could do everything alone––that she needed no one’s help. But now she saw she could do no such thing. Not this time.
There had been times in Sticky’s life when an important question would flummox him no matter how well he knew the answer; and times he had run away from his problems; and times when he’d felt himself paralyzed when action was most needed. He’d never understood this tendency of his––he knew only that he rarely lived up to expectation….
And yet, in these last days, he'd become friends with people who cared about him, quite above and beyond what was expected of him….The effect of…all his friendships had grown stronger and stronger until––though he couldn’t say why he didn’t feel mixed up now––at the most desperate moment yet, he knew it to be true. There was bravery in him. It only had to be drawn out.
It has to be all four of us, but Constance can’t handle them. You can handle them, though. It will be rough, but you can handle them.
(Part of Kate believed this––a very important part, for Kate’s sense of invincibility was the main thing that had sustained her all her young life alone. But another part did not believe this––and it, too, was an important part, for unless you know about this part it is impossible to understand how brave a thing Kate was about to do.)
