49 pages • 1 hour read
Gordon KormanThe Hypnotists
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2015A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 9-16Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 9 Summary
Jax starts training under Dr. Mako to use his powers. Dr. Mako puts Jax in a room with a volunteer he calls Mrs. Park. Jax is unable to conjure any kind of vision and wonders if he doesn’t have hypnotic powers. He goes to the bathroom feeling like a failure. Wilson emerges from a stall and insults Jax. Jax accuses him of being insecure about losing his status at Sentia to the next big thing. Dr. Mako walks in, defusing the fight. Dr. Mako insists that Jax must let the hypnosis happen instead of trying to force it.
Jax takes a walk to clear his head. He encounters a panhandler in a red and black jacket on the street and finds himself having a vision. He tests his powers, commanding the panhandler to scratch his nose and feel tired. Jax is thrilled to have succeeded but feels guilty about leaving the panhandler in his power. He tells the panhandler to wake up from hypnosis.
Jax races back to Sentia to tell Dr. Mako. Dr. Mako brings him back into the lab with Mrs. Park. Instead of trying to hypnotize her, he tries to mimic his mindset from when he saw the panhandler. He imagines wanting to be left alone. It works, and he sees the vision of himself. Dr. Mako gives Jax a lecture about morality and urges him to resist the temptation to hypnotize people for frivolous or selfish reasons. As Jax leaves, he sees someone in a red and black jacket counting money in Ms. Samuels’s office.
Chapter 10 Summary
Tommy doesn’t believe that Jax can hypnotize people. Jax tries to demonstrate on Tommy, but it doesn’t work. Jax concludes that Tommy’s colorblindness keeps him from finding a way into Tommy’s mind. Tommy dares Jax to hypnotize Lisa Sweeney, an attractive eighth-grade girl. She glares at him and tells him to stalk somebody else. Jax feels a mesmeric connection, though, and realizes he hypnotized the lunch lady. He feels guilty about the frivolous hypnosis but decides it is important to have his best friend on board. He commands the lunch lady to give Tommy extra gravy and then forget about the conversation when the bell rings. The lunch lady starts ladling way too much gravy on Tommy’s plate, causing a ruckus in the cafeteria. Jax tries to stop her, but the mesmeric link has been broken. He worries he will get the lunch lady in trouble and get himself kicked out of Sentia. The bell rings just in time, causing the hypnosis to break. Tommy believes in Jax’s powers now.
Chapter 11 Summary
The test subjects at Sentia are paid to participate in “brain studies” before being hypnotized and instructed to forget everything. Wilson wishes he could practice on someone who hasn’t already been “used.” Jax learns that the panhandler is a regular study participant. Jax practices on Mr. Baltic and instructs him to jump up and down. Next to him, another hypnotist named Augie Cunningham commands his participant to think he is standing on hot coals, causing the participant to jump and flail. Kira tells her that children are stuck in a burning building and if he pumps his feet, he can put out the fire. The participant furiously pumps his feet. Mako commands her and suggests to everyone the importance of leading with a feeling. Jax feels dejected at being the worst one.
On the weekends, Jax learns about the history of hypnotism. Sir Edmund Hillary was hypnotized to get over his fear of heights and summit Mount Everest. Brahms was tone-deaf, but his wife hypnotized him into writing great music. Lewis and Clark hypnotized each other all the time. Jax is amazed at how often his family name, Opus, comes up in history.
Jax gets to know the other kids. Wilson is the bully. Kira is the best and hardest-working hypnotist. Auggie is the most experienced and humorless. The two Lancaster Singhs, cousins with the same name, viciously compete. Grace Cavanaugh always leaves early to compete in tennis tournaments. Natalie Zeigler uses a wheelchair and rivals Jax for speed in entrancing people. DeRon Marcus is Wilson’s sidekick.
Jax learns that Sentia kicked one girl named Clarissa out. Everyone speculates that she just wasn’t good enough to benefit the Institute. Jax learns that when kids are kicked out, they are hypnotized and told to forget it all happened. Jax wonders if Dr. Mako bends them already.
