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Chapter 5
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 wake the next morning to find Count Olaf waiting for them with breakfast. The children are suspicious, for such behavior is unusual for Count Olaf, and they worry that the raspberries on their oatmeal might be poisoned. Count Olaf eats a raspberry to reassure them, and the children reluctantly eat their oatmeal. Then Count Olaf reveals that he got a call from Mr. Poe telling him of their visit and their complaints. He expresses regret that the children are unhappy, but the look in his eyes is that of someone telling a joke. He tells them he wants them to feel at home since he is now their father and blames his “standoffish”-ness on stress from the theatre.
The children wake to find that Mr. Poe has called Count Olaf about their visit and told him about their complaints, further illustrating Mr. Poe’s incompetency as an executor and his misplaced trust in adults over children. As though to make up his past mistakes, Olaf acts unusually nice, even apologizing for his behavior, but the children see through it. As they often do, Count Olaf’s eyes tell a different story than the words he speaks. Here, his eyes suggest he is playing a joke on the children—an ominous sign of dangers to come.
Themes
Lemony Snicket comments on Count Olaf’s use of the word “standoffish,” suggesting that it does not appropriately describe his mean-spirited and cruel treatment of the children. To make them feel more at home, Count Olaf invites the children to participate in his upcoming play, The Marvelous Marriage. He tells Klaus and Sunny that they will play cheering crowd members while Violet will play the bride of Count Olaf’s character. The idea of this disgusts Violet, but Count Olaf assures her it is an essential role—even though her only lines are “I do.” He then explains that, to be neighborly, he has invited Justice Strauss to play the person officiating the wedding.
Here, Lemony Snicket firmly establishes his bias toward the Baudelaire children, mocking Olaf’s use of the word “standoffish” to describe his treatment of Violet, Klaus, and Sunny. This also highlights Snicket’s obtrusive and biased style of narration; he is unafraid to voice his opinions and does not care if they sway the readers interpretation of events. He is telling the story the way he wants it to be understood.
Themes
Violet politely tells Count Olaf that she is not talented enough to perform and does not want to ruin the play. Count Olaf responds that she will participate in the play—either voluntarily or not. Then he leaves. Klaus speculates that Count Olaf is after their fortune. To figure out what his plan is, they decide to visit Justice Strauss and see if she has any books on inheritance law. Before heading next door, the children laugh about not wanting to be “standoffish” to Justice Strauss, who had told them to visit her soon.
Count Olaf’s offer to let the children star in his play turns sinister when Violet refuses to perform. He tells them that they have no choice—implying that he has ulterior motives. Believing Olaf to be after their fortune, the children turn to the library to look for answers, showing the library once again to be a place of both relaxation and work. Their skill as readers is no longer just a hobby—it is slowly becoming a survival skill.
Themes
