Prufrock could be a VFD training school!

[Snicketfaerie]

A lot of kids their have been taken and they are mostly taken the VFD way by the ankles. We know Duncan and Isdora are and could be VFD members and also the two R's that Kit took out of the school. It is likely to be Lemony and Kit went there and they are VFD members and they did go as kids that is how they got taken out also. sleep on it!

[Dante]

Total number of children confirmed to have been taken from Prufrock by their ankles: 2.
Total number of other children implied to have been taken from Prufrock by their ankles: 0.

Here's an old post I made on the subject (I disagree, by the way, but if there seems any particular antipathy in this post, it was made long ago and isn't aimed at you):

ffwf said:

Except Nero seems to be running the show, despite only being a vice-principal. It's perfectly possible for the principal to be a volunteer, although that would by no means make the school a volunteer institution (no more than Monty's membership making the Herpetological Society a volunteer institution, or R.'s speeches at Orion Observatory making that a volunteer institution). However, Nero was able to fire a volunteer teacher spreading volunteer information and codes who was attempting to recruit children for V.F.D., on the advice of the Spats parents. Equally, a mere two teachers leaving required the school to be closed - if the principal's a volunteer, he's not putting in much effort (or is dead, absent, etc., which would explain a lot, although more likely he's just not mentioned because it would tangle up the plot). Then there's the fact that this is all idle speculation, with no actual evidence to back it up. The real principal could be a volunteer, yes. Evidence to back it up? None. The school could have been founded by a volunteer. Evidence to back it up? None. Ideas, particularly those not based on evidence but including those which are, are not fact. Fanfiction is not canon. For Prufrock Prep. to be a true training school for young volunteers, then every teacher and every student would have to be a volunteer, by definition (and it'd have to be secret, too). Otherwise, it's just an institution they appreciate or try to influence, which is by no means the same thing (and is what I've said it probably is for as long as I can remember, just like the Snow Scouts).

[queequegcaptain]

I highly doubt that it is a V.F.D training school on three accounts.
1. They would never let people like Carmelita Spats join V.F.D.
2. Since most almost all of the volunteers are orphans, they would never make an Orphan Shack as inhumane as the one in the book
3. Vice principal Nero is evil. in TPP, it says evil people leave their cups on tables without coasters. and in Indian restaurant, Nero moves his cup off the coaster. hmmm...

I think it is more likely that several students that go to Prufock Prepatory are V.F.D. members or their parents are. In TSS, when Olaf is naming the fortunes they will have, he says Winnipeg, who is a member of V.F.D.

[very concerned]

the V.F.D training school was probably the one which the baudelaires parents,uncle monty,aunt josephine..ect went to,we see the picture in aunt josephines photo album(the film)

[EyeAndInsignia]

---

I agree. Prufock Prep. Is probably a VFD training school. But that does not mean it only serves as that. Hotel Denoument was a public location that served as a meeting place for various volunteers, the last safe place being the pond Dewey fell into.
The Following serves as evidence in the fact that Prufock Prep. was a VFD training school:
A.) A teacher has had their students take notes on the worst possible sotries, A VFD skill.
B.) Students were dragged out by the ankles
C.) The Baudelaire parents probably met Nero before, because they said there was nothing worse than a man who couldn't play the violin but insited on doing so anyway.

[jrcarlito3]

i dont know about that, maybe in the old times, but to me if vice pricipal nero wasn't a member to me it wasn't.

[t]

It could be. I mean, the orphans (like the Quagmires and Baudelairs) or other neophyte would be taught the basics and then, exposed to the real world as volunteers.

[falsespring]

In my personal opinion, Prufrock isn't a volunteer facility. There's no real evidence to back it up, and any reason to speculate such seems purely coincidental, a clever plot hook, or a terribly unfortunate event. Has anyone ever assumed that Lucky Smells is a safe place? Have you ever speculated that Helmich Hospital was built by volunteers? Not every is related to VFD, just as not everything is connected to the sugarbowl and not every telegraph machine is connected to a certain bank.

[Hermes]

From Nero's letter to Mr and Mrs Spats in LSUA, it seems clear that he doesn't know about VFD. This, I think, means that Prufrock isn't a VFD institution as such.

That said, it seems to be an institution that VFD takes quite a lot of interest in. Not only did Kit work there briefly, but so did a VFD librarian, and VFD experiments on sleep deprivation were once conducted there. It doesn't seem unreasonable to suggest that it may have had a stronger connection with VFD in the past. The books give the definite impression that the organisation is both declining in numbers and becoming more fragmented, so it's not implausible that institutions that were linked to it in the past have now lost the link. Perhaps the principal was a member, but has now died or disappeared, breaking the link. This is speculation, of course, but what can we do if not speculate?

[hieitouyaicedemon]

While I don't personally believe Prufrock Prep is a V.F.D. training school, I do believe it's been infiltrated regularly by V.F.D. members - in the way that Lemony and others were involved in TDP, and several other places mentioned in UA. It would be logical for V.F.D. to have people in Prufrock, as they're always looking for new members. That's who I believe that librarian was, and possibly Mr. Remora - it's been mentioned how his classes could also be instructions on note-taking. So do I think Prufrock Prep is a V.F.D. institution? No. Do I think V.F.D. has gotten spies and agents into the school? Yes.

[ALPHA AS GOD!]

EXACTLY! That is probably be why Nero didn't take Olaf very seriously as a threat to Prufrock, it explains every single detail of it all.

[Ernist]

They did have a spy there some one known as S. and well we're on the topic what about the school mentioned in "the beatrice letters"

[Dante]

The school that appears in The Beatrice Letters came under some discussion during our 667 re-read project, which I'm afraid you missed, Ernist, but the thread remains in the Anguished Appendices section, if you want to read it. I should say that that particular school is explicitly a V.F.D. institution, although at some point it had to disguise itself with a more mainstream curriculum.

[Isadora]

Interesting idea ...

[thedoctororwell]

With all these clues it's safe to assume that DH wants us to think Prufrock Prep has a link with VFD. However it's likely it's not a VFD training school per se - at least not anymore.
Some little details :
1) the fact that we never get to hear anything from the Principal is quite suspicious. You could argue that Vice-Principal Nero is so stubborn and clueless he's the ultimate cover-up. The real Principal, a VFDer, hides behind his incompetence to stay safe, even if it means letting the school go to the dogs thanks to Nero's administration.
2) According to LSUA Kit taught litterature there, and when she was fired took two unindentified children with her, as apprentices. It's possible Prufrock Prep is more like a gathering place. It's a neutral location when lost VFDers tend to go whenever they don't know where their complices are. Sometimes VFDers put their children there in the hope they'll be located and taken away by their colleagues.
3) The photo in Sally Sebald's letter is sometimes said to represent the Snicket siblings rather than the Quagmires, for various reasons. Maybe that a long time ago Prufrock Prep hired a lot more VFDers in its staff... It could also be a convenient place where young VFD apprentices could be "taken away" and "disappear."
4) It's said in LSUA that young VFDers are chosen if they display exceptionnal competence in note-taking and observation. Mr Remora's and Mrs Bass's classes involve note-taking and observation, and absolutely nothing else. It's possible VFDers used to look at Prufrock's students' grades in these classes to see who was fit to become a VFDer.