The Bad Beginning is the first book of many in the Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. When I first saw this book on our reading list I thought I didn’t have any previous experience with this book. However, after we watched the movie in class, I remembered that I had seen the movie a very long time ago. I remember the movie annoyed me when I watched it as a child. I thought it was pitiful that these poor children keep having bad things happen to them, and that they are incapable of changing their luck. I remember thinking this movie is weird and creepy. I did not know it was based on a series of books. The back cover basically tells the reader this is not going to be a fairy tale where everything is a happy ending. I had two responses to this. One, I was annoyed once again and two, I couldn’t help but laugh. It appeared to me that Lemoney Snicket had a different sense of humor that I might enjoy and did throughout the book.
My favorite lines in this story come from chapter three. The children have just arrived at Count Olaf’s house and aren’t happy. They are forced to all share one filthy bedroom, even though the Count’s house was huge, and are treated like slaves. They have left their normal life and arriving in an abnormal world that is completely different than before. At this point Klaus has had enough.
“I hate it here, Violet! I hate this house! I hate our room! I hate having to do all these chores, and I hate Count Olaf!
“I hate it too,’ Violet said, and Klaus looked at his older sister with relief. Sometimes, just saying that you hate something, and having someone agree with you, can make you feel better about a terrible situation. “I hate everything about our lives right now, Klaus,” she said, “but we have to keep our chin up.” This was an expression the children’s father had used and it meant “try to stay cheerful.”
I particularly like this one scene because it shows a recurring emotion throughout the book. The children are clearly upset, fed up, and full of anger. However, they always find a way to smother their feelings. By just thinking “we have to keep our chin up” they are almost whipping the sadness off and normalizing it. I do not think this is the typical response a child would have if they were in this situation. If it were me I would have had a nervous breakdown by this point! Throughout the book the children deal with the death of their parents and their horrible luck but are able to detach themselves from sadness and emotion.
Lemony Snicket’s style of writing contains a grotesque element. Everything is blown up and over the top it makes it unbelievable. Such as when Violet was forced to marry Count Olaf, that would never happen in real life! This is a similar recurring element found in James in the Giant Peach and Coraline. I liked this book better than the other two just mentioned because of the narrator’s voice. It tends to poke through and give the audience a comic relief or explanation to what the children are feeling.
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