The Grim Grotto: Difference between revisions
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Fiona then looks in her mycological textbooks to discover information about the Gorgonian Grotto. It is a [[cone (geometry)|cone]]-shaped cave which houses a rare species of poisonous [[mushroom]]. They wax and wane periodically, but when the mushrooms are waxing, they are extremely deadly. The grotto is remote enough that it can quarantine the [[Medusoid Mycelium]] from the outside world. Fiona suspects there may be an [[antidote]] to the poisonous effects of the fungus. Over dinner, the Baudelaire's discuss everything that they have learned from their journey so far. Widdershins mentions [[Snicket siblings|the Snicket siblings]], who fought on the side of good. Jacques Snicket, whom the children saw murdered in the Village of Fowl Devotees, was a researcher similar to Klaus; Kit Snicket, who helped build the Queequeg; and before Widdershins mentions the third Snicket Sibling, Fiona interrupts him, wanting to know about the VFD Headquarters the children had been too. |
Fiona then looks in her mycological textbooks to discover information about the Gorgonian Grotto. It is a [[cone (geometry)|cone]]-shaped cave which houses a rare species of poisonous [[mushroom]]. They wax and wane periodically, but when the mushrooms are waxing, they are extremely deadly. The grotto is remote enough that it can quarantine the [[Medusoid Mycelium]] from the outside world. Fiona suspects there may be an [[antidote]] to the poisonous effects of the fungus. Over dinner, the Baudelaire's discuss everything that they have learned from their journey so far. Widdershins mentions [[Snicket siblings|the Snicket siblings]], who fought on the side of good. Jacques Snicket, whom the children saw murdered in the Village of Fowl Devotees, was a researcher similar to Klaus; Kit Snicket, who helped build the Queequeg; and before Widdershins mentions the third Snicket Sibling, Fiona interrupts him, wanting to know about the VFD Headquarters the children had been too. |
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When the submarine arrives at the Grotto, Fiona, Klaus, [[Violet Baudelaire|Violet]] and [[Sunny Baudelaire|Sunny]] are sent in. Inside it is |
When the submarine arrives at the Grotto, Fiona, Klaus, [[Violet Baudelaire|Violet]] and [[Sunny Baudelaire|Sunny]] are sent in. Inside it is a sandy beach scattered with many items that have washed ashore. Then they find a narrow room with a tiled floor and walls with three lamps bearing the letters "V", "F" and "G". Only the first two are lit up, so they assume the letter on the third one was they can not see it. |
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Whilst they search the beach for the sugar bowl, the Medusoid Mycelium suddenly wax, springing up from the beach and the tiled floor and walls - the children retreat to the narrow room where the mushrooms do not grow, and they await the waning as there seems to be no other exit. While they are waiting, the children occupy themselves by continuing to investigate the knick-knacks lying around the cave, some of which seem to be connected to the V.F.D. including a newspaper article, a book of poetry and a personal letter. Sunny also picks up some food to prepare a meal for them all, including a tin of [[wasabi]] sauce. |
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| ⚫ | On returning to the submarine, they discover that Widdershins and Phil have mysteriously disappeared, with no sign of where they have gone. They also discover that a spore of the mushroom has infiltrated Sunny's helmet while in the grotto. Fiona stops Klaus from opening the helmet, insisting that Sunny must remain in the helmet for their safety until she can find an antidote. Just as the ship starts up, Olaf's submarine |
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| ⚫ | On returning to the submarine, they discover that Widdershins and Phil have mysteriously disappeared, with no sign of where they have gone. They also discover that a spore of the mushroom has infiltrated Sunny's helmet while in the grotto. Fiona stops Klaus from opening the helmet, insisting that Sunny must remain in the helmet for their safety until she can find an antidote. Just as the ship starts up, Olaf's submarine swallows it up and he captures the children. The orphans enter Olaf's ship and are taken to the brig where they are interrogated by the hook-handed man, who is revealed to be Fiona's brother - [[Hook-Handed Man|Fernald]]. Fiona begs him to help them get back to the ''Queequeg'', for Sunny's sake, and Fernald finally agrees on the condition that they take him along. |
