The Mysterious Benedict Society

by

Trenton Lee Stewart

Reynie Muldoon Character Analysis

Reynard “Reynie” Muldoon is the 11-year-old protagonist of the story. He has been orphaned since infancy and grew up in the Stonetown Orphanage, where the other children ostracized him for his unusual intelligence and unique way of thinking. His only companion for most of his childhood is his tutor, Miss Perumal, who he views as a mother figure. When he sees Mr. Benedict’s advertisement offering “special opportunities” to gifted children, Reynie doubts that he could be considered gifted, but Miss Perumal urges him to pursue these opportunities. He proves himself to Mr. Benedict by solving the riddles and puzzles, revealing that Reynie is far more intelligent and capable than he believes. Reynie is forced to confront his self-doubt when he meets Sticky, Kate, and Constance, who quickly come to look to Reynie as a leader. The children form the Mysterious Benedict Society and embark to Nomansan Island to investigate the nefarious plan of Mr. Curtain, which leaves Reynie without an adult to look to for guidance as he leads his friends. He questions whether he has the bravery to lead, and over time he even comes to resent his leadership position, as Mr. Curtain convinces him that a leader is always alone among his friends. Reynie’s internal conflict grows stronger when he begins working with Mr. Curtain’s Whisperer. The Whisperer simultaneously eases Reynie’s fears and saps his energy, which weakens his resolve against Mr. Curtain. In the final fight against Mr. Curtain and the Whisperer, Reynie realizes that his friends’ trust in him does not isolate him—it cements a bond among the Mysterious Benedict Society that finally cures the loneliness Reynie has experienced his whole life.

Reynie Muldoon Quotes in The Mysterious Benedict Society

The The Mysterious Benedict Society quotes below are all either spoken by Reynie Muldoon or refer to Reynie Muldoon. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Confidence and Growing Up Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

What good would those opportunities do him if he wasn’t qualified to be given them? And where was the pleasure in cheating? If he couldn’t pass fairly, he didn’t want to pass. He thought this––and mostly believed it––and felt his spirits boosted by the decision. But even so, a few seconds passed before he could tear his eyes from the paper on the floor.

Related Characters: Reynie Muldoon, Rhonda Kazembe
Page Number: 25
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3 Quotes

“Do you suppose we’re going to meet anybody normal today?” Kate asked.

“I’m beginning to doubt it,” Reynie said.

Related Characters: Reynie Muldoon (speaker), Kate Wetherall (speaker), Milligan, Number Two, Rhonda Kazembe
Page Number: 50
Explanation and Analysis:

[Reynie’s] own parents were never known to him, and so he didn’t miss them in particular, but on rainy days, or days when other children taunted him, or nights when he woke from a bad dream and could use a hug and perhaps a story to lull him back to sleep––at times like these he didn’t miss his parents, exactly, but he did wish for them.

Related Characters: Reynie Muldoon
Page Number: 53
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

“I want to make some things perfectly clear,” said Mr. Benedict. “It is not my wish to put you in harm’s way. Quite the opposite: I despite the notion. Children should spend their time learning and playing in absolute safety––that is my firm belief. Now then, assuming that I am telling the truth, can you guess why I would nonetheless involve you in something dangerous?”

[…]

“If you’re telling the truth,” said Reynie, “then the only reason you would put us in danger is that you believe we’ll fall into greater danger if you don’t.”

Related Characters: Reynie Muldoon (speaker), Mr. Benedict (speaker)
Page Number: 78-79
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

“…Would you consider this a good move?”

“I’m no great chess player, sir, but I would say not. By starting over, white loses the advantage of going first.”

“Why, then, do you think the white player might have done it?”

Reynie considered…. “Perhaps he doubted himself.”

Related Characters: Reynie Muldoon (speaker), Mr. Benedict (speaker)
Page Number: 90
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

Part of him wanted not to believe Mr. Benedict. Could he really be trusted? ...It would be such a relief to think his predictions about the thing to come were nothing more than wild speculation. And yet Reynie did trust Mr. Benedict, had trusted him almost immediately. What troubled Reynie was that he so badly wanted to trust Mr. Benedict––wanted to believe in this man who had shown faith in him, wanted to stay with these children who seemed to like and respect Reynie as much as he did them.

And so the question was not whether Reynie could trust Mr. Benedict, but whether he could trust himself. Who in his right mind would actually want to be put in danger just because that let him be a part of something?

Related Characters: Reynie Muldoon, Mr. Benedict
Page Number: 135-136
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

There was some kind of truth hidden in [the lesson], Reynie thought, but it was camouflaged with nonsense. No wonder it gave students trouble.

