The Mysterious Benedict Society Theme of Isolation

Have you ever felt alone in the world? Like there's no one you can turn to, no one you can depend on? The main characters in The Mysterious Benedict Society certainly have. Most of them are orphans (or were orphans at one point in time) and they've all been going it alone for most of their lives. No parents, no home, and not many folks to call friends, either. But even though they're all in the same boat (more or less), each of them reacts to these feelings of isolation in a different way. And while all that isolation takes its toll, it also teaches them a few life lessons along the way.

Questions About Isolation

  1. Of the four children in the MBS crew, who seems to feel the most isolated? Which of the four kids do you think is actually the most isolated and why?
  2. Mr. Curtain and Mr. Benedict, identical twins separated at birth, both grew up as orphans and both felt isolated. Mr. Benedict says that because of his childhood he knows what it feels like to be "miserable and alone" (9.23), and Mr. Curtain says that he had a terrible childhood, "taunted and bullied, ridiculed and abused by other children" (18.45). As adults, how do they each seem to have been affected by this childhood isolation? Why do you think their early experiences with isolation have had such different effects on each of them?
  3. If feeling isolated is such a common experience (everyone feels isolated in some way at some point, right?), why is it so… isolating? Shouldn't we be able to bond and make connections by virtue of all having experienced the same horrible feeling of being totally alone? Why doesn't it work that way? Or does it?

Chew on This

Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.

Of all the characters in the book, __________ has suffered the most from isolation.

If stranded alone on a desert island for a year, [pick one: Kate, Sticky, Constance, Reynie] is the character most likely to survive with both [his/her] physical and mental health in good shape.