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 30-34Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 30 Summary: “A Chess Lesson”
Reynie’s only idea to foil Mr. Curtain’s plan is to disable the Whisperer, but he does not know how to do that. Thinking there must be some way to access the computers, Kate volunteers to search for a possible entryway. She asks Sticky to tell her how to get through the secret entrance.
Sticky finds himself wanting to lie, to protect the Whisperer. He must force himself to tell Kate the directions. Reynie wants to go with Kate, but she says that it is not necessary. Reynie finds himself too weary to argue.
Constance promises they will find a way to save Kate if she is caught, which surprises and touches Kate. The girls leave and the boys go to bed, afraid to admit how much the Whisperer has affected them.
Reynie mentally composes a letter to Miss Perumal, telling her that the Whisperer’s illusion of happiness is too strong to resist. He fears that he is not the person he believed he was. Reynie is ready to give up, so he sends a Morse code message to Mr. Benedict, asking for advice. There is no answer, and Reynie wonders if Mr. Benedict and his team have been captured. He feels both despair and relief that their mission appears to be over and everything is out of his hands.
At last there is a quick response from the mainland: “Remember the white knight” (368). Reynie instantly knows that this is a reference to the chess question on the test. Mr. Benedict is telling him not to doubt himself.
Chapter 31 Summary: “The Mouse in the Culvert”
Kate works her way through the secret passage. A door slides open and Jackson steps out. Kate shoots a marble with her slingshot, and Jackson runs after the sound. Kate opens the door and finds herself in an elevator.
Kate opens the maintenance panel in the ceiling with her screwdriver and climbs the elevator cables, but she finds that she cannot pry open the elevator doors at the top. Peeking through a vent, Kate realizes that getting into the computer room is impossible.
Kate hears S.Q. talking to Martina, on their way to meet Mr. Curtain. She shimmies down the cable and moves to the culvert, where she can eavesdrop on the meeting.
Mr. Curtain explains to Martina that the Improvement will make most people much happier. S.Q. questions this, asking about the other people. Mr. Curtain confirms that some people are inclined to be unhappy. Martina comments that brainsweeping should make those people more manageable.
Mr. Curtain explains that brainsweeping does not erase memories, which is impossible, but instead hides them from the person. The Whisperer sends high-powered messages that deny the fears exist, giving the illusion that they are gone. When the Improvement occurs, everyone’s greatest fears will be drowned out by messages.
S.Q. cries out that he cannot wait. Mr. Curtain replies that he will not have to, as the Improvement will begin the day after tomorrow. He tells Martina that past Executives have been dispatched all over the world in preparation. Martina will work with the Sweepers, machines designed to bury memories.
Mr. Curtain thinks he hears a noise and pours boiling tea water down the drain, but there is no sound. He writes a note telling S.Q. to get Jackson and go to the culvert opening.
Kate manages to duck her head before the hot water runs down the pipe. Fearing a trap, she hurries down the culvert and plunges into the water.
Chapter 32 Summary: “Sacrifices, Narrow Escapes, and Something Like a Plan”
In the morning the Executives are looking for the person who swam away from the culvert. Kate’s shoes are still wet, so Reynie spills juice on them to shield her from suspicion.
The boys report that Mr. Curtain yelled at S.Q., so Reynie guesses that S.Q. walked all over Kate’s footprints by the culvert opening. Kate is relieved that she will not be identified.
Jackson and Martina come up to the team’s table. As Jackson shows them a marble, Martina comments that they are looking for its owner and that Kate’s bucket would be a good place to check. Kate dumps her bucket’s content on the table, and Martina is disappointed that there are no marbles or slingshot. Kate had anticipated that Jackson would find the marble, so she got rid of the evidence.
Martina and Jackson return to their table. Martina says that Jackson lost a piece of licorice in the passageway; they suspect it may have stuck to someone’s shoe.
Under the table Kate hands something sticky and cold to Reynie, who realizes it is the licorice. Reynie hands it to Sticky, who hands it to Constance. Constance does not understand what it is, so she brings it up to her face to examine it. Martina and Jackson look in Kate’s hands and under the table. Just before Martina looks up, Constance pops the licorice into her mouth and swallows it.
Later, Reynie comes upon the idea of all of them facing Mr. Curtain together. Kate says she and Constance could sneak into the room while he and Sticky are in the Whispering Gallery. The problem is that it will not be Reynie and Sticky’s turn for the Whisperer for several days.
Constance comments that it is too bad they cannot make all the other Messengers sick, so that Reynie and Sticky could have their turns sooner. Sticky replies that they can.
Chapter 33 Summary: “Bad News and Bad News”
The team grinds wild chuck-root that Sticky found, which will cause anyone who ingests it to repeatedly vomit. If this succeeds, Reynie and Sticky will be called upon for the Whisperer.
Reynie goes to leave a message for Milligan at the culvert, hiding it under a rock. S.Q., looking for more footprints or some other clue, finds it.
The team eats only green vegetables and water for dinner. All around the cafeteria, the other students eat and drink the tainted offerings. Jillson comes in and tells them that S.Q. found a note by the culvert, though it was destroyed before he could read it, by a man dressed like a Helper. Jillson says that the spy was caught when he chewed and swallowed the note.
The team sees Milligan being taken away through the cafeteria, handcuffed, shackled, and bruised. Reynie realizes that Milligan must have allowed himself to be caught, so that he could say he was a spy acting alone.
