The End (novel)

The End
Author Lemony Snicket (pen name of Daniel Handler)
Illustrator Brett Helquist
Cover artist Brett Helquist
Country United States
Language English
Series A Series of Unfortunate Events
Genre Gothic fiction
Absurdist fiction
Steampunk
Mystery
Publisher HarperCollins
Publication date
 October 13, 2006
Media type Print (hardback & paperback)
Pages 324
ISBN 0-06-441016-1
OCLC 70718171
LC Class PZ7.S6795 En 2006
Preceded by The Penultimate Peril

The End is the thirteenth and final novel in the children's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. The book was released on Friday, October 13, 2006.[1]

Plot

The Baudelaire orphans and Count Olaf flee the burning Hotel Denouement on a boat after setting it on fire. After a storm, they find themselves on a coastal shelf of an island inhabited by a mysterious group of people. They are first greeted by a little girl, Friday. Count Olaf, who had previously proclaimed himself king of Olaf-Land, threatens the girl with a harpoon gun. Friday is unfazed; she refuses Olaf permission to land on the island, but invites the Baudelaires onto the island. Along the way, she describes what the islanders do with their time—all year long, they build an outrigger on the coastal shelf, and once a year the water rises high enough to submerge the shelf and launch the outrigger. This is known as Decision Day, when anyone who wishes can board the ship, bite a bitter apple, spit it back out, and sail away. The island facilitator, Ishmael, introduces the Baudelaires to the strange island customs. Also, Ishmael has the islanders introduce themselves to the Baudelaires. The islanders welcome the Baudelaires with warmth and kindness, and Ishmael promises to protect them from Olaf.

Ishmael, according to the islanders, injured his feet a long time ago and, consequently, must keep his feet submerged in clay. Every time there is a storm, the residents of the island go out to the coastal shelf to pick up items that have washed up that may be useful. These items are judged by Ishmael. If he decides that the items are not useful, they are loaded onto a sled and towed by a local herd of sheep to a local arboretum with one huge apple tree that bears bitter apples, where no one should go (according to Ishmael) lest they injure themselves amongst the garbage. The sheep and the sled are also Ishmael's main method of transportation.

Although Ishmael always tells the islanders "I won't force you", it soon becomes apparent that his decisions go largely unquestioned and his suggestions are obeyed as if they were orders. After the Baudelaires introduce themselves, Ishmael toasts the "Baudelaire orphans" (despite their not having mentioned their lost parents) with the coconut cordial which everybody carries, but which the orphans themselves dislike. The Baudelaires also find life on the island rather dull, but reflect that perhaps a dull, non-progressive life is better than a treacherous and sneaky one.

After another storm, more objects wash up including a giant pile of books tied together in the shape of a cube, an unconscious and pregnant Kit Snicket, and the Incredibly Deadly Viper from Uncle Monty's collection. The islanders arrive and Count Olaf tries to fool them by disguising himself as Kit Snicket (with the diving-helmet containing the Medusoid Mycelium tucked under his dress as his supposed baby). However, the islanders immediately see through Olaf's disguise and cage him. They then debate whether the orphans should be expelled from the colony when they discover that the Baudelaires are carrying "contraband" items. Ishmael decides that the children, Kit, and Olaf should all be abandoned unless they agree to abide by the colony's rules. The children, along with Olaf, are left on the coastal shelf, despite the islanders obviously not wanting to do so. After everyone leaves, Olaf tries to tempt the children to let him out of the cage by promising to explain the many mysteries and secrets which they have been surrounded by since The Bad Beginning, but they ignore him.

That night, two of the islanders, Erewhon and Finn, sneak out to feed the children and ask them a favor. A group of discontented colonists are planning a mutiny against Ishmael in the morning, and they ask the Baudelaires to go over to the arboretum where all the contraband items are collected, and find or make some weapons to use in the rebellion. The mutineers refuse to help Kit unless the Baudelaires help them. The children agree, and set off for the arboretum. Upon arrival, they notice very strange clay-encrusted footprints leading to the arboretum. They conclude that Ishmael has been getting up during the night and sneaking out to the arboretum on his perfectly healthy feet to eat apples. As they move to the center of the arboretum, the orphans discover a well-appointed living area, before they are in turn discovered by Ishmael. They learn that their parents were once the island's leaders and were responsible for many improvements meant to make island-life easier and more pleasant, but they were eventually overthrown by Ishmael, who believed that a strictly-enforced simple life (combined with the opiate of the coconut cordial) was the best way to avoid conflict and treachery. The Baudelaires find an enormous history of the island, entitled A Series of Unfortunate Events, written by the many different people who had served as island leaders, including their parents and Ishmael. Ishmael also makes references to many other people, including a woman with only one eyebrow and ear (the mother of Isaac Anwhistle) and Gregor Anwhistle. Ishmael then invites the children to just lead a dull and simple, but safe life in the island, far from the cruelty and treachery of the world.

