The Bad Beginning: Characters, plot, and lessons learned

Bad Beginning

The Good Beginning in the Bad Beginning

Lemony Snicket's monumentally successful An Unfortunate Series of Events is a set of books that follow the misadventures of the Baudelaire children. The series initiates with 1999's The Bad Beginning, which presents the series' primary heroes, villains and supporting characters. Likewise, it sets in motion one of the primary conflicts that will drive the story collection.

The first installment climaxes with Olaf's elaborately staged the Marvelous Marriage play as a way to gain access to the children's inheritance. In addition to serving as the peak of action in the book in question, this would ultimately establish a primary conflict to be explored through the larger world of Snicket's series.

This promotes several lessons, most of which are conveyed through the personalities of the Baudelaire children. That they succeed in displaying energy, intelligence and loyalty to one another provides a moral center to the story as the reader slogs through a plot that is dark in nature.

To this point, the best quality of Snicket's first book in the very successful series is the manner in which it combines the dark and foreboding mood of the narrative with the sprightly and clever orientation of the Baudelaire children. The author, from the warning on the back cover and throughout the subsequent books in the series, makes an almost farcical admission of the bleak circumstances and sad misfortunes facing the children. Yet at every turn, they seem almost destined to make the darkest implications into something positive.

From the outset, Snicket describes the children as being almost inherently capable of making the most out of a bad situation. For example, as Snicket describes the children on Briny Beach in the book's first scene, he tells that "this particular morning it was gray and cloudy, which didn't bother Baudelaire youngsters one big. When it was hot and sunny, Briny Beach was crowded with tourists and it was impossible to find a good place to lay one's blanket. On gray and cloudy days, the Baudelaires had the beach to themselves to do what they liked." (p. 4)

This is the strength of the text, which succeeds in taking us through this first installment of tragic events and pitiable circumstances without ever being weighed down by misery. In fact, the text manages to balance this content with the irrepressible nature of the Baudelaire children. In doing so, it buoys the story and the reader, complimenting the story's inherent sadness with both a sense of humor and a relative absurdity that make it a fast and fulfilling read. More importantly, this is a reading experience which does leave the audience wanting more. This is, more than anything, a sign of an excellent first installment in a what will ultimately become an incredibly successful serial for young readers.