Mr. Hundert personifies scholarship, so much so that he fails to form an individual identity as a result. His lack of a first name reflects his lack of individuation. Even his last name, which in German means “hundred,” hints at his persona as one of the masses instead of one of their leaders. Having entered St. Benedict’s as a teacher immediately upon graduating college, Mr. Hundert’s entire world becomes the school, his work, and the students. A dissonance emerges between how Mr. Hundert perceives himself versus what his actions imply about him. For instance, he tells Senator Bell that his job is to develop the character of the students, but his actual teaching style is more about having them memorize names and dates and spouting trivia than it is about applying the ideas learned in the classroom to the larger world. He claims to mold the future minds of leaders, but he actually serves them while tacitly accepting the confines of his academic position. 

Though his life is rather mundane, Mr. Hundert narrates its events with inflated language, showing his desire to project more importance onto his existence. Unable, or unwilling, to follow the example of the great leaders he’s studied, Mr. Hundert claims to fight battles of morality and honor in the classroom with future leaders, but the moments he relates are those in which he has failed to act with honor and has tried to manipulate events to turn out as he believed they should. Mr. Hundert is a man of ideas and facts, not a man of action, and as a result, he will likely not be remembered in the annals of history he so adores.