The Mysterious Benedict Society

The novel’s main theme is the importance of cooperation. Each member of the Mysterious Benedict Society brings with them particular skills and attributes, and when they cooperate and work together, they succeed. It is not readily apparent to the children at the beginning of the story that they are all pieces of a whole that collectively provides all the elements necessary to complete their mission. There is some squabbling at first, particularly between Constance and the others, as their personalities clash and it is not yet clear why they have been brought together. Mr. Benedict must emphasize that each one of them is vital to the team, that they must respect and appreciate what each of them has to offer the group. The truth of this becomes evident at the end of the story, when Constance’s particular strength, her unparalleled stubbornness, is precisely the trait needed to resist the Whisperer and Mr. Curtain.

Through cooperation the team accomplishes more than they could individually. This does not come naturally to the team, as all of them have lived lives of isolation. Reynie and Constance are orphans, Kate believes herself to be an orphan, and Sticky ran away from his parents. They are accustomed to acting independently by necessity. Reynie, Sticky, and Kate do quickly cohere into a cooperative unit, and even Constance becomes more amenable to teamwork as time goes on.

Though Kate hopes to save the day all by herself by finding and destroying the Whisperer’s computers, she discovers that this is impossible. In the final battle with Mr. Curtain and the Whisperer, the team must work together. Sticky stalls for time by resisting the Whisperer as long as he can. Reynie confuses the Whisperer and Mr. Curtain further, and later figures out the keypad code. Kate finds a way to get Constance up into the Whispering Gallery. Constance stops the Whisperer by confounding it thoroughly, which later enables Mr. Benedict to shut the device down for good. In the end they learn the ultimate power of cooperation.

All of the Mysterious Benedict Society members have lived without families for quite some time when they come together at the beginning of the story. Growing up without a family shapes their identities. Kate feels the need to prove that she can do anything she chooses, without the guiding help of a family. Reynie feels isolated and out of place and longs for a family. Sticky is scared and disconnected, having lost the comfort of his family. Constance never learned proper behavior, since she did not have a family to teach her.

It is human nature to yearn for a group to which we belong. As the team grows closer, they support and encourage each other and become like a family. This is bolstered by the loving guidance of Mr. Benedict, a father figure who also grew up without a family. Reynie reflects on a conversation with Mr. Benedict, in which Reynie assumes Mr. Benedict must long for a family himself. Mr. Benedict warmly explains that he considers his friends to be his family, a chosen family made up of Number Two and Rhonda, who were themselves orphans. Mr. Benedict demonstrates that families come in many forms and do not have to follow the traditional pattern of parents and children connected by birth. Reynie comes to understand that families can be joined by bonds that transcend blood relation. He realizes that Miss Perumal has been like a mother to him, and he cherishes her. When they are reunited at the end of the story, Miss Perumal feels the same way about Reynie and wishes to adopt him, to ensure that they are never separated again.

At the end of the story, the team and their newfound families meld together into one big extended family. This togetherness contrasts with Mr. Curtain’s isolation, who was also orphaned as a child but, unlike his twin, was too self-absorbed and resistant to vulnerability to seek a substitute family.

The first question on Mr. Benedict’s test that takes Reynie aback is “Are you brave?” This question is very different from those normally posed by intelligence tests, but Reynie is a conscientious boy, so he tries his best to answer. Upon reflection, he is not sure if he is brave, so he truthfully answers, “I hope so.” Reynie and the team then embark on an extremely dangerous mission that requires many instances of true bravery.

Kate shows bravado from the beginning of the story, striving to always appear confident and competent without help from anyone else, but there is a distinct difference between bravado and bravery. Kate demonstrates genuine bravery when she sacrifices her own safety to rescue Constance from the Executives. Kate had already secured her own position at the top of the tower, but she could not leave Constance on the ground, unable to defend herself. Deep down Kate knows that she is not invincible, but she plummets down the ground in a true act of bravery.

Sticky is a naturally anxious and fearful child, apprehensive about everything. He has no self-confidence and has never thought of himself as brave. Yet he finds the bravery within himself to volunteer to go into the Whisperer ahead of Reynie. Knowing that his friends believe in him and his strength helps Sticky discover the reservoir of bravery that was within him all along.

Reynie doubts his bravery, as he thinks he is too weak to resist the Whisperer’s temptations. He despairs, thinking that the final answer to Mr. Benedict’s question is that he is not brave. He had hoped that he was, but he feels that he has been found lacking. Reynie overcomes his fear and despair when his love for his friends brings his bravery to the forefront.

Constance is perhaps the bravest member of the team from the beginning, though the rest do not realize it. For a two-year-old to survive on her own, navigating the world and finding food and shelter, takes incredible bravery. In the end Constance bravely sets aside her fear of facing the Whisperer, which impacts her sensitive mind in profound ways, to confront it directly.

Another major theme of the story is fear. As mentioned above, each team member finds enough bravery within themselves to face their fears. There is a reason that the Whisperer asks the Messengers what they fear most. Mr. Curtain repeatedly says that the strongest part of the human personality is fear, and he capitalizes on that idea to control people’s minds. His years of hidden messages created the Emergency, a widespread sense of pervasive fear that has prepared the populace for the Improvement, in which Mr. Curtain intends to take control of the world by assuaging the fears that he created.

Mr. Curtain uses the Whisperer to give the illusion that one’s fears are eliminated, but even he admits that the fears are not genuinely gone. The only way to erase fears is to confront them, but he does not believe that people are willing to do the hard work of confronting their fears. Mr. Curtain contends that people will instead choose his deception, a false sense of relief.

The team proves Mr. Curtain wrong. It is better to face one’s fears and overcome them because the resulting relief is honest and legitimate. Reynie proves that other elements of the human personality, such as devotion to friends, are stronger than fear. It is a far more satisfying sensation when Reynie realizes that he has resisted the Whisperer, not succumbed to its illusion of security, because he knows that he has truly conquered his fear of being alone.