Daniel Handler's Style In The Bad Beginning '

Style in literature is in the literary element that describes the ways that the author uses words. This can include word choice, sentence structure, figurative language, and sentence arrangement etc. These all work in conjunction to establish mood, images, and meaning in the text. Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket) uses Point of View, Setting, and word choice as his Author’s Style. Handler addresses his style of Point of View by speaking in the third person. It is told by a narrator and he knows everything, in detail about the characters. In the book The Bad Beginning, it states “Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire were intelligent children, and they were charming, and resourceful, and had pleasant facial features, but they were extremely unlucky, and most everything that happened to them was rife with misfortune, misery, and despair”(1). Handler knows everything about the characters. An ever-changing Point of View leads to a less intense mood and tone. However, if the Point of View stays the same, than the character’s thoughts and emotions compromise the tone. In addition, Handler explains “Anyone who knew Violet well could tell she was thinking hard, because her long hair was tied up in a ribbon to keep it out of

Handler uses setting to set the mood of the story. For example, in the text it says “On gray and cloudy days, the Baudelaires had the beach to themselves to do what they liked”(2). The news that their parents have died in a terrible accident was given to them on this beach, on this very day. The fact that the author used the gray and cloudy word choice, helped set the mood of the story. The tone is also undiscovered in this section of the book. In A Series of Misfortunate Events, Handler titles his books all a different place. For instance, The Reptile Room, The Hostile Hospital, and The Miserable Mill are all titles of his books. Each book takes place in a different