107 pages • 3 hours read
Trenton Lee StewartThe Mysterious Benedict Society
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2007A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 12-15Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 12 Summary: “Beware the Gemini”
New arrivals enter the classroom, including two children who look dazed. Reynie believes that these children must have been stunned and kidnapped.
Jillson announces the arrival of Mr. Ledroptha Curtain. A man in a motorized wheelchair zips into the room; he looks exactly like Mr. Benedict.
That night an Executive named S.Q. Pedalian tells Reynie and Sticky that they must turn off their lights and be silent. Kate and Constance come down from the ceiling. The children ponder the appearance of Mr. Benedict, calling himself Mr. Curtain.
Sticky sends the message, “We see Mr. B when we see Mr. C. How can this be?” in Morse code, and they wait for a response. Rhonda replies, “When looking in my looking glass I spied a trusted face. Alas, Not to be taken for him am I. Beware, therefore, the Gemini” (181).
Sticky says that Gemini is the sign of the twin. Reynie believes that Mr. Benedict must have a long-lost twin. Mr. Benedict was an orphan, so he must not realize he has a brother.
Chapter 13 Summary: “Lessons Learned”
In each class an Executive gives a quiz on the previous day’s material, which is always strange and exaggerated, with many facts hidden within nonsense.
Reynie and Sticky do well on the quizzes, which gives the other students considerable trouble, including Kate. Constance constantly falls asleep in class.
Reynie notices that the few Messengers in the group, in particular one named Martina Crow, constantly wait for an Executive to call them away for “secret privileges.” Reynie notices that the two children who had looked dazed, Eustace and Rosie, now look eager and happy.
On their third day of class, S.Q. asks Reynie and Sticky to stay behind. The boys worry that they have been discovered. As they step forward to S.Q.’s desk, Martina jumps in front of them in a threatening way.
S.Q. tells the boys that Martina dislikes them because they have scored perfectly on their quizzes. Those who score best become Messengers. Reynie mentions Eustace and Rosie, and S.Q. replies that they are special recruits who are given extra attention.
Chapter 14 Summary: “People and Places to Be Avoided”
That evening the team stands in the corridor. Jackson appears and calls out Corliss Danton. Everyone in the hall falls silent, and Corliss pales when Jackson says that Mr. Curtin wants him to go to the Waiting Room. Corliss protests that he has done nothing to warrant punishment. Jackson replies that Corliss is not being punished, just that he must wait for Mr. Curtain.
After the two leave, the hall erupts with conversation. A girl who had previously been in the Waiting Room bursts into tears. Reynie and Sticky’s neighbor comments that he did not think Messengers were ever sent to the Waiting Room, and his roommate says it is bad luck to talk about it. Constance suggests they should avoid being sent to the Waiting Room.
Chapter 15 Summary: “Logical Conclusions and Miscalculations”
Kate says the lessons make no sense. Reynie realizes the lessons connect to the hidden messages. One of the messages they heard at Mr. Benedict’s house sounded much like a line from their lesson on hygiene.
Reynie lies in bed, calming his nerves by mentally composing a letter to Miss Perumal. Thinking of her cheers Reynie. Sticky cannot fall asleep.
The next day Sticky has trouble staying awake. To force himself to stay alert, Sticky concentrates on Corliss, who behaves like an exemplary student, though Sticky sees absolute misery in his eyes.
Sticky falls asleep, and Martina insults him. Jackson yells at Sticky for speaking without permission, but Kate protests that Sticky was not the one who spoke. Jackson sternly admonishes Kate for speaking. When he dismisses the class, Martina leaps up and then falls on her face. Kate had managed to tie Martina’s shoelaces to her desk, using her toes.
Chapters 12-15 Analysis
In these chapters the team learns about life at the Institute. They are bewildered and distressed that Mr. Curtain appears to be Mr. Benedict. The differences in the two men confuse Reynie:
“Mr. Benedict puts you at ease, but Mr. Curtain terrifies you. Mr. Benedict admires children, but Mr. Curtain looks down on them. And Mr. Benedict seems to know everything about you, but Mr. Curtain seems to know nothing…at least not yet” (178).
Reynie solves this puzzle, helped by the message sent from Mr. Benedict’s crew, when he concludes that Mr. Benedict has a long-lost brother. This plot twist employs the “evil twin” trope common in fiction, in which the story’s savior and villain are twins.
The team finds the school’s environment bizarre because “there were no textbooks, no field trips, no report cards, no roll call […], no rickety film projectors, no lockers, no team sports, no library, and, weirdly enough, no mirrors to be found anywhere” (187).
Lessons are rote memorization, which would not normally stymie intelligent students, but the content of these lessons is difficult to remember. Sticky does so with ease, since he remembers everything that he reads and hears, and Reynie gets by through deduction, but Kate struggles. Reynie recognizes that there is some truth to the overall content, but the conclusions drawn by the Executive in charge of the class seem distorted. He’s confused by S.Q.’s assertion that “[b]ecause it was impossible, in the end, to protect yourself from anything—no matter how hard you tried—it was important to try as hard as you could to protect yourself from everything” (189).
S.Q. also refuses to explain the “special” status of Eustace and Rosie, two students Reynie saw arrive with men in suits with stun watches. While the recruits initially appeared dazed and fearful, they now appear confident and comfortable.
As he acclimates to the Institute, Reynie is troubled by the Helpers’ working conditions. These white-clad workers always have their eyes downcast and never speak unless spoken to. Reynie is so disturbed by the Helpers that he avoids looking at them or speaking to them, since it feels rude to do so when they cannot reciprocate.
Another mysterious event occurs when Jackson arrives to take Corliss to the Waiting Room. All the other students immediately know what this means: “The boys from the neighboring room flinched and took a quick step backward, trying to disassociate themselves. A murmur spread down the corridor” (200-01). Only when the boy sees no way out does he agree to go with Jackson, saying, “I suppose one way or another I’m going to have to wait, is that right?” (201). This phrasing is strange, as it sounds as if the act of waiting is what is so distressing to Corliss. Later, Sticky observes that Corliss does not appear harmed. When Sticky looks at Corliss’s eyes, however, he sees that the boy has suffered some trauma.
The team gains an enemy in these chapters, as a very ambitious and combative Messenger named Martina finds Reynie and Sticky to be a threat to her position as a Messenger. She relishes making trouble for Sticky when he falls asleep in class, calling him “Skinny bald-headed four-eyes!” (209). This outrages Kate, who uses her incredible dexterity to tie Martina’s shoelaces to her desk. Making Martina look foolish in front of Jackson and the other students is the ultimate revenge. This adds Kate to Martina’s list of enemies, but Kate does it out of her sense of loyalty to Sticky.
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