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 8-11Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 8 Summary: “The Thing to Come”
The team learns about the Sender, a man named Ledroptha Curtain. It is a mystery why the secret messages are only broadcast a few times a day, through very weak signals.
Reynie guesses that the Sender is saving up his messages for some new purpose. Constance thinks the Sender will start boosting the strength of his messages. Mr. Benedict says the Sender will begin transmitting his messages directly into people’s minds, without the need for other signals. He does not know why the Sender plans to do this, which is why the children must infiltrate the Institute, to find out.
Mr. Benedict explains that those like themselves who have resisted the Sender’s messages will no longer be able to, and he fears they will be subject to “special attention.” These words frighten the children. Reynie trusts Mr. Benedict but wonders if doing so is wise.
Chapter 9 Summary: “The Naming of the Crew”
Sticky helps Reynie and Kate improve their Morse code skills. Constance composes an unpleasant poem about the other three then goes to bed.
Kate insists that Constance cannot be included in their team, as she is too cranky and clumsy, and not especially bright. Sticky agrees that Constance will make their mission harder.
Reynie goes to Mr. Benedict’s study, uncomfortable about bringing up Constance. Mr. Benedict understands their feelings but insists Constance is more gifted than she seems and may prove to be the key to the mission’s success. Mr. Benedict tells Reynie that he is sympathetic toward all of them, as he grew up as an orphan too. His parents were Dutch scientists who were killed in a laboratory accident.
The children discuss a name for their team. Constance suggests “The Mysterious Benedict Society.”
Chapter 10 Summary: “Nomansan Island”
Rhonda drives the team to Nomansan Island, where the Institute stands, and points out hidden telescopes located on the mainland shore. The children are nervous as they stop at the guardhouse. The guards wear expensive suits and large silver watches like the one used to stun Constance in the house maze. Rhonda signs forms and says goodbye.
Their escorts, Jillson and Jackson, arrive. The children separate at girls’ and boys’ dormitories. Reynie and Sticky’s room has a window that can be used to send messages to the hidden telescopes. Jackson tells the boys that if they need anything, to ask an Executive, former Messengers hired by Mr. Curtain to run the Institute. Messengers are the top students, with special privileges.
Kate startles Reynie and Sticky by opening a ceiling panel and revealing that the girls are in a vent directly above them. The team investigates the area. Sticky notices that a rare plant called drapeweed has a patch in the middle that has been replanted. The team examines it, and the patch swallows Sticky up.
Chapter 11 Summary: “Traps and Nonsense”
Kate grabs Sticky’s hand then catches Constance’s ankle as she disappears into the hole in the ground. Reynie helps drag them both back up. The hole leads down to a 20-foot pit. Reynie concludes that the drapeweed-covered pit must be a trap.
The Executives give the team a tour and tell them that Mr. Curtain became one of the richest men in the world by mining the island for minerals. He then used his wealth to build the Institute. Jackson points out various buildings. The last building is the Helpers’ barracks. The Helpers do all the maintenance at the Institute.
The team observes an Executive leading a class of students in a memorization exercise. Constance comments that the drill sounds like nonsense. The group next passes the cafeteria, where the Helpers prepare food. Jackson says the Helpers cannot speak to them unless asked a direct question. He says he used to play tricks on them.
Chapters 8-11 Analysis
These chapters describe the lead up to the team beginning their mission. The children become aware of the situation’s dangerous nature; Mr. Benedict is convinced it will become exponentially more dire. He feels that the upcoming change in the Sender’s nefarious plans will project messages directly into people’s brains and specifically target those whose minds have resisted the current messages. This announcement frightens the children.
Before they leave for their mission, there is some conflict among the team members. While Reynie, Kate, and Sticky like and respect each other and already feel like they have solidified into a strong team, Constance continues to disrupt their training with petulant behavior and constant complaining: “She had tried their patience all evening—indeed, ever since they’d met her—and the prospect of her joining them on a dangerous mission had them worried” (138). Apart from the fact that she is irritating, Kate and Sticky worry that her behavior will jeopardize their mission. Kate also feels that Constance is not at the same intellectual level as the others. She often does not understand words used by the others, like “remorse” and “cryptic.”
Sticky and Kate recognize that Reynie has the best temperament to bring this problem to Mr. Benedict. Kate is too impulsive and would only complain about Constance without stating their case, and Sticky would panic.
Mr. Benedict tries to reassure Reynie that Constance belongs on their team. He understands their objections to her and anticipates that the children feel he has included Constance out of pity or unrealistic hopes. He believes her presence is necessary for the mission’s success. Constance does display a talent for wordplay and devising impromptu poems. When the team tries to come up with a name for themselves, Constance is the one who thinks of “The Mysterious Benedict Society,” a name so perfect that no one can dispute her creation.
The relationship between Reynie and Mr. Benedict is further developed in these chapters. While Reynie is deeply touched that Mr. Benedict shows him such respect and kindness, he wonders if he has been swayed into believing Mr. Benedict’s unbelievable tale of the Sender by this warm reception. He desperately wants to trust Mr. Benedict, “this man who had shown faith in him,” and he does not want to lose the connections he’s built with the other children, who “like and respect Reynie as much as he did them” (136). This feeling is strengthened when Reynie overhears Mr. Benedict refer to him as a hero when speaking to Number Two: “Reynie’s heart fluttered. Hero? Was Mr. Benedict referring to him?” (142).
When Reynie leaves Mr. Benedict’s study, he thanks him. Reynie’s thanks encapsulates all of his feelings, his gratitude for being saved from the orphanage’s intolerable environment, for being treated with esteem and appreciation, and for being introduced to his first true friends. Reynie longs for connection and acceptance, and he’s loath to relinquish those feelings now that he’s finally experienced them.
The team leaves the relative safety and security of Mr. Benedict’s house for the unknown dangers of the Institute. They have a bad feeling about the place right from the start, when the guardhouse attendants remind them of the men who tried to abduct them in the house maze.
The team’s unease continues when they meet the Executives who are charged with giving them their orientation tour. It appears that there are “classes” of people at the Institute, designated by their clothing. Executives wear blue pants, a white tunic, and a blue sash, and run the Institute; Messengers wear striped pants and are students, “only they’re top of the class and have special privileges” (155).
Both Jackson and Jillson are exceptionally rude and condescending to the team. When Jackson explains that the workers in white uniforms are called Helpers, he displays contempt for them as well: “I remember when I was a student, I liked to play tricks on them—nothing they could do about it, you see, because no rule said I couldn’t” (171). Reynie sees that Jackson thrives on cruelty and considers himself much smarter than he actually is. It is interesting that the Institute is run by this kind of person.
The team also finds it strange that the class they view appears to be students reciting a nonsensical series of sentences. Jillson’s explanation seems odd as well, when she says that all words can seem like nonsense: “Take the word ‘food,’ for example. Ask yourself, ‘Why do we call it that?’ It’s an odd-sounding word, isn’t it? ‘Food.’ It could easily be considered nonsense. But in fact it’s extremely important” (170).
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