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Post by Lemony Snicket on Dec 4, 2008 13:43:06 GMT -5
I was just re-reading The End today, when I realised something. The apples, the snake, the temptation to push Olaf over, the island;book of Genisis, right? But here's the thing that I just thought; book of Gensis is the first book of th bible, genisis meaning begining...but what if this symbolises the begining of the Baudelaires troubles/adverntures? Just a thought ;D please respond, would be much apprechiated. Am I a bad speller or wht  yours evily, countolaf |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 4, 2008 19:57:44 GMT -5
I too have been rereading it. I did also think it sounded like the book of Genisis, but I don't think Snicket/Handler planned it like that. It's a great biblical refference if you ask me, though.
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Post by Dante on Dec 5, 2008 8:05:31 GMT -5
There was definitely an emphasis on "back to the beginning" in The End. Each chapter had a quotation from the same chapter in TBB, the plot bore more of a resemblance to the earlier books (less V.F.D. wrangling, at least to begin with), and it was a new beginning in itself. I think the Genesis references were very appropriate, given that.
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Post by Hermes on Dec 6, 2008 12:05:39 GMT -5
Each chapter had a quotation from the same chapter in TBB, Gosh, did they really? I spotted the 'three very short men' quote, but not any of the others. (Runs to find copy of TE to see if he can locate any of them.) |
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Post by Dante on Dec 6, 2008 14:02:22 GMT -5
That's the only one I noticed in particular, but I later learned it was true of every other chapter, too. They're quite obvious in retrospect - people probably noticed several subconsciously, at least, without realising it was consistently true - and there should be a list somewhere. (A couple, I think, are merely paraphrased.) Ah, here's mine, although I know they've been listed elsewhere:
Chapter One:
I’m sorry to tell you this, but that is how the story goes. (BB 1, TE 2)
Chapter Two:
It is useless for me to describe to you how terrible Violet, Klaus, and even Sunny felt in the hours that followed. (BB 11 (paraphrase), TE 23)
Chapter Three:
“…your initial opinion on just about anything may change over time.” (BB 28, TE 62)
Chapter Four:
“I can’t tell you how much we appreciate this,” Violet said, careful… (BB 43, TE 71)
Chapter Five:
The family had arrived at the banking district, pausing to rest at the Fountain of Victorious Finance… (BB 62 (paraphrase), TE 105)
Chapter Six:
His face was very serious, as if he were very sorry to hear that, but his eyes were shiny and bright, they way they are when someone is telling a joke. (BB 73, TE 124)
Chapter Seven:
“But what to do?” (BB 91, TE 146)
Chapter Eight:
Some mornings, his father would come into Klaus’s room to wake him up and find him asleep, still clutching his flashlight in one hand and his book in the other (BB 93; TE 171)
Chapter Nine:
To those who hadn’t been around Violet long, nothing would have seemed unusual, but those who knew her well knew that when she tied her hair up in a ribbon to keep it out of her eyes, it meant that the gears and levers of her inventing brain were whirring at top speed. (BB 111, TE 199)
Chapter Ten:
…all day, the two siblings had wandered around the house, doing their assigned chores and scarcely speaking to each other. (BB 113 (paraphrase), TE 212)
Chapter Eleven:
... that everything was all right, but of course everything was not all right. Everything was all wrong… (BB 127 (paraphrase), TE 239)
Chapter Twelve:
Three very short men were carrying a large, flat piece of wood, painted to look like a living room. (BB 134 (paraphrase), TE 275)
Chapter Thirteen:
...it seemed to the children that things were moving in an aberrant—the word “aberrant” here means “very, very wrong, and causing much grief”—direction. (BB 162 (paraphrase), TE 320)
Some also link baby Beatrice's cry of "Cake!" in Chapter Fourteen to Sunny's cry of the same in Chapter Thirteen of TBB, but I think that's rather shaky ground, myself.
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Post by Hermes on Dec 8, 2008 12:31:54 GMT -5
Thank you, Dante, that is amazing!
I notice that in some cases he uses judiciously placed flashbacks to get the result he needs. But with many of them, I would never have spotted the reference, because they just sound like the sort of thing Lemony would say.
As for 'Cake!', I would agree that it can't be part of this pattern, but I think it may be an allusion in its own right - it does seem that in the last chapter Beatrice is being consciously shown taking over the position earlier occupied by Sunny (who is now definitely not a baby, and is using English sentences.)
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Post by Dante on Dec 8, 2008 15:20:51 GMT -5
Thank you, Dante, that is amazing! Don't thank me, thank whoever made the connection in the first place. (I did, however, make my list myself and added minute detail (when I say "paraphrase," in at least one instance I just mean there's an extra comma... I guess Handler's less obsessive-compulsive about the books than some of us).) That makes sense, particularly given that the cry of "Cake!" is something of a non-sequitur. I'd accept that interpretation. |
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Post by Lemony Snicket on Dec 20, 2008 16:31:33 GMT -5
Aw, gee, thanks!  |
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t
Catastrophic Captain
Posts: 80
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Post by t on Dec 24, 2008 19:20:52 GMT -5
A new beginning... I wonder if justice would be served.
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