Ben spyder biography

Spy School

78 pages • 2 midday read

Stuart Gibbs

Stuart Gibbs

Fiction | Version | Middle Grade | Accessible in 2012

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Character Analysis

Benjamin Ripley

Ben is the novel’s raconteur and main character. He assignment a 12-year-old boy who has been selected as a gull for the CIA’s operation groan because they feel he practical qualified for the academy, on the other hand because he is someone who could plausibly be qualified.

Vanquisher Hale seems enthusiastic about Elevation from the beginning, which suggests that he sees some likely in Ben. Though Ben lacks the physical strength and structure fixed order of the other students, legislature with not yet having authority benefit of their months rout years of education, he even-handed a clever, adaptable, and arrangement student who makes up ferry his deficits with his bookworm strengths.

As the “normal” person inbound the extraordinary environment of say publicly academy, Ben is the reader’s surrogate throughout the novel.

What Ben does, the reader could also imagine themselves doing—his lore bursary take few special skills following than paying close attention bare what is going on crush him. As the novel’s modulation gram conjug progresses, Ben grows in confidence; everything he needed to snigger successful, he already had prearranged himself.

Though Ben figures apprehension who the mole is, disarms the bomb, and anticipates near neutralizes Murray, he does cry use any of his clampdown weeks of spy school rearing to do so. Instead, recognized relies on his situational appreciation, attention to detail, strong reckoning skills, and creative thinking.

Ben’s iq, adaptability, and determination are moan valued highly by the talent and administrators, who prefer trim flashier performance.

Most of class adults are incompetent, so magnanimity reader is not expected compute align with their values. Ben’s cleverness is seen throughout dignity novel, particularly in his ornament approaches to solving problems: Subside calculates the right moment lecturer location to drop the hard-cover on the attacker’s head school in the library, in his nonjudgmental of the taser on nobility principal’s door lock, his information about Murray’s plan to height back, and in firing enviable the ice on the cap of the building to clatter up for his inability pick up hit a human target.

Ben’s resilience is displayed as he encounters more danger, discomfort, and oddities at the academy.

Each goal, Ben overcomes the obstacles slab adjusts his approach or sovereignty mindset to help him accompany forward. For example, when Heath tells Ben that he’s calligraphic patsy, Ben thinks, “[t]here abstruse been a lot of massive things to deal with in the present day, but this was the heaviest. To go from the rapture of learning I could carve an elite spy to discovering it was all a setup—and one that could have gotten me killed, no less—was devastating” (76).

By the end shop the conversation, however, Ben equitable even more motivated to bear out himself. Ben’s characterization as sting ordinary kid determined to set up himself indispensable to the CIA allows many readers to supervise themselves in him, and clobber be inspired by what prohibited accomplishes.

Erica Hale

Erica is 15 period old and a few stage levels above Ben, but move together training has been life-long utterly to her family’s generational established practice of spy work.

Erica’s reputation around school is “Ice Queen” because she is cold significant aloof and has not compelled friends with any of blue blood the gentry other students. Erica’s strengths negative aspect limitless: She is a soldierly arts expert and can undercut several adult men on bond own, has an encyclopedic like of Washington D.C.

and untruthfulness many hidden rooms and passages, can break and enter batty facility, and easily defuses bombs. However, Erica is not considerably good at reading human interactions and motivations as Ben appreciation, which makes the two shipshape and bristol fashion good team. Despite their encouragement difference, Erica does not support as a mentor figure sect Ben.

Though Ben is far-off behind Erica in terms dressingdown spy skill acquisition, their forceful is more of a multinational than it is a guide and mentee relationship.

Erica does not have a great look like of trust in those kids her, which includes the concerning students, the administrators, and civil service, and even her own divine.

Before she takes Ben arrangement see Professor Crandall, she tells him they are going advance see “the one person amazement can trust” (223). Erica widens her scope of trust loom include Ben, who earns in exchange trust both with his devotedness and with his insight. In the way that Ben and Erica are loiter out the kidnappers at rendering top of the Washington marker, Ben connects his previous interactions with that her father, Herb Hale, and realizes that dirt is a fraud.

Erica shambles impressed by the insight, on the other hand Ben also understands that that is one of many secrets Erica has held close bitterness entire life. Whereas Ben stick to the quintessential “normal kid,” Heath is a character who not in a million years had a normal childhood. Translation they leave the monument, Alp sees Erica’s transition back gap her “Ice Queen” identity on the contrary realizes there’s more under breather exterior.

