The Baudelaires and Love?

[heartshapedballoon]

I apologize if this was already discussed, but I wanted to bring up the idea of love and how it relates to the siblings.

It has been stated that the children care a lot about each other, but you never hear them say "I love you Violet" or "I love you Klaus".

What has caused me to think about this idea is how in Book 10, "The Slippery Slope" there were a few instances were the kids thought about saying "something special" to one another before leaving each other in case they never met again. However, when Klaus mentions the "special" thing he wanted to say to Sunny, he suggests compliments. And as sweet as this is, what about "I love you Sunny"??

I just don't understand why Snicket chose not to include this sort of love. He's open about his penn name's love for Beatrice, but we don't see any sibling/family love.

What gives? Comment your ides please!

[MyKindEditor]

Well, it's pretty clear that the siblings are very fond of each other but saying 'I love you' has so many cliches, 'I love you' in my opinion, in the situations the Baudelaires are in, is very final. Like in films when the hero/heroine is dying and their lover/someone who secretly loved them says 'I love you' and then they die. I get the feeling that Handler wanted the Baudelaires to always win in a certain way, 'I love you' is very final and Handler wans to give the reader some hope.

Reason for Editing: Missed off the E.

[Invisible]

I have a saying. "I don't have to say 'I love you' because you know I do." So the Baudelaires obviously believe in the same thing.


And MyKindEditor, heroin is a deadly drug. A heroine, however, is a female lead in the movies. Just to clear that up

[heartshapedballoon]

Ah, both of your theories make sense. Thanks for sharing.

The lack of the phrase still bothers me a bit though, despite my understanding that it is cliche and should be something that the children know....

Sigh. Oh well(:

[Seymour Glass]

I never say "I love you" to my brother.

[Hermes]

Jun 2, 2010 8:08:52 GMT -5 Seymour Glass said:

I never say "I love you" to my brother.

Well, how often are you and your brother in danger of death? (But actually I agree with those who think it's not necessary.)

[Christmas Chief]

The Baudelaires do say things to each other that is something of an equivalent to "I love you"; applauding each others intelligence, expressing agreement, comforting each other, and, obviously, saving each others lives.

[heartshapedballoon]

I agree, but the reason I wrote the post was to bring up the fact that if all these actions of love are performed, why not say the words?

And I'm afraid I must disagree with the Jewish theory. I'm not questioning your knowledge, but I have many Jewish friends and they all tell their parents and siblings they love them. I really don't think being Jewish prevents one from saying I Love You.

[Christmas Chief]

Jun 4, 2010 4:35:10 GMT -5 heartshapedballoon said:

I agree, but the reason I wrote the post was to bring up the fact that if all these actions of love are performed, why not say the words?

If the Baudelaires said "I love you" at certain parts in the story, those parts might be passed off as more significant than others, and that might not be necessarily true. And repeating themselves would get tiresome, of course, at least for the readers.

[heartshapedballoon]

Ah, that makes a lot of sense. Thank you. But, I guess you could argue that Snicket could have made some parts more significant than others? Just a thought.

[Dante]

I think that one thing Handler tries to avoid is excessive sentimentality, and saying "I love you" all the time would be symptomatic of just that.

[Wasabi]

And I presume, Dante, it would have to do with that repetition thing we talked about in a previous thread.