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Chapter 3
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Bad Beginning, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Family and Parenthood
Surveillance, Supervision, and Guardianship
Children vs. Adults
Intelligence and Ethics
Summary
Analysis
The children write down the recipe and go shopping for ingredients, accompanied by Justice Strauss. They do not have much money, but they manage to buy everything they need, including pudding mix for dessert. They thank Justice Strauss for her help, and she expresses her concern about Count Olaf having asked them to do so much. She invites them back over, and the children happily accept, though they offer to do chores in return for her kindness; they are not used to adults treating them so well and think Justice Strauss might expect some sort of payment. This is not the case, however, and Justice Strauss refuses their offer. She tells them they are always welcome at her home.
This passage highlights the Baudelaire children’s shifting attitude toward adults after their parents’ death. Unlike most children, they no longer expect adults to treat them with kindness, nor to help them without a selfish reason for doing so. Count Olaf is clearly interested in their fortune, and Mr. Poe is only helping them because it’s his job to do so; it is clear that, were he not the executor of their will, he would not be helping them as he is. Considering these experiences, the Baudelaire children are uncertain how to respond to Justice Strauss’s generosity, and so they offer to compensate her for her their use of the library. This signals their uncertain transition into the world of adult relationships, one in which they believe everything is transactional.
Themes
The children spend the afternoon cooking, and they all feel better. The cooking is calming and makes the kitchen smell good, and the children reminisce about their parents and talk excitedly about how great Justice Strauss and her library are. Just as they’re finishing the pudding, however, Count Olaf returns home. He angrily asks where the roast beef is, and the children tell him they made Puttanesca sauce. Count Olaf is outraged, but the children defend themselves, claiming he never asked them to. Sunny yells “No!” and Count Olaf angrily picks her up and stares at her, making her cry. Klaus tries to rescue Sunny, but he’s too short, and Count Olaf looks at him with an evil grin. He seems like he’s about to drop her when his theatre troupe enter the kitchen looking for him.
In this scene, Count Olaf reveals himself to be far worse than the Baudelaire children could have imagined. Though the children spent the entire day cooking a dinner for him and his troupe, and Count Olaf’s only response is to demand roast beef and, upon discovering they made Puttanesca, scold and threaten them. Where before Olaf seemed merely negligent and demanding, here he becomes borderline abusive, picking Sunny up and threatening––at least, implicitly––to drop her. Suddenly, the children realize they are up against a true monster.
Themes
Count Olaf’s theatre troupe is a strange group. They are all different sizes and shapes, and all of them are very scary to the Baudelaire children. A white-faced woman asks what Count Olaf what he is doing, and he responds that he is disciplining the children for making the wrong dinner. His troupe agrees with his harsh response, and Count Olaf lowers Sunny to the floor. Count Olaf recommends they all go get drunk in the dining room while they wait for the “brats” to serve them. As they leave, one of the troupe members warns Violet not to upset Count Olaf or else he might hurt her “pretty little face.”
Unfortunately, Count Olaf’s troupe is no less strange or cruel than he is. Like Olaf, they all have unusual and disturbing features and seem to share many of his worst traits and beliefs. For instance, instead of admonishing Count Olaf for his treatment of Violet, Klaus, and Sunny, they support him, with some even applauding his harsh brand of discipline. This attitude, along with one of the troupe member’s threats to Violet, foreshadows their later involvement in Olaf’s scheming.
Themes
The children are traumatized by their encounter with Count Olaf and the troupe. Klaus and Sunny cry while Violet shakes with fear and disgust. A troupe member shouts for dinner from the dining room, and the children serve dinner to the drunk party. The children return to the kitchen but are too unhappy to eat their own portion of the meal. The troupe pounds on the table, signaling for the children clear the table and serve desert. Finally, the drunken troupe members get up to leave, and Count Olaf tells the children they can go to their “beds” after they clean up from dinner.
Despite Olaf’s awful treatment of them, the Baudelaire children persist in serving the meal to Olaf and his troupe members. This illustrates not only their newfound fear of Olaf, but also their emotional resilience. Even though they are traumatized by Olaf’s actions, they still find it in themselves to be polite and pretend that everything is fine.
Themes
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Upset by the night’s events, Klaus retorts that they only have one bed, to which Count Olaf replies that, if they want, they can buy another one using their fortune. Klaus reminds Count Olaf that they can’t use the money until Violet is older, and Count Olaf angrily hits Klaus in the face. He falls to the floor, and the troupe laughs and applauds. Count Olaf tells the troupe they need to leave or they’ll be late for their show, at which point a troupe member expresses his confidence that Olaf will find a way to steal the Baudelaire fortune. “We’ll see,” replies Count Olaf, an evil glint in his eyes. Then he leaves. The Baudelaire children console each other and go to bed crying.
This scene is a turning point in the story and the climax of the dinner scene. Not only does Count Olaf strike Klaus, proving himself to be physically violent in addition to emotionally abusive, but he also hints at his interest in stealing their fortune. As such, Count Olaf’s true, nefarious intentions for adopting the Baudelaire children becomes clearer, as does his lack of morals. Increasingly, it seems like Count Olaf is only interested in the children’s money and is willing to do just about anything to get it.
Themes
