A Not so Ordinary Childhood

Excerpts from the Paper

A not so ordinary childhood
This paper will examine to role of parents/guardians and other adults in children’s literature by examining what happened to the parents in two books, A Series of Unfortunate Events No.1: Bad Beginning and The House with a Clock in its Walls. The two books belong to the genre of children’s gothic literature and both have elements that are typical of children’s literature. The paper will argue that, contrary to John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau who define childhood as a state of vulnerability in which children require guidance of a family/adults, the main characters of the two novels are mature, smart, intelligent and resourceful; unlike the adult characters in the books who behave childishly and are the...

.....umstances. The two novels are also very gothic and are full of horrifying and scary moments, which the children handle very well. The adults in the stories on the other hand, are evil, childish or at least very unconventional. In A Series of Unfortunate Events No.1: Bad Beginning in particular the themes are quite grim: death, loss, survival, etc. In stead, the Baudelaire children and Lewis form unconventional families. The Baudelaire children amongst themselves, and Lewis with his ‘magic’ family: uncle Jonathan and Mrs. Zimmermann. 
Works Cited
Snicket
, Lemony A series of Unfortunate Events No.1: The Bad Beginnings or, Orphans! New York: 
Harpertrophy
, 1999
Bellairs
, John The House with a Clock in its Walls. New York: Puffin Books, 1973