Extra Credit
Book Summary
The Wide Window
By: Lemony Snicket
Alexa #16
Plot: The Wide Window begins when the Baudelaire’s are leaving their Uncle Monty’s house. They are on their way to their new guardian’s house. Mr. Poe explains to the children that their new guardian’s name is Aunt Josephine and that she lives on Lake Lachrymose. Josephine isn’t a close relative like Uncle Monty, but she wanted to take care of the orphans. Before the children get dripped off, Mr. Poe gives each Baudelaire a bag of peppermints which the children are purposely allergic to.
When the children are dropped off by Mr. Poe, Aunt Josephine leads the children inside of her house. Her small house is located on spidery, metal stilts. The children learn that their Aunt Josephine is a frightened woman ever since her dear husband, Ike, who has died from getting eaten by Lake Lachrymoses leaches. For example, she has many irrational fears. She won’t let the children touch the doorknob because she’s afraid that it will shatter into many pieces and one would get caught in her eye. Josephine keeps her house cold because she’s afraid to turn on the radiator because it might explode. She won’t pick up the phone because she fears that it might shock her. For some odd reason, she’s afraid of realtors. The only joy in her life is grammar. Inside of her house, she has a library in a room containing many books on grammar by a wide window which shows the lakes view.
The Essay on The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket
... the novel The Wide Window, written by Lemony Snicket, is the Baudelaire family’s banker. He keeps their fortune because their house burned down ... he is disguised as Captain Sham. Aunt Josephine has many, many fears. For example, she’s afraid of the stove, the telephone, door ... are planning a surprise for them. After a while the children heard a big CRASH! They ran out of the room ...
Eventually, the children tell Aunt Josephine that there is suppose to be a hurricane within the next day. Josephine takes the children to town to buy food and house supplies. As they’re shopping, they run into a man named Captain Sham. The children immediately recognize that Captain Sham is Count Olaf in disguise. He tells them that he owns a boat rental company and he wears a false wooden leg because it got eaten by the Lachrymose Leaches. The orphans try to prove Aunt Josephine that Sham is Count Olaf, but that can’t be proven because how will they show her his eye tattoo if his wooden leg is covering it? Furthermore, Aunt Josephine adores Captain Sham and she ignores the children.
Later that night, the children are awakened by a loud crash. They dash to the library and pick up their Aunt’s suicidal note. It contains a bunch of grammar errors, not something she would have done. They think that Captain Sham caused her to write the suicide note. So, the children call Mr. Poe. When Mr. Poe arrives, the children can’t prove their point; the note is written in their Aunt Josephine’s hand writing. Mr. Poe and the children go to a restaurant with Sham. Sham and Poe discuss the children’s situation without their guardian. Then, the orphans come up with an idea to start an allergic reaction by eating the Peppermints that Mr. Poe had given them. They escape the restaurant and return to the house. Just then, the hurricane began. At the house, Klaus discovers that Aunt Josephine’s grammar errors in the note spell out Curdle Cave. The children learn that Curdle Cave is a cave some place off of the lake, but they find a map to find it. Then, the hurricane suddenly hits the house, the children quickly evacuate, and the house crumples into pieces and splashes into the lake.
The children rush down to dock to steal a boat from Captain Sham’s boat rental company. However, it is guarded by one of Count Olaf’s assistants, the one who is so fat that neither looks like a man or a woman. The children escape from it and steal a boat. They sail across Lake Lachrymose to Curdle Cave, and find Aunt Josephine. She tells them that Count Olaf forced her to write the note, but she threw a chair at the window to hide, leaving the note behind.
The Term Paper on Edgar Allan Poe 5
Although not originally well received, Edgar Allan Poe, became one of the most influential literary writers in American history. As a child, he wrote numerous poems, many which were later published. As a young adult he focused much of his attention on short fiction. He was credited with creating the detective story and known for his psychological and often violent thrillers. He is also known for ...
The children convince Josephine to go on the boat, but the Lachrymose leeches attack. The leeches only attack if someone ate something (they attack when they smell food), but the children didn’t. Then, Aunt Josephine admits that she ate a banana. As the boat is being eaten by the leeches, Violet invents a light for a signal for help. Just then, Captain Sham rescues them in another boat. Josephine offers Sham to live with her and to sell the Baudelaire’s, and forget about them. But, Sham gets mad when she interrupts him making a grammar error in his speech. Sham pushes her and she gets eaten by the leeches. Sham then takes the children to dock.
At dock, Mr. Poe is about to give the kids to Sham, but Sunny bites of his wooden leg revealing his eye tattoo. Count Olaf manages to escape before Mr. Poe calls the cops.