As Jax leaves, a large man follows him behaving like a toddler and calling him daddy. Jax realizes Wilson and DeRon are playing a prank on him. Ms. Wilson steps in to help him, and he decides to not tattle.
Chapter 12 Summary
Jax practices with a subject in front of Dr. Mako. He longs for praise. He connects to the man’s mind successfully but isn’t sure what to do. Dr. Mako offers no guidance. Jax begins to absorb some of the man’s memories, seeing visions of his wife and her gravestone. Jax begins to cry and feels crushed.
Dr. Mako explains that hypnotizing someone creates a mental link that leaves you vulnerable. The other person’s memories and feelings can leech into your mind, and you have to learn to protect yourself against it. Jax asks how the subject’s wife died. Dr. Mako tells him that investing in the subjects too much is a weakness. Dr. Mako explains that the subject’s wife died on 9/11. Jax feels even worse, absorbing a lifetime’s worth of tragedy.
Jax runs into some of his classmates. Kira is perturbed that Dr. Mako showed him that experience. She was the last one to get it, and now she feels replaced. Jax realizes that his training is leveling up as he takes on more risk.
Chapter 13 Summary
Jax and the other hypnotists go to a local pizza place called Corrado’s. While eating there, Jax begins to feel like someone is trying to hypnotize him. He realizes it must be the small older man with the gray ponytail. He links with the man and commands him to go away. The man leaves.
The man corners Jax outside, recognizing him as a fellow hypnotist. He introduces himself as Axel Braintree, president of the Sandman’s Guild. Braintree knows about Mako, the Institute, and Jax’s family heritage. He tells Jax that his mom, Monica, is from the Sparks family, an even more storied hypnotist family than the Opuses. The convergence of two bloodlines produced Jax’s extraordinary power. Braintree cautions Jax against Mako, calling him a dangerous man who is withholding information. Jax doesn’t trust Braintree. Braintree leaves him with a business card and invites him to the next meeting of the Sandman’s Guild.
Chapter 14 Summary
Maureen Samuels tried and failed to be a model before Mako brought her to the Institute. Though her powers never lived up to expectations, he gave her a job running the Institute. She gives lectures on the history of hypnotism, but none of the boys can focus due to her beauty. Jax perks up whenever they mention an Opus, who made many notable events happen throughout history.
Jax researches his Sparks family heritage. His mom doesn’t know much about them. Jax’s father avoids looking at him, always worried about being hypnotized like he was with his parents. During class, Ms. Samuels mentions the Sparks family and how Franz Mesmer was a Sparks who was disowned after using his ability for profit. Jax wonders if Braintree was right that Mako doesn’t want Jax to know about his special heritage. Jax decides to go to the Sandman’s Guild meeting.
Chapter 15 Summary
Jax arrives at the address which appears to be a laundromat. Jax follows a few odd-looking people into the back corridor where he finds the ragtag meeting run by Axel Braintree. Braintree scolds members of the Guild for using their hypnotism to lower their rent or get more tips at a restaurant. This is a support group for hypnotists. It is nowhere near as fancy and established as Sentia.
Jax meets the other attendees. Ivan Marcinko used to bend people into buying electronics they didn’t want and got fired from his job. Evelyn Lolis won beauty contests though people would complain once they saw her picture in the paper. Braintree spent time in jail for using his mind-bending to steal art. Jax argues that Dr. Mako is using hypnosis for good. Braintree probes Jax to figure out what that “good” really is. Jax doesn’t know. Braintree wants Jax to spy on Sentia and report what’s going on, but Jax refuses.
Chapter 16 Summary
Kira Kendall always has trouble bending the mind of one volunteer, Mrs. Ventnor. She hadn’t been brought in for months until today, so the kids wondered who was going to face her. They realize Jax is up. Kira sneaks into the viewing gallery to see Jax successfully making Mrs. Ventnor think she is walking a tightrope. Kira feels emotional about being left behind. Dr. Mako and Ms. Samuels wonder if Jax is “the one.” Jax notices all the staff know his name now, and the other kids ostracize him. Wilson hangs a mean effigy of Jax from the bulletin board.
