Mi corazón latía a 20 veces más cuando estaba cerca de ti. Mis sentidos en general se aturdían… Me convertía en tu esclavo y te amaba de una manera tan extraña que hoy en día me impide olvidarte.
Todo ese amor que me juraste fue una mentira, sin embargo fue la mentira que me hizo feliz.
snicketstrange
This is part 7 of Strange Interpretation by Jean Lúcio from Brazil.
To understand this text, it is necessary to read some of my previous texts.
If you have understood the Great Hiatus theory well, you will understand why I believe so much that Beatrice survived for many years after the burning of her house.
It is important to remember some important facts about the letter of R. The letter indicates that Lemony was captured that night of the Masked Ball to which the letter refers. In the letter it is written:
“You took a terrible chance in contacting me, but I’m glad you did. I am so sorry that I was unable to prevent, or least delay, your CAPTURE at my masked ball that evening, and I have been worried sick ALL THESE YEARS THAT YOU WERE DEAD, despite rumors of your activities spreading through the network of loyal members . ”
Remember that what started the Great Hiatus was the capture of Lemony in this Masked Ball. This capture of Lemony occurred after he had published the books TBB, TRR and TWW.
Please note the following:
“I can not, however, help you answer the question YOU WROTE ME ON THAT GUM WRAPPER.” That was the LAST PUBLIC EVENT the members of the organization dared attend together … Mr. Snicket, everything you kept in my home is gone. BULLFIGHTING COSTUME IS GONE … Everything in that guest room is gone, and all the things in the guest room next door BEATRICE, OF COURSE, IS FAR PAST COMPLAINING ABOUT LOST POSSESSIONS - THE VERY REASON, I AM CERTAIN, THAT YOU HAVE DEDICATED YOUR LIFE RESEARCHING THE LIVES OF THOSE THREE POOR CHILDREN … “
Beatrice was in that Masked Ball that happened after the publication of books 1, 2 and 3. As it was explained, When the book TRR was published, it had been years (in the plural) that the main events recorded in the TRR book had already happened. Thus, Beatrice was fully alive years after the fire at her house. According to the letter, Beatrice stayed in the guest room next to the room where Lemony stayed. It is interesting that the pamphlet "13 shocking secrets” says:
Secret 10: “Lemony Snicket was disguised as a bullfighterwhen he was captured.”
If R was talking about a Masked Ball that happened more than 15 years before the Beatrice house fire, the letter would not make any sense.
In the first place, this would mean that the ball that took place 15 or more years before the mansion would have been the last until the day R wrote the letter, and since then R would have been in doubt whether Lemony was alive or dead until the day he saw arrive the manuscript of the book 4. But, proof that Lemony would be alive would be the publication for the Great Public of the books TBB, TRR and TWW. According to Lemony, when he wrote the book TRR there was no doubt that he was alive or dead, as he attended dinners, such as Madame d'Lustro’s dinner.
Similarly, when Lemony wrote TWW, he had not yet been captured, for he was still in his house, in his room. He wrote:
“ I wish I had the power to go back and tell them that they were wrong. But of course, I cannot. I am not on top of the hill, overlooking Lake Lachrymose , on that gloomy morning. I am sitting in my room, in the middle of the night, writing down this story and looking out my window at the graveyard behind my home.”
In addition, according to chapter 9 of the UA, there was at least one masked ball after the events recorded in TRR. In a letter to R, Lemony states in Sebald Code that he will go to the Masked Ball of the Duchess of Winnipeg. In the same letter, Lemony states that his enemies are searching for Unty Monty’s reptiles. Notice what is written in this letter:
“Your Royal Duchessness,
The bell of regret, I’m sorry to say, must ring. ATTENDINGyour Masked Ball is impossible. Though I’d love to attendYOUR Masked Ball, my enemies are unlikely to cancel their plans - MASKED Ball, perhaps, or a Regular Ball or another kind of BALL - of finding and capturing me. Deep, deep, deep, deep regret IS what I feel for refusing your invitation, but it’s too DANGEROUS. They’re searching furiously for the survivors of Dr. Montgomery’s collection, BUT imagine how furiously they’ll search for me. So I'LL run. I’ll hide. I’ll run to hiding places. I’ll do everything except BE at your Masked Ball, even though I’d love to be THERE.
Maybe nest time. I hope so.
