The Whisperer
- Jackson collects the boys early the next morning for their "secret privileges."
- Outside the dormitory he blindfolds them, telling them that they can't know the way to the Whispering Gallery unless they become Executives.
- After being spun around and led down a series of passages, they enter the Whispering Gallery, which Mr. Curtain makes a point of telling them has great security and can't be breached.
- He also explains to them a little bit about the Whisperer itself: that it's capable of transmitting thoughts, that Mr. C himself must be hooked up to it for it to work, and that it's is capable of perceiving thoughts to some degree as well.
- He also says that it's through the Whisperer that Messengers have been able to help him with his project. According to him, the Messengers have been helping him to fill the Whisperer with necessary information. Mr. Curtain's very sophisticated thoughts, you see, must first be filtered through a less sophisticated brain—a child's brain.
- The Whisperer directs Messengers to think certain thoughts so that Mr. C can use them as a filter.
- Of course Reynie realizes that the Messengers are actually sending messages to others, but Mr. Curtain never says it—that way the Messengers probably don't have a clue about what their real function is.
- They just know that their special privileges involve sessions of sitting in the Whisperer, which consists of a chair with metal cuffs at the wrists and an oversized blue helmet, while Mr. Curtain sits in his wheelchair with a similar helmet (though red) also attached to the Whisperer, on his head.
- The Whisperer taps into the Messengers' brains, asking them questions like "What is your greatest fear?" and reassuring them with comforting thoughts, which Mr. Curtain says will help to heal maladies of the brain and "'bring peace to thousands—perhaps even millions—of troubled souls'" (26.35).
- This is accomplished with simple phrases that have complex meanings because of the lessons the kids have been learning at the Institute. One simple phrase, such as "Poison apples, poison worms," has a lot of meanings for the children, who've been studying these lessons, and those meanings come through to others when they receive the messages. It's all very sinister.
- Reynie goes first in the Whisperer and can't believe how much he enjoys it. The Whisperer makes him feel safe and happy… which makes him feel ashamed and guilty. He didn't expect to like it so much.
- As he watches Sticky's session in the Whisperer, he realizes that Sticky, instead of just thinking answers to the Whisperer's questions, is answering out loud. When asked his greatest fear, Sticky replies, "'Not being wanted. […] Not being wanted at all'" (26.103).
- (Reynie's greatest fear, it's worth noting, was being alone. No wonder Mr. C likes the orphans, or kids whose memories of home he's wiped clean.)