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Post by thistledown on May 20, 2007 15:15:15 GMT -5
I might be resurrecting this, I don't know. As usual, I searched a bit for a thread like this and found none, but I will be happy to move it if this fits better elsewhere. Anyway, I really just have a general question.
Who cut down the telephone wires?
Personally, I think it was Widdershins. In the LSUA, the signature at the bottom of the note on page (?) most resembles 'Widdershins'. So, what is your opinion? And is there any evidence in the series to say who did cut them down?
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Post by Dante on May 20, 2007 15:39:34 GMT -5
Would it make sense for Captain Widdershins to have cut down the telephone poles himself, and then have no idea why the other volunteers would be having difficulty communicating with the Queequeg? That and it seems like Widdershins and Fiona have been living aboard the Queequeg for quite a while, whereas the person who cut down the telephone poles in the U.A. lived on Rarely Ridden Road (although it's likely that more telephone poles were cut down elsewhere, but we don't hear from anyone else who's done so). And whoever the person was was entirely taken in by The Daily Punctilio's false stories about the Baudelaires, whereas Widdershins and Fiona never believed a word of it outside of a general indication of the location of the Baudelaires. Like quite a few signatures in the U.A., I expect the one on that letter was just a deliberately meaningless scribble made to look like it just might resemble a particularly messy signature.
My personal view is that it's just a gullible person who lives on Rarely Ridden Road. They could be somebody noteworthy, or Olaf just delivered his letter to a random person on Rarely Ridden Road. I assumed there wouldn't be that many people living in the area - the road, we presume, is rarely ridden - so he wouldn't exactly be spoiled for choice. All we know about this individual is the road they live on, and that they're very gullible - unless they're lying for some reason, but when one knows so very little, it doesn't make much sense to make unfounded accusations that complicate things needlessly.
(Villains in general, and gullible people taken in by villains, and possibly noble people with morally ambiguous goals, would have been chopping down telephone poles as well. We can't really make a judgement on who'd have been interested in that sort of thing, as I don't recall any evidence whatsoever aside from the letter to Al Funcoot in the U.A. and the discussions aboard the Queequeg in TGG.)
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Post by thistledown on May 21, 2007 15:38:14 GMT -5
Fair enough.
'W' was the only discernable letter in that signature, though. Could it possibly have to do with the Duchess of Winnipeg (R)? Or if she is the imposter that Lemony once mentioned (? I'm not sure where...in LSUA? I think.) and is subsequently working for Olaf. Because it sounds odd to me that just a random person would cut down the wires, even though, admittedly, adults and suchlike are very stupid in the books, as a general rule.
In short, it seems too grand a plot to me, the ruination of some VFD communication, to entrust to a random person with such a task.
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camirox
Reptile Researcher
Posts: 15
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Post by camirox on May 22, 2007 14:25:04 GMT -5
I agree, I thought, at first that it was Sir. But I don't have any evidence for that, It just came to me because he has an interest in wood and no body knows what his name is. Oh well.
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Post by PJ on Aug 7, 2007 7:22:41 GMT -5
In short, it seems too grand a plot to me, the ruination of some VFD communication, to entrust to a random person with such a task. Oh, I dunno. I think Olaf and his associates sent many such letters around; after all, simply cutting down a few telegraph poles wouldn't disrupt most of the V.F.D. network, would it? That said, this IS asoue, and zanier things have happened. I think it's more likely that it was just an objective of many members of the bad side of the schism; that is to say, Olaf's letter is probably not the only one, nor is Olaf the only one causing the trouble.
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Post by thistledown on Aug 8, 2007 22:38:43 GMT -5
I agree that the communication through the wires probably was not crucial, but it was useful, of course.
But didn't the telephone cables end the communication using the telegraphs? Was that the reason that the machine on the Queequeg could not get a 'signal' (I don't know the technical term, but, you know) to the other machines?