With all due respect,
LEMONY Snicket
P.S. Ring, bells of regret! ”
The message in Sebald Code is: “ATTENDING YOUR MASKED BALL IS DANGEROUS BUT I’LL BE THERE. LEMONY”
But in addition to the code message note the following snippets:
“They’re searching furiously for the SURVIVORS of Dr. Montgomery’s collection.”
When I talked to D., he explained to me that the classical interpretation of this passage is that there were several moments in history when the reptiles in Dr. Montgomery’s collection were lost. According to classical interpretation, the loss of reptiles at the end of TRR can not be regarded as a “Time Mark”, because of Daniel Handler’s tendency to create duplicates of events to confuse the reader. Thus, D. explained to me that the classical interpretation considers Beatrice’s death as a true Time Mark, and all other evidence that all other Time Marks pointing to a possible Beatrice survival would actually be an attempt by Daniel Hanlder to deceive the reader. But of course, I disagree with the classical interpretation. I respect classical interpretation quite a lot, and I can not prove that classical interpretation is wrong. What I do know is that for the classical interpretation to work you need to believe that Lemony Snicket would never lie to his target audience, and that Daniel Hanlder made chronological mistakes.
On the other hand, the Strange Interpretation of Jean Lúcio from Brazil, has as premise that Lemony Snicket tells lies to the Great public of his universe whenever he believes it is good and necessary and that Daniel Hanlder did not make chronological errors. The assumptions are different, and so the results are different. And that is why in the Strange Interpretation of Jean Lúcio from Brazil, the death of Beatrice was removed as a time mark. In my understanding, in this letter from Lemony to R the word “survivors” leaves no doubt as to when Lemony’s enemies were searching for reptiles. Individuals from a group of people or animals are called “survivors" when part of the group dies in a single tragic event. Although Uncle Monty had lost his reptiles on a few occasions before the TRR events, he recovered them. However, after the events described in TRR, there was a real death threat to the reptiles and amphibians that were part of that collection.
Bruce explained in TRR chap. 13:
"These snakes need to be taken care of, so we’re giving them away to other scientists, zoos, and retirement homes. Those we can not find homes for we’ll have PUT TO SLEEP. ”
“Put to sleep” is an expression that probably means “to kill some animals”.
These links contain a list of meanings in English for “Put to sleep”:
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/put%20to%20sleep
www.yourdictionary.com/put-to-sleep
Among the meanings is: “to give drugs to animal that will make it die without pain”.
Thus, the Masked Ball in which Lemony is referring in the letter to R in chapter 9 of the UA happened after most of the reptiles in Uncle Monty’s collection were killed. This happened after the events described in TRR. Thus, the LAST MASKED BALL that happened in the R mansion could not have happened before the events described in TRR. Moreover, in Lemony’s letter to R, Lemony states the following:
“My enemies are unlikely to cancel their plans of finding and capturing me … They’re furiously searching for the survivors of Dr. Montgomery’s collection, but imagine how furiously they'll search for me.”
This means that in this Ball, Lemony was sure that his enemies could search for him to capture him. As we all know, this is exactly what happened at the masked ball described in TAA and UA.
Apparently Lemony had to remove his bullfighter costume when he was captured, and left the costume at the Duchess’s house. Soon after, the costume was destroyed in the fire. Why is this significant?
Note the description of this Masked Ball as found in TAA cap 11.
“I once attended one of the famed masked balls hosted by the Duchess of Winnipeg, and it was one of the most exciting and dangerous events of my life. I was disguised as a BULLFIGHTER and slipped into the party while being pursued by the palace guards , who were disguised as scorpions The moment I entered the Grand Ballroom, I felt as if Lemony Snicket had disappeared I WAS WEARING CLOTHES I HAD NEVER WORN BEFORE-a scarlet cape made of silk and a vest embroidered with gold thread and a skinny black mask-and it made me feel as if I was a different person, and because I felt like a different person, I dared to approach a woman I had been forbidden to approach the rest of my life. -the word "veranda” is a fancy term for the porch made of polished gray marble-and costumed as a dragonfly, with a glittering green mask and enormous silvery wings. As my pursuers scurried around the party, trying to guess which guest was me I slipped out to the veranda and gav and her the message I’d been trying to give her for fifteen long and lonely years. “BEATRICE,” I cried, just as the scorpions spotted me, “COUNT OLAF IS–” I CAN NOT GO ON. It makes me weep to think of THAT EVENING, AND OF THE DARK AND DESPERATE TIMES THAT FOLLOWED. “
Another important detail is that the masked ball in which Lemony was captured dressed as a bullfighter was the last to occur until the time when the letter from R to Lemony was written. The letter was written when Lemony had already begun his research on Beatrice’s children. Lemony only began his search after the fire of the Baudelaire mansion. Between the day Lemony once used his bullfighter costume and the day the letter was written, there was no other masked ball. The letter was written after R had seen the arrival of the original TMM book. Then all this indicates that this masked ball happened after the publication of TWW and before the publication of TMM.
