Jacob Brady
Reading 5
Mrs. Tuck
5 November 2012
A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Reptile Room
by Lemony Snicket
In Lemony Snicket’s thrilling second installment of A Series of Unfortunate Events, the three Baudelaire orphans, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny are put under the care of yet another family member—herpetologist Dr. Montgomery Montgomery. However, as soon as their lives seem like they are finally getting better, the face of someone that the orphans never wanted to see again returns.
Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire have had miserable lives ever since their parents perished in a horrendous fire that destroyed everything they owned except for a picture of their parents and an amber spyglass hidden in their father’s desk drawer. Soon after this fire, the poor orphans were whisked away to the home of a distant relative, Count Olaf, and put under his legal guardianship. Little did they know that he was pure evil and wanted nothing besides the vast fortune that had belonged to their parents. Count Olaf devised a plan to steal their fortune, and almost ended up succeeding with the help of his gruesome theatre troupe. He was put under arrest but soon escaped from prison. He then vowed to take revenge on the Baudelaires who kept him from stealing their fortune.
The Baudelaire orphans are riding in the seats of an old automobile belonging to their family’s estate executor, Arthur Poe, when they arrive at their new guardian’s home. A short, slightly chubby older man, around fifty or sixty, walks out of the front door. “Hello there, children!” he says. “My name is Montgomery Montgomery, and I guess I will be your new guardian! Call me Uncle Monty!”
Their Uncle Monty soon explains his job as a herpetologist—a word which here means “a scientist whose job is to study snakes”—and tells them about an upcoming trip to Peru to study about the rarest snakes in the world. Soon, Monty introduces the children to the Reptile Room, a place where he keeps all of his specimens he has encountered on his expeditions and vials of their poisonous venoms. Finally the orphans are starting to feel warm-hearted again.
One day, Uncle Monty goes shopping for supplies and his new herpetology assistant, Stephano, comes to his mansion. As soon as the orphans open the front door of Uncle Monty’s home, they find out that Stephano is none other than Count Olaf in disguise. He looks at the children as the children look at him, speechless, and he pulls out a long knife. Olaf, or should I say Stephano, has just sent a clear warning to the Baudelaires—do not reveal his true identity.
That night when Uncle Monty comes home, he is happy that Stephano has arrived. Monty shows him around the Reptile Room, as well as the whole house, while the poor Baudelaire orphans mourn in silence, wondering how Olaf was able to find them.
That next morning—the day that everyone is to go to Peru—the Baudelaires enter the Reptile Room, only to find the pale, frightening corpse of their Uncle Monty. Underneath his eyes are two holes, just like a snake’s teeth. But these three orphans were very smart ones, and instantly they realize that Stephano had done this to their beloved uncle.
As Olaf walks into the Reptile Room, he sees the pale corpse and laughs.
“Your giddy uncle had a small—accident,” he tells the children. “So now I am your new legal guardian! How exciting!” he looks at his watch. “Oh my, orphans! We are almost late for the ship that shall take us to Peru,” says Olaf. “Shall we go?”
After Violet explains what she will do once she calls the authorities, Olaf threatens to kill the orphans as Mr. Poe arrives to bring them extra clothing for the trip to Peru. Olaf stops threatening the children as soon as Mr. Poe comes in the Reptile Room. The wheezing man takes a look at the children, then Olaf (who is still in his Stephano disguise), then at Monty’s corpse, and then faints.
When Mr. Poe awakens, a man with very stiff hands named Dr. Lucafont has just finished a full exam of Uncle Monty’s corpse. He tells everyone in the household that Monty has the venom of the Mamba du Mal—one of the deadliest snakes in the world—in his veins. As the adults talk in the deceased herpetologist’s kitchen, the orphans decide to take it in their own hands to find out what really happened to their dearly beloved guardian. Klaus reads up on the Mamba du Mal, Sunny keeps watch at the door of the Reptile Room, and Violet quietly sneaks into Olaf’s room to see if she can find any clues that have to do with Monty’s death.
When the children meet up again, they each have something exciting to show and to tell each other. They call for the adults to tell them of the evidence that they had found. Klaus explains to them that the Mamba du Mal could not have killed Uncle Monty because the venom of the snake turns the prey a dark grey color, and his skin is completely white. After this, Violet shares her evidence. In Olaf’s room she found a vial labeled, “Venom du Mal” from Monty’s collection of venom samples, and a syringe with a sharp needle. She explained to the adults that Olaf injected the venom into her uncle with the syringe and poked an extra hole into him to make it look like the poisonous snake had bitten him instead.
By the time Violet finishes and Stephano admits that he killed Uncle Monty and that he is really Count Olaf, Dr. Lucafont smiles grimly, and swiftly dashes to his car with Olaf, dropping his stiff hands and revealing that he is really the hook-handed man from the gruesome theater troupe. Olaf has escaped for a second time, but now he is full of hatred and despise, vowing to one day obtain the orphans once more.
The Baudelaires pack up their bags and once again climb into the old automobile belonging to Mr. Poe, heading to a new guardian’s home—a new guardian that the suffer the same ill fate as Dr. Montgomery Montgomery.
I would recommend this book for people who can enjoy a story about sorrow and cruelty, because this book definitely portrays those two things vividly. I really enjoyed the way that this book was written and the author’s point of view, because it is absolutely a unique way to explain the events in a book.