After thinking a bit on this, however, I began to wonder when exactly the wires were cut down, I mean, the messages to Mr Poe through Western Bunion Telefax didn't go through...or they were ignored. And also, remember in TCC when the phone just cuts off when Violet is phoning the operator? Did the operator hang up or?
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Post by Dante on Aug 9, 2007 2:18:07 GMT -5
The telephone poles being cut down - both on Rarely Ridden Road and elsewhere - was almost certainly the reason the Queequeg stopped receiving Volunteer Factual Dispatches, as Violet examined the machine and found no problems on their end. Clearly, though, not all telephone poles in the world have been cut down, or not all means of telegram dispatch have been closed, as the submarine receives another Volunteer Factual Dispatch from Quigley in Chapter Twelve; with Kit Snicket, he must have been writing from a place where communication by telegram was still possible, at least to locations at sea. There are other methods of communication, though - carrier pigeons, Verbal Fridge Dialogue, etc. Widespread sabotage of their telegram network was a damaging blow to V.F.D., but not a fatal one; many of them still got the message about the meeting at Hotel Denouement, after all.
Mr. Poe, in the U.A., did literally receive the telegram from the Baudelaires and from Eleanora (he encloses them in his letter to her), but the anti-telegram article he was sent got to him first, so it seems he didn't even look at the telegrams; that, I presume, was all part of the plot to prevent communication between anyone who might be a threat to the villains. Olaf reached Caligari Carnival from Rarely Ridden Road, so I presume the chopping-down of telephone poles there was the reason the Baudelaires' telephone call got cut off.
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Post by thistledown on Aug 10, 2007 0:14:53 GMT -5
Thanks, Dante! I adore your informativeness!
I assumed as much, but the new bit about Hotel Denumont was interesting--I mean, I didn't realize that perhaps the wires were cut down, not only to inhibit the Baudelaires, but also to help stop VFD from recieving the message about the last safe place...wow, I don't know why I didn't make that connection before! This really helps me understand the telephone wire issue more.
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Post by MyKindEditor on Dec 30, 2009 16:39:28 GMT -5
In the U.A there is a letter to 'Mr Funcoot' It seems to be from a mad 'Daily Puntilio' reader who is worried about allowing telegraph/telephone poles to remain upright. He seems very proud of the fact he has cut down several telegraph/telephone poles. Although the signature is il-eligible which leads back to the original question, he encloses some photos of poles he has cut down along 'Rarely Ridden Road' (at least we know his location) My KindEditor
P.S I have just realised that this post is 2 years old! I know I shouldn't really be commenting here but I just had to point the above out. A worthy candidate- don't you think?
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Post by Chipper Coathanger on Mar 14, 2010 19:35:55 GMT -5
I doubt it was someone related to VFD, just a 'concerned citizen' who was overly eager to save himself from telephone poles.
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Post by cwm on Mar 24, 2010 13:53:32 GMT -5
Olaf reached Caligari Carnival from Rarely Ridden Road, so I presume the chopping-down of telephone poles there was the reason the Baudelaires' telephone call got cut off. I'm afraid I'm not a subscriber to that theory myself; the call gets abruptly cut off in the middle with no sounds of crashing telephone poles.
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manniewheel
Reptile Researcher
Does Quigley know more than he's letting on?
Posts: 21
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Post by manniewheel on Jul 4, 2010 13:37:01 GMT -5
That, cwm, is because there probably were no telephone poles where the operator was. The telephone poles were cut down on Rarely Ridden Road, and it is reasonable to believe that the operator was somewhere in the city at the time the Baudelaires made the call. So there would be no sound of telephone poles falling over. Which begs the question: if a telephone pole falls on Rarely Ridden Road, and nobody's around, does it make a sound?
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Post by Dante on Jul 4, 2010 13:47:15 GMT -5
Ah, but the person who cut the telephone poles down would've been around. We can ask him. Or her. Now, if lightning had struck the telephone pole and it had burnt down, then you'd have a true conundrum.
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