Related Characters: Reynie Muldoon
Page Number: 189
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 17 Quotes

Reynie wasn’t surprised by his friends’ responses. He too had been wary of the notion when it occurred to him. But were they not secret agents? Was not their very presence on the island a deception? Kate and Sticky’s reaction was just an instinctive response, he thought; they would come around in a minute. Still, Reynie was troubled….Where was his powerful love of truth?...Was he perhaps not quite the truth-loving brave soul Mr. Benedict and everyone else thought him to be?

Related Characters: Reynie Muldoon, Sticky Washington, Kate Wetherall , Mr. Benedict
Page Number: 225
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18 Quotes

“Children despise superior minds, you know, especially in leaders, who must often make unpopular decisions.”

Reynie thought suddenly of Kate and Sticky, who had been so shocked at his suggestion to cheat on the quizzes. But they didn’t despise him, he knew that….

“One problem with being a leader,” Mr. Curtain was saying, “is that even among your friends you are alone, for it is you––and you alone––to whom the others look for final guidance.” (Reynie felt a pang. That was true, he thought. He did feel that way sometimes.)

Related Characters: Ledroptha Curtain (speaker), Reynie Muldoon
Page Number: 241-242
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 20 Quotes

“You must remember, family is often born of blood, but it doesn’t depend on blood. Nor is it exclusive of friendship. Family members can be your best friends, you know. And best friends, whether or not they are related to you, can be your family.”

Reynie had drunk up those words like life-saving medicine….[He] had gone to bed thinking of the people he might one day––if everything turned out all right––consider a part of his family.

Related Characters: Mr. Benedict (speaker), Reynie Muldoon
Page Number: 257
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 22 Quotes

Reynie’s face fell. “It’s not funny, Kate.”

For a moment––a fleeting moment––Kate looked desperately sad. “Well, of course it’s not funny, Reynie Muldoon. But what do you want me to do? Cry?”

Related Characters: Reynie Muldoon (speaker), Kate Wetherall (speaker)
Page Number: 284
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 23 Quotes

[Sticky] was glaring at Jackson. It was such an angry look––so full of defiant outrage––that Reynie actually felt encouraged. There was strength in Sticky. It was just easy to miss. Easiest of all for Sticky himself.

Related Characters: Reynie Muldoon, Sticky Washington, Jackson
Page Number: 293
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 26 Quotes

Reynie had…a very troubling problem. Having been made to feel so wonderful––and so easily, so unexpectedly––Reynie found he wanted to give in to the Whisperer. Wanted it desperately. This was a disturbing development….

Related Characters: Reynie Muldoon
Page Number: 323-324
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 27 Quotes

Sticky tried to smile, but in truth he was decidedly troubled. If Reynie hadn’t spoken up just then, he wasn’t at all sure what he would have done. He had actually wanted to join the Messengers! Was that all it took to sway him––being asked? Did he want so much to be wanted that he would do, well, anything? It was as if the Whisperer had opened a door, and now Sticky couldn’t close it again. He was so ashamed he could hardly look up.

Related Characters: Reynie Muldoon, Sticky Washington
Page Number: 332
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 29 Quotes

[Reynie] was hoping against hope that Mr. Benedict would find some way to save them––to save everyone––without requiring anything more from him. Reynie didn’t think he was capable of more, not since the Whisperer. He was worried, deeply worried, that the Whisperer had revealed to him who he truly was.

Related Characters: Reynie Muldoon, Mr. Benedict
Page Number: 353-354
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 30 Quotes

You shouldn’t let her go alone, Reynie thought. She ought to have help. But when he opened his mouth to argue, he found nothing would come out. A fog seemed to have rolled into his mind, and on top of that he felt bone-weary. He was tired, very tired, of always trying to do the right thing.

Related Characters: Reynie Muldoon, Kate Wetherall
Page Number: 365
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 35 Quotes

It has to be all four of us, but Constance can’t handle them. You can handle them, though. It will be rough, but you can handle them.

(Part of Kate believed this––a very important part, for Kate’s sense of invincibility was the main thing that had sustained her all her young life alone. But another part did not believe this––and it, too, was an important part, for unless you know about this part it is impossible to understand how brave a thing Kate was about to do.)