The Baudelaires and Ishmael go back to the other side of the island, where the mutiny is already underway. Count Olaf returns, still in disguise. After a brief exchange, Ishmael harpoons Olaf in the stomach, also inadvertently shattering the helmet containing the Medusoid Mycelium, infecting the island's entire population at once. While Count Olaf bleeds to his death, the Baudelaires run back to the arboretum to try to find some horseradish to cure everyone. They learn that their parents had hybridized an apple tree with horseradish, allowing the fruit to cure the effects of the Medusoid Mycelium. After sharing the apple and curing themselves with the help of the Incredibly Deadly Viper, they then gather more apples for the island's inhabitants, only to discover that the island people have abandoned the mutiny and boarded their outrigger canoe, ready to set sail. Ishmael refuses to allow the apples on board, though it is clear that he himself has already eaten one to cure himself. The Baudelaires try to persuade Friday to have at least one bite, but the girl apologizes to them and just tells them that she must go with her mother since her father has long been dead (which is revealed to be untrue because her father, a V.F.D. member, is still very good friends with Kit Snicket and just had coffee with her a few weeks ago). Ishmael promises that he will save the islanders by sailing to a horseradish factory to save everyone, which is close to impossible because of the amount of time needed to travel. It is hinted though, that one apple might have been snuck on board by the Incredibly Deadly Viper. The Baudelaires also conclude that their parents' principles contradict Ishmael's, because they never wanted to shield their children from world's treacheries, but instead teach them how to survive.

Kit tells the Baudelaires the fate of the Quagmires, Hector, Phil, Captain Widdershins, and his two stepchildren Fernald and Fiona. After reuniting on Hector's float, they are attacked by trained eagles, who pop the balloons supporting the float and send them hurtling back to the ruins of the Queequeg. There, they let themselves get taken by the mysterious object shaped like a question mark (called the "Great Unknown" by Kit Snicket), not knowing if it ate them or rescued them. Only Ink (the viper) came with her. In turn, the Baudelaires confess their own crimes committed at the Hotel Denouement. At this point, Kit is about to go into labour. She seems to be dying of the fungus, but cannot eat the bitter apple due to the hybrid's unhealthy effects on unborn babies. She is still trapped on top of the cube of books (her Vaporetto of Favorite Detritus) but when the critically injured and fungus-choked Olaf hears that she is still alive, he takes a bite of an apple and manages to get her safely down onto the beach, giving her a single soft kiss as he lays her on the sand and collapses, still conscious, beside her. Kit and Olaf recite poetry, before Olaf dies. The Baudelaires help Kit give birth to a baby girl. Kit then dies due to the Medusoid Mycelium, after asking the orphans to name the baby after their mother. The Baudelaires become Kit's child's adopted parents, and become the only ones on the island. They bury Kit and Olaf somewhere on the island. Olaf's grave is visited by the Baudelaires, but is not as embraced as Kit's, which they always lay flowers on.

Chapter Fourteen

Unlike the previous installments in the series which each have thirteen chapters, The End features a total of fourteen chapters. Chapter Fourteen is featured as its own book within The End, serving as an epilogue to the series.

One year later, Kit's baby and the Baudelaires sail away from the island on the boat they came on to immerse themselves in the world once more. As they board the ship, the baby says the word on the boat's nameplate, which Snicket says is also the child's own name, and the Baudelaire's mother's name: "Beatrice".

Critical reception

Henry Alford of the New York Times said, "Handler serves up his trademark blend of goofball humor and suspense... The End may not reach the comic highs of, say, The Austere Academy ...But it’s more suspenseful than the other books."[2] The novel did get some criticism, however, particularly regarding the unsolved mysteries the novel had introduced throughout the years, including the fates of several characters.[3]

Translations

See also

Wikiquote has quotations related to: The End (novel)

References

  1. ↑ Inskeep, Steve (13 October 2006). "Lemony Snicket Reaches 'The End'". NPR. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
  2. ↑ Alford, Henry (22 October 2006). "The End by Lemony Snicket". Children’s Books. The New York Times. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
  3. ↑ "The end, Snicket", Best sellers, About.