As a college philosophy teacher, I am
hoping that within a decade I can expect a surge in interest in ethics courses
from students who read the enormously popular books by Lemony Snicket in his Series
of Unfortunate Events. These
wonderful stories for children chronicle the adventures of the three Baudelaire
orphans in their encounters with the dastardly Count Olaf. Despite the decidedly unhappy themes that
run through this series, it is not surprising that they wide appeal because
they are smart, funny and moving. 
Previous books in the series may well spark the imagination of future
detectives, inventors, psychologists, researchers, and reporters, since the
children, Violet, Klaus and Sunny, use their intelligence to get themselves out
of difficult situations and demonstrate bravery and perseverance in each
book. They are confronted by the
incompetence, self-deception and duplicity of adults who are meant to be their
guardians, and they carry the burden of their grief for their lost parents with
dignity. The children have become
familiar with the moral weakness of those who should know better. In the latest book in this series, The
Carnivorous Carnival, however, the children start to face the difficult
question of their own moral characters. In their extended battle with Count
Olaf, they have lied to and stolen from people who trusted them, and destroyed
valuable property. It seems that they
are in danger of becoming like the adults who
let them down. Many readers will surely
be led to reflect on the nature of virtue and the difficulty of being a good
person, and later on, familiar with the nuances of moral self-interpretation,
these readers will take pleasure in the ethics of Aristotle, Hume, and
Kant. At least, that is my fervent
hope.

While the books in the middle of
this series by Lemony Snicket verged on the formulaic, with the children being
shunted from one hapless custodian to another while being pursued by the
nefarious Count Olaf, who would always crop up in disguise, the last few book
have had unpredictable plots that keep the reader guessing. In this latest episode, it is the children
that are pursuing Count Olaf, and they need to disguise themselves to avoid
detection. When the children arrive at
the Carnival, they find that it contains a freak show, and they decide that their
best option is to pass themselves off as freaks. Violet and Klaus dress up as a person with two heads and Sunny
takes on the guise of Chabo the Wolf Baby. 
They become the companions of a hunchbacked man, a contortionist and
Kevin who has the peculiar misfortune of being ambidextrous. This will raise in thoughtful readers’ minds
questions about how society decides who counts as a freak; it’s particularly
notable that Count Olaf’s assistant, the
hook-handed man, insists that he is not a
freak. In contrast, Kevin is convinced
that having equal function in one’s right and left arms and legs is equivalent
to a terrible deformity, and wishes that he were either right or left handed
like other people.  The children see the dark side of people who pay to watch
freaks perform humiliating acts and who are willing to pay more if there’s a
promise that the very lives of the freaks will be at risk. But they also see how people like Kevin are
all too willing to participate in their own victimization when they are quite
capable of solving their own problems. 
If Lemony Snicket is introducing his readers to identity politics of
disability, he is showing the complexities of the issues from the start. It is particularly disturbing to see how
some of the freaks are ready to sacrifice any moral principle in order to win
friends and be treated with respect. 
Again, these themes will prime young readers for philosophical
investigation of the society decides what is normal and what is pathological.

Even with all its silliness, The Carnivorous
Carnival is a morally serious book appropriate for these times. It is rumored that this series will
eventually consist of thirteen books. 
In each book, the author warns readers that the story may lead to
despair and weeping, and recommends that readers stop reading immediately. At this stage in the series, we have
increasing reason to think that maybe the author is not kidding, and there
really will be no happy ending. Indeed,
the author may be setting the stage for a full-blown tragedy—and in all the
best tragedies none of the main protagonists find happiness or even peace. Of course, as devoted readers we hope the
Baudelaire children will find the answers to the most important questions, such
as what do the letters VFD stand for, and whether one of their parents, in fact, survived the
fire that burned down the family home.  Alas, the children have already lost
their innocence, and we might be content if they escape with their lives and a
firm grip on the difference between right and wrong.

Actor Tim Curry again performs the unabridged
audiobook magnificently. On it,
the Gothic Archies play some excellent music, although it is difficult to
decipher all the words. Highly
recommended.

Links:

• Publisher’s
  web page for The Carnivorous Carnival
• Review of
  The Hostile Hospital
• Review
  of The Vile Village.
• Review of
  The Ersatz Elevator.
• Review
  of The Austere Academy.
• Review
  of The Miserable Mill.
• Review
  of The Wide Window.
• Review
  of The Reptile Room.
• Review
  of The Bad Beginning.
• Lemony Snicket web site.

© 2002 Christian Perring. First Serial Rights.

Christian Perring, Ph.D.,
is Chair of the Philosophy Department at Dowling College, Long Island. He is
editor of Metapsychology Online Review. His main research is on
philosophical issues in psychiatry. He is especially interested in exploring
how philosophers can play a greater role in public life, and he is keen to help
foster communication between philosophers, mental health professionals, and the
general public.

Categories: Children