Chapter-by-Chapter: The Carnivorous Carnival, Chapter 13

At the end of the last chapter we were told that this final chapter was going to be really short. Snicket wasn’t kidding. Sometimes I do wonder if chapters are written purely to complete a quota of thirteen for each book and I normally reason it away that it works that way, but sometimes the divisions are not very equal. And this is one of those times.

Chapter Thirteen clocks in at the grand total of four pages so this'll be a short one today.

What Happens?



Thoughts as I read:

The picture for this chapter is of the tent which we first saw earlier in the book. You can just make out the V.F.D. insignia now that you know what it looks like, except that it's hard to see it all clearly as the tent is being consumed by flames. Looks like Klaus has done a good job there.

Also, is it just me or does the way the flames are going look a little bit like Count Olaf's hair? Maybe I'm reading too much into these pictures...

The final chapter has Klaus and Violet looking out the window at the front of the caravan where they can see Hugo, Colette and Kevin forming a human chain as Kevin uses a big knife to saw through the knot Violet tied. Despite the Devil's Tongue being a relatively strong knot, it wasn't designed to withstand a knife blow, and so it comes undone.

And so we leave the Baudelaires; Sunny whizzing ahead up the road in the clutches of Count Olaf and his crew, while Klaus and Violet start rolling backwards.

As far as endings go, this isn't a happy one.

The last picture of the book shows the caravan rushing down the slope, one wheel precariously over the edge of the road, while small rocks and things tumble out. One of these things is a book with 'Snowscout Handbook' printed on the front cover, which is our clue to the next book.

And then we get a badly typewritten message from Snicket to his editor. It's not printed well because wherever Snicket was writing from was so cold his typewriter ink kept freezing. It tells us that the next book will be The Slippery Slope and that 'UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU' but we don't find out what because the next paragraph is blank.

We'll take a closer look at that tomorrow.