Literary Devices in The Mysterious Benedict Society
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
We don't get a lot of detail about the city of Stonetown, only enough to know that it has:a street called Third Streeta building called The Monk Building;an orphanage;public transit in the form of...
Narrator Point of View
Although we do see things from particular characters' points of view (mostly Reynie, Sticky, and Kate), this story is being told by an omniscient narrator who knows what everyone is thinking or fee...
Genre
Like most young adult lit, The Mysterious Benedict Society has a young adult protagonist (check) who's dealing with issues of identity (check) while trying to navigate his way between childhood and...
Tone
Didactic is one of those words that sounds a lot more complex than it is. Simply put, it means trying to teach you something. Your teachers are didactic when they're trying to get you to understand...
Writing Style
The Mysterious Benedict Society features children as its main characters, but the writing is not at all childlike. Even when the child characters are speaking, and even when—as is often the case...
What's Up With the Title?
The title The Mysterious Benedict Society comes from the name the kids give themselves just before heading to the Institute on their mission to save the world (9.66). They choose this name for thei...
What's Up With the Ending?
Okay. So four kids get a security briefing, learn Morse code, travel to an island to take down an evil genius, and return to the mainland successful (more or less) but definitely affected by their...
Tough-o-Meter
While the action is pretty straightforward and we don't expect you to have much difficulty following the main events of the novel, there are a few things that lift The Mysterious Benedict Society b...
Plot Analysis
Orphans UniteReynie (an orphan), Sticky (a runaway/orphan), Kate (an orphan), and Constance (a gorilla—just kidding, she's an orphan, too) all pass several difficult tests which qualify them to w...
Trivia
Trenton Lee Stewart gave Kate Wetherall a little bit of his favorite superhero: Spiderman.
(Source)
Two of TLS's favorite books? Watership Down and The Hobbit. Good choices.
(Source)
If he weren'...
Steaminess Rating
Secrets? Check. Mysteries? Check.Riddles? Check.References to parataxis and hypotaxis? Check. But sex? Sexual content? Sexual imagery? No, no, and no. We don't even encounter sexism in this book. I...
Allusions
Sun Tzu, The Art of War George WashingtonMorse Code "Chopsticks"Jack(son) and Jill(son)