Dr. Mako asks Jax to try and hypnotize a camera. Jax learns how to send a “post-hypnotic suggestion,” a command the hypnotist triggers after the mental link occurs. Jax finds the camera with his mind and tells it that anyone who hears a police siren should stand and salute. Ramolo runs the camera back and watches the footage. A siren wafts in from outside, and Ramolo salutes. Jax succeeded in sending the suggestion through the camera.
Chapters 9-16 Analysis
In this section, Korman continues to develop Jax's character, exploring how new social dynamics at Sentia impact his character and deepen his understanding of his power and destiny. As Jax begins to use his powers more autonomously, he confronts the ethical implications of his powers and Indirect Versus Direct Control. Dr. Mako lays out his moral framework around hypnosis, forbidding Jax from using the power for frivolous or selfish ends. Here, Jax experiences indirect control, as he agrees to follow Dr. Mako’s rules and trust in his educational aims. Jax also experiences other forms of influence from his classmates as they ostracize and bully him for winning Mako’s favoritism.
Jax runs into a moral dilemma around his powers when he debates whether to hypnotize a cafeteria worker to prove his powers to Tommy, demonstrating Morality in the Face of Temptation. Jax weighs his personal need to have a support network against the potential to damage the cafeteria worker’s job, ultimately allowing a selfish instinct to outweigh respecting the autonomy and safety of others. As the plan backfires and he struggles to control the command he gives her, Jax must confront the gravity of his powers and the moral responsibility he carries. This moment marks a turning point in Jax’s moral journey as he becomes more measured about using his powers in his personal life.
As Jax strengthens his moral resolve around his powers, he witnesses the ways his classmates abuse their powers, using them for selfish and frivolous reasons. Korman contrasts Jax’s behavior with that of his Sentia classmates and establishes a competitive atmosphere at Sentia that incentivizes students to bend the rules for personal gain. When Wilson and DeRon bend a stranger as a prank, Jax sees the way hypnotists can begin to see other people as tools and pawns, losing all respect for their autonomy and personhood. This moment foreshadows the way Dr. Mako will use civilians as pawns in his larger schemes, putting them at risk of death. In doing so, Korman continues to foreshadow how Jax, aided by a community of well-meaning peers, will exhibit Heroism Against Destructive Forces.
One element that helps Jax resist temptation is his strong sense of empathy. When he experiences emotional blowback for the first time, the test subject’s grief overwhelms him. While many of Jax’s classmates and mentors seem disconnected from that empathy, Jax comes away with a deeper respect for the internal suffering of others. Korman further differentiates Jax from his classmates by comparing his reaction to the experience of Kira’s reaction. While Jax continues to feel for the subject, Kira reframes the experience of her ambition. In contrasting Jax’s behavior with that of his peers, Korman further develops the theme of Morality in the Face of Temptation.
Korman complicates the narrative further by introducing a foil to Dr. Mako in the form of Axel Braintree. While Dr. Mako is a polished, influential member of high society, Korman emphasizes Braintree’s disheveled appearance, the ragtag nature of the Sandman’s Guild, and their ordinary facilities. Korman makes a statement about the relationship between class and influence through the contrast between Mako and Braintree. Jax finds it easier to initially trust and believe Mako because he comes with fancy contacts, a luxurious institute, and accolades from prominent community members. Jax initially discounts Braintree based on his appearance and lack of reputation. Korman uses these physical attributes to emphasize the values both organizations hold. Sentia’s high-class reputation reflects the way it purports to value lofty ideals like knowledge and discovery while valuing social influence. The Sandman’s Guild has a contrary aim, to encourage hypnotists to resist the urge to pursue social influence. By styling them like a support group, Korman reveals new ways to look at hypnotism, not as a power but as a curse or an addiction those endowed with its power must learn to control.
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