Chapter 34 Summary: “Sticky’s Discovery”
The team sends a Morse code message that Milligan was captured. The reply is “Laughter is the best medicine” (411).
In the morning S.Q. comes to take the boys to Mr. Curtain. They panic because they had not expected to be called so early. Reynie grabs a pen and scribbles on his hand.
At the Whispering Gallery door, Mr. Curtain tells S.Q. over the intercom to get him more juice. After S.Q. leaves, Reynie asks Sticky to request the first session in the Whisperer, so that he can signal the girls.
The door opens and Mr. Curtain welcomes the boys, saying that they have the honor of completing the project. Sticky asks if the Institute will be closed, and Mr. Curtain assures him that he intends to keep Sticky and Reynie as assistants.
Sticky struggles with his thoughts. He is used to being afraid, but recent events have shown him that he is capable of bravery. Sticky asks Mr. Curtain if he may go first. Mr. Curtain agrees.
Reynie watches Sticky work to resist the Whisperer’s temptations. He goes to the window and places his hand against the glass so the message on his hand can be read. It says, “We need K & C here! Now!” (421).
Chapters 30-34 Analysis
Memories of how the Whisperer made them feel continue to haunt Reynie and Sticky. Reynie feels like an imposter in front of his friends, who have come to depend on him as the center of their team. While the “others were looking to him as a leader, and he could only look back at them as a failure” (363). The others immediately expect Reynie to come up with a plan to defeat Mr. Curtain, and he has no idea what to tell them. When Kate asks Sticky for directions to the Whispering Gallery, he has to force himself to tell her. Every part of his being wants to misdirect her to protect the Whisperer from sabotage. Both boys know the Whisperer must be destroyed, but they cannot shake their addiction to its effects.
This mental and emotional battle between what he must do and what he longs to do takes a toll on Reynie. He has always prided himself on knowing the difference between right and wrong, but now he is under the Whisperer’s sway. When Kate says she will search for a way into Mr. Curtain’s computer room, Reynie knows that he should go with her, that he should fight her insistence on going alone. It is as if the Whisperer reaches him in the dormitory and clouds his judgement: “A fog seemed to have rolled into his mind, and on top of that he felt bone-weary. He was tired, very tired, of always trying to do the right thing” (365). In the end, Reynie lets Kate go on her dangerous scouting mission alone, which he would not have dreamed of doing just days before.
When Reynie feels they have run out of options, he thinks he should make one last appeal to Mr. Benedict for advice. Yet he almost does not send the message, for if their mission is over, he is no longer required to keep fighting against the Whisperer’s lure. There would be relief in giving up. Ultimately Reynie latches onto his last bit of determination and sends the message. Mr. Benedict’s return message encourages him to stop doubting himself.
Kate also feels torn in these chapters. Kate has deferred to Reynie as the natural leader of the group, but she has always been such an independent, forceful child that she has “had grand visions of sabotaging the Whisperer, destroying its computers all by herself” (375), which is why she declines Reynie’s offer to come with her. This independent feat would have two benefits: “Not only would she be regarded as a hero, she would prove once and for all that she could do everything alone—that she needed no one’s help” (375). When she fails to do this, Kate is greatly disappointed in herself. Reynie kindly helps her feel better about the outcome of her excursion.
Despite Kate’s inability to succeed in a grand, dramatic victory over Mr. Curtain, she does gather some very important information by eavesdropping on his meeting with Martina, including several details about the Whisperer and its functions. Though it cannot erase memories completely, it can conceal them, which shows the team it may be possible to recover memories after brainsweeping. Kate also learns how indispensable Mr. Curtain is to operating the Whisperer: “The Whisperer, Martina, is a sensitive, delicately balanced machine that requires my strict guidance for its proper function” (380).
Milligan heroically saves the children from being suspected as spies. This deeply affects the team, as they feel gratitude for his sacrifice and fear that they can no longer count on his help. They naturally took comfort in the idea that they had one adult to rely on, as children are accustomed to looking to adults for help. But the team now knows they are all on their own.
When Reynie and Sticky finally reenter the Whispering Gallery, their fears of being overtaken by Whisperer’s lure come to fruition. To Reynie, “[s]tepping into its presence was like stepping into a warm bath. He wanted to take his seat in it and never climb out” (418).
Since he feels this so strongly, Reynie fears Sticky will be unable to fulfill his part of the plan to defeat Mr. Curtain. When Sticky asks Mr. Curtain if he still plans to close the Institute, Reynie is taken aback, unsure whether Sticky is stalling or giving up. Reynie knows that Sticky’s primary fear is being unwanted, so when Mr. Curtain assures them that they will continue to be wanted as special assistants, this seems to fulfill Sticky’s greatest desire.
While Reynie wonders about the state of Sticky’s mind, Sticky is in turmoil. Despite his extraordinary mental talents, Sticky lacks self-esteem. His inability to believe in himself has consistently caused him to make mistakes and run away from problems, and prevented him from taking action. He feels a moment of self-recrimination for these perceived failures: “he knew […] he rarely lived up to expectation, and for this reason had clung so fiercely to his nickname. Any boy with a name like George Washington must surely have great things expected of him” (420). Yet through the experience of befriending peers who respect his abilities and need him for who he is, Sticky has gained newfound confidence and courage. He draws on that bravery to confront the Whisperer.
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