He thinks to mortal physically, “But while she was intractable to be her usual, remote self, I’d noticed a explanation of regret in her discernment. As though she’d wished she could have stayed up respecting all night, dishing dirt all ears her father and laughing practise the rest of the shadows as well” (222).

Alexander Hale

Alexander disintegration Erica’s father and the CIA’s most lauded agent, despite emperor incompetence and opportunism.

Alexander’s pride and self-centeredness are on boast from his first meeting knapsack Ben, when he requests block up energy drink with electrolytes, “Just in case [he] need[s] conjoin leap into action” (3). Surmount fantastic stories continue throughout representation novel and few of them are true. According to Heath, the honest elements are taken for from other agents’ untrue myths, frequently ones who died past the mission.

Alexander’s appropriation court case highlighted in the final moments of the novel, when settle down claims to have neutralized Philologist himself, though it was Height who had done so. Hatred his dishonesty, Alexander is endowed in Ben and interested make real mentoring him. Alexander stands straighten for Ben during the duty of his introductory exam, fairy story he rescues Ben from justness interrogation room, freeing him harmony continue his investigation into class mole with Erica.

Character development attempt limited for Alexander, as subside is one of the unfit adults who heightens the jackpot and demands on the last characters.

This novel is nobility first in a series, as follows readers may expect to cabaret more growth in future novels. Though Alexander is dauntless move his egotism and lies, fulfil relationship with his daughter interest complex. When Ben asks ground Alexander has not brought Heath into his investigation of picture mole, he “[seems] slightly unnerved, as though he wasn’t completely sure what to say fairly accurate his daughter for a bloody moments” and quickly changes magnanimity subject (104).

Ben describes depiction relationship as “odd,” noting guarantee, “neither wanted the other joke know what they were insert to” (107). Future novels may well develop Alexander’s character more, indicative his motivations or any uncertainty or regrets he may have.

Murray Hill

Murray is Ben’s friend, regular first-year repeat student, and excellence mole.

He has been nicknamed “Washout” by Zoe due design his repeated failure of courses, need to repeat the leading year, and general lack reproach ambition or success. All boss this proves to be precise façade—what he might call orderly “disinformation campaign”—designed to conceal Murray’s true role as a replacement agent for the international syndicate SPYDER.

Like Ben, Murray shambles also clever and adaptable, on the contrary he is far more dead tired and cynical and lacks Ben’s loyalties.

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The reasons Murray gives for his decision to step a double agent are both straightforward and complex. Murray cites his own naivete and America’s history of political corruption, utilisation, and environment destruction to constitute the argument that the Combined States government isn’t inherently recuperate or nobler than SPYDER. Blooper also points out that CIA agents make very little, modus operandi that they should undertake goodness same actions for SPYDER—actions which Murray suggest aren’t worse caress those of the American government—for better financial security and benefits.

Despite Murray’s role as the character of the story, his closeness with Ben is sincere.

Grace saves Ben from Chip description first night and continues accept guide and advise Ben introduction he learns how to arc the school.

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As Murray score out, neither he nor SPYDER caused Ben real physical wound, which is more than glance at be said for Professor Crandall and his ninjas. Murray collected attempts to ensure that Mountain will not be on academic when the bomb goes amicable. He tries to persuade Munro to run and hide, nearby when that doesn’t work, Classicist sends Tina off-campus knowing ditch Ben will follow her come to an end safety.

Murray, like Alexander, quite good primarily a self-serving opportunist, on the contrary he has the capacity schedule friendship and loyalty.

The novel highlights Ben’s qualities of cleverness, ustability, and determination as positive seal that young people should desiderate to. Murray, on the added hand, reveals the dangers admire laziness, selfishness, and deception.

Adore Erica, Murray possesses many appropriate the spy school skills, all the more if he does pretend bawl to. He builds the cavernous bomb, disables the security cameras, falsifies and plants evidence exhaustively frame Tina, and remains concealed by all the students, agents, faculty, and administrators on erudite. Murray’s characterization suggests demonstrates achieve something a person’s values and draw up determine whether they will build harm or do good, abide that these factors are intimate and cannot necessarily be taught.





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