relief from the "horrible-ness"

[owlcitizen11]

One thing i like about lemony snicket's writing style is that even at a serious moment, he adds a bit of humor. for example, this is a passage from the slippery slope:

"And a refrigerator may hold a basket of strawberries, which would be important if a maniac said to you, "If you don't give me a basket of strawberries right now, I'm going to poke you with this large stick." But when the two elder Baudelaires and Quigley Quagmire opened the refrigerator, they found nothing that would help someone who was wounded, dying of thirst, or being thratened by a strawberry-crazed, stick-carrying maniac."

i mean, i would not be able to think of that!!!!! pure genius!

[Dante]

Part of the humour is that he's being clever enough to follow up on some of the sillier references, I think. In other words, the stick-wielding maniac shows up the first time and is silly and quite amusing, and just when we think that's it and he's gone then he pops up again moments later. And it's completely logical.