Iâve forgotten a lot about the Series of Unfortunate Events books in the many years since Iâve read them, but there was always one bit that stuck with me because of how powerful, frustrating, and insightful it was.
Itâs the part in The Carnivorous Carnival where the âFreak Showâ is explaining why theyâre freaks, and one of them is upset because heâs ambidextrous. Now, ambidexterity was something that Iâd known about for ages (eventually we found out that one of my younger siblings is semi-ambidextrous), and I was surprised that the character considered it freakish. I felt (wrongly) that it was just Mr. Snicket being too outlandish again, and presenting something frustratingly simple as strange, but I quickly realized that this was the point.
Yes, being ambidextrous is useful. Itâs practically a superpower. No one will notice and no one will care, you never hear about someone being ostracized for being ambidextrousâŠbut in this book, this is precisely why he feels like he doesnât belong. The same goes for the contortionist. And, of course, to the man with the hunchback.
And thereâs the connection.
Anyone who has watched a Disney movie knows the whole âostracized hunchbackâ story, itâs happened time and time again, people feel weird when they see someone with a twisted spine, they shove them into freakshows, it becomes a deformity. But by putting that on the exact same level as being ambidextrous or double-jointed, Snicket casts a harsh light on these judgments and prejudices. Then he proceeds to take it one step further: the posse of bizarre and frightening individuals that had been wandering around with Olaf from the beginningâa man with hook hands, creepy twins, a person who looks like neither a man nor a woman, and the bald giantâall make fun of these âfreaksââŠand then accept them into their group.
And itâs here where you realize that this group of criminals and miscreants is not composed of people too strange and bizarre to join up with ânormalâ âdecentâ âcivilizationâ: theyâve come here because thereâs nowhere else that will accept them. The criminal Olaf doesnât care what they look like (actually, he does, heâs very wicked) as long as he can use them and abuse them. Heâs tricked them into thinking that he is the only one who will accept them, and heâs used societyâs hideous faults of prejudice as evidence that this is true. Itâs here where we see that a man with hooks for hands is really no less ânormalâ than a man who can use his right hand as easily as his left. Does it matter if you have two good hands or two working heads? How is one person worth more or less than any other? If youâre going to ostracize a person for refusing to conform to gender norms, shouldnât you also ostracize someone whose left and right eyes donât match?
And you, reader, or viewer, or however youâve chosen to consume this particular piece of mediaâŠwhat were you doing, judging Count Olafâs band of freaks from the start of the series? Did you never stop to consider that these weirdos and monsters might have had their own stories, their own motivations, their own troubles in life? Lemony Snicket reaches a point where he turns and looks the audience dead in their eyes and says âAre you a person who puts out fires, a person who starts fires, or a person who just lets the fires burn?âÂ
Itâs a fantastic payoff to a long setup that made many people uncomfortableâŠand it was good that it made them uncomfortable, because that shows that they already understand. And while, yes, the members of the sideshow choose wickedness and the lives of criminals, we see that this is because they believe itâs a good path for them. They have a choice. The orphans have a choice. The books are all about choice and morality, but Carnivorous Carnival is the point where the story reveals that sometimes choices are more difficult for certain people not because of their own character, but because of the expectations from society.
Itâs a brilliant subversion, and Iâm excited to see the continuation in the next season.
gummygunk
origamiaround
germansingergirl
blakekathryn
areudirty
discoholicmusic
dailybridgerton
