A Series of Unfortunate Events

Lemony Snicket (pseudonym for Daniel Handler) is an investigator into the lives of three orphans, by the names of Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire. The Baudelaires, who are all reasonably attractive and intelligent, have several different talents, respectively: mechanical inventiveness, researching skills, and a love of biting that becomes a love of cooking. Through a Series of Unfortunate Events (like how I slipped that in there? Oo, SLIPPED?!), the Baudelaires parents tragically die in a fire, forcing them to live with a distant relative named Count Olaf. Count Olaf is a terrible actor who abuses the Baudelaires and forced them to serves his acting troupe in demeaning ways. Throughout the thirteen book series, the same basic pattern is repeated twelve times, with many variants.

Though the formula is repetitive, the formula is not the point of the series. The point of the series is to satire everything. And when I say everything, I do mean it. Snicket has the opportunity to satire almost every field of interest because a character represents almost every field of interest. Even aside from this, Snicket satires the general rules of narration, that a writer is not supposed to do certain things, or mention certain facts. Instead of distracting the reader from the story with lengthy interludes that have nothing to do with the plot, they draw the reader in even closer to the strange anachronistic world that the Baudelaires live in.

But, the word anachronistic brings me to my second point. Word choice. Lemony Snicket has an excellent vocabulary, and encourages readers to learn more words, defining them in funny and yet understandable ways. Not only does Snicket increase your vocabulary, it encourages children to become more interested in different fields of study and to become more specialized through further education. Snicket shows that evil is not always caused by idiocy. Rather, it is caused by the misuse of knowledge or lack of the desire for knowledge. Most of the side characters are viewed harshly because they are passive and do not fight the good fight, even if the actions will not change the results. Snicket proves that fighting is worth it from a moral standpoint, not from a utilitarian point of view.

In The End (get it? Eh? Eh? Okay, I’ll stop…), Lemony Snicket has a darkly satiric tone that is wonderful to read, particularly for adults. I’m not sure how children would be able to handle the dark and depressing atmosphere of the stories, but I’m sure that those in fifth grade and higher could handle it.