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Post by colette on Jun 21, 2018 14:11:00 GMT -5
Which mistake by Baudelaires do you consider the biggest? Which of their acts was the most stupid? They are very intelligent kids but even intelligent people act stupid at times.
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Post by Foxy on Nov 15, 2018 11:02:42 GMT -5
I think the biggest mistake was Violet's, unfortunately. Giving Carmelita the harpoon gun was foolish, and the "What else could I do?" excuse was pretty lame.
That being said, I do like Violet, and everyone makes mistakes.
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Post by doetwin on Dec 18, 2018 5:21:28 GMT -5
I'll start by listing what I think the biggest mistake of each individual Baudelaire was(except for Sunny, as you can't really fault a baby for anything), and then I'll list what I think their biggest mistake as a group was.
Violet:
I think we were all impressed when Violet wiggled out of marrying Count Olaf at the last minute by signing with her left hand. What's always frustrated me is that she revealed that the marriage was invalid before HHM brought Sunny to the theater. When Count Olaf discovered that his plan had been foiled, he, quite predictably, was about to order HHM to either kill Sunny or lock her back up in the cage. I just don't understand how she could have been so stupid. She should have waited until Sunny was completely out of harm's way before saying anything. The only reason her impulsive behavior didn't ruin everything was because HHM and Sunny arrived just in the nick of time, but there was no way she could have known that.
Klaus:
I've actually made a thread about what I thought Klaus's biggest mistake was. Despite how wrong Monty was for thinking Stephano was working for the herpetological society, he still tore up Stephano's ticket for Peru, which in the end, would have been enough to get the Baudelaires out of harm's way. But Klaus, for no objective reason, felt the need to blab about the torn ticket to Count Olaf the moment he saw him. It was this information that gave Count Olaf an incentive to kill Monty. Unlike with Violet, Klaus's impulsive behavior actually had consequences. In fact, had Klaus kept quiet, the Baudelaires just might have evaded all the misfortune following TRR.
Together:
The unfortunate events in TWW following Josephine's apparent suicide were made all the more frustrating considering that the Baudelaires could have easily avoided them. Count Olaf's plan in this book was actually pretty stupid, but the reason it almost succeeded is because the Baudelaires' choices weren't that smart either. In order to avoid being placed in Captain Sham's care, all the Baudelaires had to do was make sure Mr. Poe didn't see that Josephine had left them in his care. Klaus had suggested they forge a new note by Josephine not including anything about Captain Sham, but they wouldn't even had to do that. They would've just had to tear off the last two sentences of the note, or cross the second-to-last sentence out. Once they suspected that Josephine's note was forged by Count Olaf and wanted to explain that to Mr. Poe, there was still no reason that they had to show him the part of the note that mentioned Captain Sham.
As an honorable mention, I will say that I got mad at the Baudelaires in the later books when they backed out of harming villains even though it would have saved them. I kid you not, I was re-reading TSS the other day, but put the book down when I reached the part just after Violet, Klaus, and Quigley had dug a hole to trap Esme, because the part that comes next annoys to me no end. They weren't planning to lure Esme into the pit to get back at her for throwing them down the elevator shaft or for any of the other treacherous things she had done to them since. They were doing it to try to save a little girl, but ultimately decided that saving Sunny wasn't worth causing one of the instigators temporary harm. I felt the same annoyance in TE when the they backed out of pushing Olaf overboard. Again, they weren't going to push him overboard to get back at him for pushing their Aunt Josephine overboard, but in order to protect themselves and any volunteers they might run into.
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Post by Uncle Algernon on Dec 18, 2018 5:29:56 GMT -5
I think we were all impressed when Violet wiggled out of marrying Count Olaf at the last minute by signing with her left hand. What's always frustrated me is that she revealed that the marriage was invalid before HHM brought Sunny to the theater. When Count Olaf discovered that his plan had been foiled, he, quite predictably, was about to order HHM to either kill Sunny or lock her back up in the cage. I just don't understand how she could have been so stupid. She should have waited until Sunny was completely out of harm's way before saying anything. The only reason her impulsive behavior didn't ruin everything was because HHM and Sunny arrived just in the nick of time, but there was no way she could have known that.
Possible explanation: in the back of her mind was the terrifying possibility that once he was confident that they were married, Olaf would try to kiss her.
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