The Bad Beginning Themes

The Bad Beginning is fundamentally a story about family. Having lost their parents in a tragic fire, the three Baudelaire children find themselves without a home or guardian. As such, the central plight of the Baudelaire children becomes finding a suitable “replacement” parent figure. Though the children do not find a true solution by the story’s conclusion, the story does present a series of candidates, each representing a different model of family.

As a relative…

Eyes are a central symbol to The Bad Beginning, and for good reason. As the children notice upon first entering Count Olaf’s house, not only are eyes painted literally everywhere––including Count Olaf’s ankle––but it also feels as though there are eyes everywhere. They even become paranoid that Count Olaf is watching them even when he’s not physically present, and this fear only worsens as the novel goes on. Even when the children act…

Violet and Klaus, the two older Baudelaire children, are both remarkably bright children. Klaus is a bookworm with an encyclopedic knowledge of the world. Violet, meanwhile, is a genius inventor who is constantly thinking of new ways to solve problems. While they represent different types of intelligence––Klaus’s is more abstract, and Violet’s is more practical––together they use their smarts to save themselves and their fortune from Count Olaf. Klaus uncovers Olaf’s plot to…