|
|
Post by Hermes on Mar 20, 2009 15:22:30 GMT -5
He probably would have killed her after. He and Orwell were never together, from what I gather, which is why he wouldn't split it with her but would with Esme. I think that's going a bit far. While the bad side of VFD clearly don't generally operate as a group, I get the sense that there is a kind of 'honour among thieves' among them. The MWBBNH and the WWHBNB seem to act as their leaders in some sense, and might get a bit annoyed if they started killing one another. |
|
|
|
Post by Mijahu on Mar 20, 2009 16:04:01 GMT -5
True, but Olaf seems wretched, even in that respect. I think he would turn against his subordinate goons, as I'm sure he saw Orwell.
|
|
|
|
Post by rosalieg on Mar 22, 2009 20:39:28 GMT -5
This has been mentioned in other posts, but TMM seems like a real departure for the series. It has a lot of firsts. It's the first time the Baudelaires have been adopted, in a sense, by an institution as opposed to a single person. It's the first time (since Count Olaf, anyway) that the children have had a truly despicable guardian. Paltryville is also the most absurd location the Baudelaires have been sent to at this point. The City, Lousy Lane and Lake Lachrymose weren't exactly normal, but Paltryville is the most obviously abnormal of the lot. It doesn't really resemble any type of place that actually exists. Even the book's major plot point, hypnosis, is a departure. Up to this point, Count Olaf has always come up with more straight-forward plans (marriage, murdering guardians, etc.) but this is the first time he's resorted to really convoluted, or supernaturally based, schemes.
Kind of long-winded, but the basic point of this post is that from TMM on, the locations, characters and plots of the book become more obviously fantastical and absurdist. TMM gets a lot of that started. It's an interesting thing to notice.
|
|
|
|
Post by cwm on Mar 23, 2009 15:45:33 GMT -5
Dr. Orwell's hypnosis is never explained, but is the first major detachment from reality; it's just like hypnotism as portrayed in bad cartoons. It's probably the most severe instance of the series requiring suspension of disbelief; the mortar-dissolver in TVV and Klaus and Sunny posing as adult women in THH are the next most major examples.
The book is the first example of not having Violet invent something, Klaus research something and Sunny bite something in order to help get to the end; Violet and Klaus' roles are reversed, presumably in an attempt to be interesting and show that the siblings know things other than the single talents they've portrayed until now. The next deviation from the invent-research-bite formula (Sunny cooking is introduced later, and I have a number of things to say about that but those really will wait until appropiate) is The Grim Grotto, where Violet's talents for inventing aren't really used and then The End where all three siblings research something and all three siblings bite something (Violet invents something but it's incidental).
|
|
|
|
Post by Dante on Mar 23, 2009 16:21:23 GMT -5
Could this be associated with the growing importance of reading (and literature in general) in the series, do you think?
|
|
|
|
Post by Hermes on Mar 24, 2009 13:28:10 GMT -5
The End where all three siblings research something and all three siblings bite something. Good heavens, I never thought of that! Dante: Could you expand that? I'm not sure how these things fit together. (Does reading become more important, anyway? There is, notably and importantly, a library in every book, from the start - even though in TMM it's a library of only three books.) |
|
|
|
Post by cwm on Mar 24, 2009 14:54:03 GMT -5
Neither did I, to be fair. I took it from this board's The End factfile.
|
|
|
|
Post by Dante on Mar 24, 2009 15:09:59 GMT -5
Dante: Could you expand that? I'm not sure how these things fit together. (Does reading become more important, anyway? There is, notably and importantly, a library in every book, from the start - even though in TMM it's a library of only three books.) Libraries and literature seem to me to grow in thematic importance. The arson tactic so often employed against V.F.D. seems most apt to destroy their libraries and books; "a well-read person is less likely to be evil"; in TGG, both Violet and Klaus need to brush up on poetry to reach their goal; TPP's fairly explicit in the fire vs. books element, and there's the aforementioned fact about The End in that inventing and biting and cooking aren't of great significance, but they all do some very important reading. Although even in TBB, all three children were taking books from the library. I always thought this was what Handler was - oh, but I think I'm getting ahead of myself, or rather, ahead of the reread. But I think he is hyping up books and literariness more towards the end of the series. Neither did I, to be fair. I took it from this board's The End factfile. P.S. I wrote those. [/blatant self-promotion] |
|
jewntansoath
Bewildered Beginner
Find someone who likes to read what you like to read today!
Posts: 6
|
Post by jewntansoath on Mar 24, 2009 16:58:04 GMT -5
The Great 667 Re-Read: Week 4 - The Miserable Mill Well we have made it to our fourth week of re-reading Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. This week we endeavour to re-discover The Miserable Mill - involving hypnosis, chewing gum, lasagna, coupons, and a spectacular sword fight. Enjoy! There is no lasagna in the Miserable Mill. That is in Austere Academy when the Two Powdered Face Women serve the lunches at Prufrock Prep in disquise. |
|
|
|
Post by Hermes on Mar 24, 2009 17:04:00 GMT -5
Libraries and literature seem to me to grow in thematic importance. The arson tactic so often employed against V.F.D. seems most apt to destroy their libraries and books; "a well-read person is less likely to be evil"; in TGG, both Violet and Klaus need to brush up on poetry to reach their goal; TPP's fairly explicit in the fire vs. books element, and there's the aforementioned fact about The End in that inventing and biting and cooking aren't of great significance, but they all do some very important reading. Yes, that seems right; it may go together with the growth of the idea of VFD. I'm not sure where the idea of VFD as a community of well-read people begins (and of course when we first hear of VFD we don't know it's a community at all) - I think it's explicit in TGG, but at least implied in TSS with the Vernacularly Fastened Door. There's also the way Lemony refers to famous writers as his associates - and this idea may already be present in TUA, with the Commonplace Book, which seems to be finding secret VFD messages in well-known works of literature. |
|
|
|
Post by cwm on Mar 25, 2009 11:34:12 GMT -5
Are we going to start The Austere Academy...?
|
|
|
|
Post by Hermes on Mar 25, 2009 12:11:05 GMT -5
Are we going to start The Austere Academy...? I asked the same question in the Cakesniffers thread. Sora? Are you there? |
|
|
|
Post by Dante on Mar 25, 2009 13:03:17 GMT -5
If it's delayed another day, I'll start the next reread thread on Sora's behalf. I assume he's busy.
|
|
|
|
Post by cwm on Mar 25, 2009 14:32:38 GMT -5
He?!?!
Also, random note: TMM is the first time where the editor letter isn't on a plain sheet of paper, it's been torn by crabs. The variations in note will become ever more unusual, culminating in the TGG letter (for TPP) taking up several pages. The letter in The End is the last 'normal' letter, although it doesn't use the same format as the first three books did.
The picture of Snicket on the 'about the author' page features Snicket's shadow outside in the snow. Does this mark the transition into the best-known image of a man in a grey hat and suit? I believe previously they just used images of him in a darkened room.
|
|
|
|
Post by Hermes on Mar 25, 2009 15:47:17 GMT -5
The picture of Snicket on the 'about the author' page features Snicket's shadow outside in the snow. Does this mark the transition into the best-known image of a man in a grey hat and suit? I believe previously they just used images of him in a darkened room. That's interesting; it links up with something I have noticed in the text, that Lemony's fortunes are apparently changing for the worse; in the first three books he had a room, overlooking a graveyard, but now he is beginning to write from more exotic locations (a mountain cabin in TAA). |
|