Please realize that the only time Lemony ever used a bullfighter’s guise (at least until he wrote TAA) was when he went to that particular Masked Ball. He was captured on that Masked Ball. After that, he became a fugitive, he had his death published again in the newspapers, and he spent several years abroad. In the book TAA, Lemony refers to these years as THE DARK AND DESPERATE TIMES THAT FOLLOWED the Masked Ball.
In the book TCC chap. 6, Klaus finds written information about a masked ball. But it’s not the same Masked Ball. Klaus finds a paper where it says:
” My Dear Duchess, Your masked ball sounds like a fantastic evening, and I look forward to … ’“
According to ATWQ, there have been many Masked Balls in the house of R. This is a duplicate event. The difference lies in the fact that in just one of these Masked Balls Lemony was disguised as Bullfighter. And it was in the Masked Ball that Lemony was captured. The masked ball that Klaus read about it on paper, happened before or during the main events of ASOUE. However, due to the evidence we have already considered, I believe that the Masked Ball in Lemony was captured happened 15 years after Olaf’s death.
According to the description in TAA, Lemony gave Beatrice information on Count Olaf. "COUNT OLAF IS …” I can only imagine a word to close this sentence. “COUNT OLAF IS DEAD!” Lemony told this to Beatrice 15 years AFTER Count Olaf’s death. After all, just like Kit, Olaf died on a desert island with few witnesses. Lemony states that he can not expose the phrase to the Great Public. If he did this, all the readers of the Great Public of his universe would realize that Beatrice survived the fire and was still alive after many years had passed. My conclusion is that Beatrice survived for many years after the fire at the Baudelaire mansion.
If we continue analyzing chapter 9 of the UA using the premises I have listed, we will come to the same conclusions.
After Lemony’s letter to R, there is a letter from an enemy of Lemony to someone named Genius. It’s interesting that the letter is not for Olaf. By this time Olaf had evidently died.
Below I’ve copied some highlights from the letter
“Dear Genius,
Gathering information on Dr. Montgomery’s reptile collection, as you requested, is a simple as you find a needle in a haystack, if there were a sign over the haystack reading "Needle Here!” with a brightly colored arrow pointing to the exact location of the needle. Finding the reptiles themselves are the difficult ones falling off the log, if the log were so sticky that it was practically impossible to remove oneself from it …
With my disguise in place, I went to my local library, and it was decorated with a new sign that looked like this
“The World is at your Fingertips at Libray! Please Quiet Here.”
Whistling one of my favorite tune, I entered the building and found the librarian, and old man with neatly trimmed gray hair and the mustache that tuned up at the ends. … When I told him he was looking for information on the reptiles in Dr. Montgomery’s collection, the old man … said, “well, young lady, have you been good to your mother?”
“What?” I replied. “Never Mind” he said quickly, and led me to the Children’s Room, where to my amazement there was a book all about Dr. Montgomery’s collection and three obnoxious children who visited it. The book is called The Reptile Room, so I was quickly able to find several passages describing the collection. “
After that, we find excerpts from the book TRR. Why is this significant?
As Lemony described in the letter to R in Chapter 9 of the AU, this enemy, at the request of one of his leaders, was searching for the survivors of Uncle Monty’s collection. He was looking after the end of events recorded in TRR, and so some of the reptiles probably had already died. After all, he found information about the collection in the TRR book.
According to chapter 9 of the UA, after searching for information in the book TRR, the enemy of Lemony disguised like a cow.
He searched for reptiles in various places. Finally, note what happened:
"7 - Approached a married couple who apparently own the Prospero to ask if any reptiles had recently boarded the ship.
Couple, alarmed by talking cow, refused to participate.