Related Characters: Kate Wetherall (speaker), Reynie Muldoon, Sticky Washington, Constance Contraire, Ledroptha Curtain
Page Number: 434
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 36 Quotes

“Mr. Benedict! Is he the one who tricked you into joining him, who encouraged you to cheat on quizzes, who offered you ‘special opportunities’? Or was that Mr. Curtain, who said cheating doesn’t bother him, who rounded up poor unfortunates only to give them a better life, who has offered you a chance to be an Executive? How different are the two men? Not very, Reynard. The only difference is that one can offer you only suffering now, while the other offers you a way to belong––a way to relieve the loneliness.”

Related Characters: Reynie Muldoon (speaker), Mr. Benedict, Ledroptha Curtain
Page Number: 440
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 39 Quotes

“Just a few minutes more, Number Two. Let them play. They are children, after all.”

And this was certainly true, if only for the moment.

Related Characters: Mr. Benedict (speaker), Reynie Muldoon, Sticky Washington, Kate Wetherall , Constance Contraire, Number Two
Page Number: 485
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Mysterious Benedict Society LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Mysterious Benedict Society PDF

Reynie Muldoon Quotes in The Mysterious Benedict Society

The The Mysterious Benedict Society quotes below are all either spoken by Reynie Muldoon or refer to Reynie Muldoon. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Confidence and Growing Up Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

What good would those opportunities do him if he wasn’t qualified to be given them? And where was the pleasure in cheating? If he couldn’t pass fairly, he didn’t want to pass. He thought this––and mostly believed it––and felt his spirits boosted by the decision. But even so, a few seconds passed before he could tear his eyes from the paper on the floor.

Related Characters: Reynie Muldoon, Rhonda Kazembe
Page Number: 25
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3 Quotes

“Do you suppose we’re going to meet anybody normal today?” Kate asked.

“I’m beginning to doubt it,” Reynie said.

Related Characters: Reynie Muldoon (speaker), Kate Wetherall (speaker), Milligan, Number Two, Rhonda Kazembe
Page Number: 50
Explanation and Analysis:

[Reynie’s] own parents were never known to him, and so he didn’t miss them in particular, but on rainy days, or days when other children taunted him, or nights when he woke from a bad dream and could use a hug and perhaps a story to lull him back to sleep––at times like these he didn’t miss his parents, exactly, but he did wish for them.

Related Characters: Reynie Muldoon
Page Number: 53
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

“I want to make some things perfectly clear,” said Mr. Benedict. “It is not my wish to put you in harm’s way. Quite the opposite: I despite the notion. Children should spend their time learning and playing in absolute safety––that is my firm belief. Now then, assuming that I am telling the truth, can you guess why I would nonetheless involve you in something dangerous?”

[…]

“If you’re telling the truth,” said Reynie, “then the only reason you would put us in danger is that you believe we’ll fall into greater danger if you don’t.”

Related Characters: Reynie Muldoon (speaker), Mr. Benedict (speaker)
Page Number: 78-79
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

“…Would you consider this a good move?”

“I’m no great chess player, sir, but I would say not. By starting over, white loses the advantage of going first.”

“Why, then, do you think the white player might have done it?”

Reynie considered…. “Perhaps he doubted himself.”

Related Characters: Reynie Muldoon (speaker), Mr. Benedict (speaker)
Page Number: 90
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

Part of him wanted not to believe Mr. Benedict. Could he really be trusted? ...It would be such a relief to think his predictions about the thing to come were nothing more than wild speculation. And yet Reynie did trust Mr. Benedict, had trusted him almost immediately. What troubled Reynie was that he so badly wanted to trust Mr. Benedict––wanted to believe in this man who had shown faith in him, wanted to stay with these children who seemed to like and respect Reynie as much as he did them.

And so the question was not whether Reynie could trust Mr. Benedict, but whether he could trust himself. Who in his right mind would actually want to be put in danger just because that let him be a part of something?

Related Characters: Reynie Muldoon, Mr. Benedict
Page Number: 135-136
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

There was some kind of truth hidden in [the lesson], Reynie thought, but it was camouflaged with nonsense. No wonder it gave students trouble.

Related Characters: Reynie Muldoon
Page Number: 189
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 17 Quotes

Reynie wasn’t surprised by his friends’ responses. He too had been wary of the notion when it occurred to him. But were they not secret agents? Was not their very presence on the island a deception? Kate and Sticky’s reaction was just an instinctive response, he thought; they would come around in a minute. Still, Reynie was troubled….Where was his powerful love of truth?...Was he perhaps not quite the truth-loving brave soul Mr. Benedict and everyone else thought him to be?

Related Characters: Reynie Muldoon, Sticky Washington, Kate Wetherall , Mr. Benedict
Page Number: 225
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18 Quotes

“Children despise superior minds, you know, especially in leaders, who must often make unpopular decisions.”

