For Beatrice by Austin

For Beatrice by Austin - April 2014 Scholarship Essay

Quirkiness has always set well with me. Quirky paintings, quirky people, quirky books. This is why the character I relate to the most is quirky himself. I have been and always will be entranced by the story which takes place in A Series of Unfortunate Events and this is because of the author and character who writes them; namely, Lemony Snicket.

Lemony Snicket, of course, is a pseudonym for Daniel Handler, but it is more than this. Daniel Handler uses his pseudonym and inserts himself into the story.
You see, Lemony Snicket is an author who reports the story of the Baudelaire children as they try and make it through each miserable situation they are put in. He reports their stay in a lumber mill, the time they disguise themselves as nurses, or even when Sonny, the baby Baudelaire, is infected by a fungus and almost dies. He is dutiful and does not leave details out in his story, much as I do when I tell stories.

Lemony Snicket is also brave and emotional. Each of his stories begin with a message for a woman named Beatrice, who seems to have died and left him behind to deal with the cruel world on his own. I, too, have suffered great losses. My grandfathers, grandmothers, and brother have all passed away in my lifetime, and with each death, the world becomes an even colder, even darker place.

But I also tell dark jokes and enjoy dappling in the dark things as life while holding on to the hope that things will eventually get better. I know that scars fade and wounds heal, and it helps me to laugh about it in the meantime. I find that Lemony Snicket also holds this belief because of the irony in his reports.

Lemony Snicket has helped me learn to appreciate the strange things that happen in life. He has taught me how to remember and how to relate to irony. Perhaps Lemony Snicket is more than just a pseudonym for a man named Daniel Handler. Perhaps his name is a pseudonym for all kids who have lost something to the dark.