8 - Saw signs indicating there was a dairy nearby. Did not approach due to fear of being milked. ”
After this letter, in chapter 9 of the UA, we find a personal note from Lemony. Notice what he wrote:
“Note to file:
The library at Prufrock Preparatory School was a pleasant place, with comfortable chairs, huge wooden bookshelves, brass lamps in the shapes of different fish, and bright blue curtains that rippled like water as a breeze came in from the window. The librarian was an old man with neatly trimmed gray hair and the mustache that turned up at the ends … As soon as I began to sing the coded song, the old man, whose back was straight, saluted me as if I were a soldier and said "Well, young lady, have you been good to your mother?” a phase with here means “I have a message for you.” I gave the coded reply - “The question is, has she been good to me?” - and received the following note in return: “
Thus, we can conclude that the enemy went to look for information in Prufrock Prep, because like Lemony, he found exactly the same librarian, and this librarian spoke exactly the same message. The librarian was confused because coincidentally Lemony’s enemy was whistling exactly the same song that Lemony whistled.
Thus, we can conclude that the book TRR was already published in Lemony’s universe before the closing of Prufrock Prep.
From my point of view, this confirms the theory of the Great Hiatus, and shows that the TAA book was written many years after the writing of the TRR book, since in the TAA book, Lemony states that during the writing of the book TAA Prufrock Pre was closed many years ago. More than that, this confirms that the Ball in which Lemony was capithed, happened after the writing of TRR. In the very book TRR, we find the passage in which Lemony states that Klaus years after the events described in TRR, had difficulty sleeping.
What was the message to Lemony? It was a message from a couple. The couple that the enemy of Lemony disguised as cow approached. The message read:
"Dear Mr. Snicket,
Dr. Montgomery’s reptiles. "We’re not going to do that,” he said. Do not worry - we did not mention anything about our assistance with the Incredibly Deadly Viper - but we fear that the henchman cold use his disguise to cause trouble at Valorous Farms Dairy. The world is quiet here. “
1 - Klaus, Sunny, Violet are adopted by Uncle Monty.
All of this leads me to believe that Lemony knew about the enemies looking for the SURVIVORS of Uncle Monty’s collection through this message. Knowing this, Lemony sent the letter to R, talking about the Masked Ball in Sebald code. This to me, is a logical sequence of events.
More than that, this confirms that the Ball in which Lemony was captured happened after the writing of TRR.
All this indicates that Beatrice survived for many years after the destruction of her house. Knowing this, you can begin to create theories about Beatrice’s motivations.
In a future text I will explain better on this subject, according to some hypotheses that I have created. But before moving on to try to imagine Beatrice’s motivations, we need to be sure of what really happened.
1 - Klaus, Sunny, Violet are adopted by Uncle Monty.
2 - After a few days almost all reptiles and amphibians of Uncle Monty are taken to the Herpetological Society.
3 - After some time, most reptiles are killed.
4 - A few years later, Klaus finds it difficult to sleep because of what happened while he was at Uncle Monty’s house.
5 - Some time later, Lemony publishes TRR.
6 - Some time later Lemony publishes TWW.
7 - Sometime later, Lemony’s enemy looks for information about Uncle Monty’s collection in the book TRR in Prufrock Prep.
8 - Some time later, Lemony goes to Prufrock Prep and receives a letter, where two volunteers inform him about this enemy.
9 - Lemony then receives the invitation letter to a Masked Ball of the Duchess of Winnipeg.
10 - Lemony answers the letter, using Sebald code, and informs the Duchess that the enemies are looking for the survivors of the collection of Uncle Monty.
11 - Fifteen years after Olaf’s death, Lemony goes to the Ball disguised as a bullfighter. It is the first and only time he wears these clothes. There he meets Beatrice, who was alive, and tells him that Count Olaf was dead.
12 - Lemony is captured, but escapes and becomes a fugitive.
13 - Lemony’s death is published again in the daily Punctilio. A little later, Lemony flees abroad in Prospero, and spends many years out of the country.
14 - The Prufrock Prep stops working at some point after Lemony’s departure abroad.
15 - Lemony returns from the outside and sends a letter to R along with the original TMM.
16 - R realizes that Lemony is alive, and then she answers the letter with another letter.
17 - The TMM book is published in Lemony’s universe.
18 - The TAA book is published in Lemony’s universe. In this book, Lemony reports how the Masked Ball he was captured in, and states that Purfrock Prep has been closed for many years.
In the next Text, I will write about the secret message that is in TSS, and why I believe it is a message to Beatrice. And because I do not believe in the classical interpretation of ASOUE that that letter is evidence that Lemony wrote ASOUE during recorded events, and then sent it to Kit, and then revised it and then published years later. Thanks for reading here. Until the next text.