Reynie thought suddenly of Kate and Sticky, who had been so shocked at his suggestion to cheat on the quizzes. But they didn’t despise him, he knew that….

“One problem with being a leader,” Mr. Curtain was saying, “is that even among your friends you are alone, for it is you––and you alone––to whom the others look for final guidance.” (Reynie felt a pang. That was true, he thought. He did feel that way sometimes.)

Related Characters: Ledroptha Curtain (speaker), Reynie Muldoon
Page Number: 241-242
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 20 Quotes

“You must remember, family is often born of blood, but it doesn’t depend on blood. Nor is it exclusive of friendship. Family members can be your best friends, you know. And best friends, whether or not they are related to you, can be your family.”

Reynie had drunk up those words like life-saving medicine….[He] had gone to bed thinking of the people he might one day––if everything turned out all right––consider a part of his family.

Related Characters: Mr. Benedict (speaker), Reynie Muldoon
Page Number: 257
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 22 Quotes

Reynie’s face fell. “It’s not funny, Kate.”

For a moment––a fleeting moment––Kate looked desperately sad. “Well, of course it’s not funny, Reynie Muldoon. But what do you want me to do? Cry?”

Related Characters: Reynie Muldoon (speaker), Kate Wetherall (speaker)
Page Number: 284
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 23 Quotes

[Sticky] was glaring at Jackson. It was such an angry look––so full of defiant outrage––that Reynie actually felt encouraged. There was strength in Sticky. It was just easy to miss. Easiest of all for Sticky himself.

Related Characters: Reynie Muldoon, Sticky Washington, Jackson
Page Number: 293
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 26 Quotes

Reynie had…a very troubling problem. Having been made to feel so wonderful––and so easily, so unexpectedly––Reynie found he wanted to give in to the Whisperer. Wanted it desperately. This was a disturbing development….

Related Characters: Reynie Muldoon
Page Number: 323-324
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 27 Quotes

Sticky tried to smile, but in truth he was decidedly troubled. If Reynie hadn’t spoken up just then, he wasn’t at all sure what he would have done. He had actually wanted to join the Messengers! Was that all it took to sway him––being asked? Did he want so much to be wanted that he would do, well, anything? It was as if the Whisperer had opened a door, and now Sticky couldn’t close it again. He was so ashamed he could hardly look up.

Related Characters: Reynie Muldoon, Sticky Washington
Page Number: 332
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 29 Quotes

[Reynie] was hoping against hope that Mr. Benedict would find some way to save them––to save everyone––without requiring anything more from him. Reynie didn’t think he was capable of more, not since the Whisperer. He was worried, deeply worried, that the Whisperer had revealed to him who he truly was.

Related Characters: Reynie Muldoon, Mr. Benedict
Page Number: 353-354
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 30 Quotes

You shouldn’t let her go alone, Reynie thought. She ought to have help. But when he opened his mouth to argue, he found nothing would come out. A fog seemed to have rolled into his mind, and on top of that he felt bone-weary. He was tired, very tired, of always trying to do the right thing.

Related Characters: Reynie Muldoon, Kate Wetherall
Page Number: 365
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 35 Quotes

It has to be all four of us, but Constance can’t handle them. You can handle them, though. It will be rough, but you can handle them.

(Part of Kate believed this––a very important part, for Kate’s sense of invincibility was the main thing that had sustained her all her young life alone. But another part did not believe this––and it, too, was an important part, for unless you know about this part it is impossible to understand how brave a thing Kate was about to do.)

Related Characters: Kate Wetherall (speaker), Reynie Muldoon, Sticky Washington, Constance Contraire, Ledroptha Curtain
Page Number: 434
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 36 Quotes

“Mr. Benedict! Is he the one who tricked you into joining him, who encouraged you to cheat on quizzes, who offered you ‘special opportunities’? Or was that Mr. Curtain, who said cheating doesn’t bother him, who rounded up poor unfortunates only to give them a better life, who has offered you a chance to be an Executive? How different are the two men? Not very, Reynard. The only difference is that one can offer you only suffering now, while the other offers you a way to belong––a way to relieve the loneliness.”

Related Characters: Reynie Muldoon (speaker), Mr. Benedict, Ledroptha Curtain
Page Number: 440
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 39 Quotes

“Just a few minutes more, Number Two. Let them play. They are children, after all.”

And this was certainly true, if only for the moment.

Related Characters: Mr. Benedict (speaker), Reynie Muldoon, Sticky Washington, Kate Wetherall , Constance Contraire, Number Two
Page Number: 485
Explanation and Analysis: