Proof Beatrice Survived The Fire

[Hermes]

The passage to me gives the impression that L is actually with Kit at the time. But let's grant your hypothesis; L may indeed at some point not have known that Kit was dead; he would have known after he went to the island, or after he met Beatrice, whichever is the earlier, but it's not clear how he could have known before that. But would not this then apply to the earlier books as well, so that 'my sister' in TCC and TSS can be Kit, even though they were written after her death?

[Optimism is my Phil-osophy]

In TCC Lemony clearly implies that she has not seen his sister in a long time, and it is necessary to inform that he himself was still alive. Kit died on a desert island with few witnesses. If the Baudelaires did not inform in the book of the island the identity of the woman who arrived on the island, being pregnant, Lemony would not be able to deduce that the woman in question was Kit herself. This possibility is reinforced by TBL, since Lemony did not know of the existence from Beatrice JR until she sent the letter. Lemony had already published some of the books when that happened, but not all books. So, Lemony didn't know that Kit was dead, and ended up texting her in the books, and he thought he could save her somehow. I recognize that this is strange. But I believe that possibly an impostor assumed Kit's identity after Kit's death. Something similar to what may have happened to Jacques Snicket. This could have quite confused Lemony.

The information that Kit was dead must have reached Lemony only when Beatrice JR talk with him.

[Dante]

Regarding the crouton passage:

As the hook-handed man circled the brig, it was as if the Baudelaires were picking through a chef's salad consisting mostly of dreadful--and perhaps even poisonous--ingredients, trying desperately to find the one noble crouton that might save their sister, just as I, between paragraphs, am picking through this salad in front of me, hoping that my waiter is more noble than wicked, and that my sister, Kit, might be saved by the small, herbed piece of toast I hope to retrieve from my bowl.

-TGG, pp. 225-226

I'm not absolutely certain that it necessarily indicates that Kit is definitely with him at that instant; and one could equally argue that it may not even refer to "saving" Kit in a literal sense. That is certainly what is implied, that Lemony is searching for an antidote crouton (or perhaps one that has been hollowed out to contain some vital secret), but I don't regard it as safe to call a definitive statement. Much though I sympathise with the position you're trying to defend otherwise.

[Hermes]

Dante: Well, she need not be actually in the same room, but one would think she would have to be nearby if finding a piece of herbed toast is going to save her; it wouldn't be much use if L did not know where she was.

Jeanlucio: OK, but are we now disagreeing? I thought you were claiming that the 'sister' passages in TCC and TSS referred to Beatrice. If they refer to Kit, because L does not know she is dead, they are no longer evidence for B's survival.

[Optimism is my Phil-osophy]

Feb 17, 2020 11:47:10 GMT -5 Hermes said:

Dante: Well, she need not be actually in the same room, but one would think she would have to be nearby if finding a piece of herbed toast is going to save her; it wouldn't be much use if L did not know where she was.

Jeanlucio: OK, but are we now disagreeing? I thought you were claiming that the 'sister' passages in TCC and TSS referred to Beatrice. If they refer to Kit, because L does not know she is dead, they are no longer evidence for B's survival.

Exact. When I said "I accept it" I meant "You convinced me that this letter is not evidence that Beatrice has survived for many years." But I still support this theory with other evidence, okay?