The Bad Beginning

Refreshed after a good cry, the children wake feeling a bit more optimistic, and they begin to make plans to improve their situation. Wishing they could somehow obtain their parents’ fortune, they imagine building a castle for themselves that would keep out Count Olaf. Klaus wonders if Justice Strauss would adopt them, but Violet doubts she’d make so momentous a decision. They decide for now to visit Mr. Poe and explain their bad situation.

After chores, they walk to the banking district, hoping to discover where Mr. Poe works. They ask at several banks and finally learn that he’s at the Mulctuary Money Management building. They find him in a large office behind a desk covered with papers. They try to tell him about Count Olaf’s behavior, but he’s constantly interrupted by phones, and he thinks they’re worried over nothing. He points out that the Count is acting “[i]n loco parentis” and “may raise [them] using any methods he sees fit” (57).

Angry, they leave. They decide they’ll think of some other solution. Meanwhile, they go to Justice Strauss’s house, where she lets them borrow several books—on inventions, for Violet; on wolves, for Klaus; and a book chosen by