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| ⚫ | Back on the ''Queequeg'', Sunny is very close to death. Klaus and Violet read Fiona's |
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| ⚫ | Back on the ''Queequeg'', Sunny is very close to death. Klaus and Violet read Fiona's books and realize that the antidote is [[horseradish]]. They search the submarine's kitchen without finding the condiment. Violet and Klaus begin to break down but have enough courage to open up the helmet containing Sunny, and Sunny saves her own life when she manages to blurt out one word, the culinary equivalent of horseradish: [[wasabi]] - what Sunny took from the grotto and Violet still has in her pocket. The wasabi is administered and takes rapid effect: the other two Baudelaires finish it off in case they are also affected by the fungus. |
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| ⚫ | While Sunny |
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| ⚫ | While Sunny has a short nap, the telegram machine starts back up again. The Voluntary Factual Dispatch they receive is from [[Quigley Quagmire]], The Baudelaires are needed at a certain coded location the next day, and just two days before the V.F.D. meeting at the Hotel Denouement. Klaus decodes the first poem by Lewis Carroll: they will be met at [[Briny Beach]]. As Violet begins decoding the other part (using T.S. Elliott's poem "The Wasteland"), they are discovered by Olaf and his accomplices. Olaf announces triumphantly that they are just minutes from the Hotel Denouement and Fiona has joined his team to be with Fernald. The Baudelaires are to return to the brig. Shortly after, on the radar, the mysterious question mark ship appears again. Olaf clearly knows what it is, as he orders everyone to battle stations to flee. Fiona, knowing that she has made the wrong decision, allows the Baudelaires to escape in the ''Queequeg''. |
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| ⚫ | The next day they arrive on Briny Beach - back where [[The Bad Beginning|all of their troubles began]]. Surprisingly, [[Mr. Poe]] emerges from the fog. He received a message from the mysterious J.S. - whom he assumes is ''[[The Daily Punctilio]]'''s reporter [[The Daily Punctilio|Geraldine Julienne]] - that he had to meet them at the beach. He tells the children to come with him to the police station |
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| ⚫ | The next day they arrive on Briny Beach - back where [[The Bad Beginning|all of their troubles began]]. Surprisingly, [[Mr. Poe]] emerges from the fog. He received a message from the mysterious J.S. - whom he assumes is ''[[The Daily Punctilio]]'''s reporter [[The Daily Punctilio|Geraldine Julienne]] - that he had to meet them at the beach. He tells the children to come with him to the police station t.o resolve all of their troubles. Violet, however, has decoded Quigley's message and has concluded that a [[taxicab|taxi]] will be at the beach for them, and she sees it in the distance. |
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They bid farewell to Mr Poe and arrive at the taxi to find a woman at the wheel that they have never seen before. She reveals herself to be [[Snicket siblings|Kit Snicket]] so the children climb into the taxi where they drive off. Soon, however, Kit tells that they're being followed and she quickly stops the car, instructing them all to grab their things and run. |
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==Foreshadows== |
==Foreshadows== |
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Revision as of 08:38, 23 March 2012
 | This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. The specific problem is: Contains trivial information. (December 2011) |
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| Author | Lemony Snicket (pen name of Daniel Handler) |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Brett Helquist |
| Cover artist | Brett Helquist |
| Language | English |
| Series | A Series of Unfortunate Events |
| Genre | Gothic fiction Absurdist fiction Steampunk Mystery |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
Publication date | September 21, 2004 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 323 |
| ISBN | 0-06-441014-5 |
| OCLC | 55681958 |
| Preceded by | The Slippery Slope |
| Followed by | The Penultimate Peril |
The Grim Grotto is the eleventh novel in the children's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.
Plot
The book begins where The Slippery Slope left off, with the Baudelaires traveling on a collapsing toboggan down the Stricken Stream of the Mortmain Mountains, leaving Quigley Quagmire floating in the opposite direction. They are washed into the ocean where they are caught on a submarine. They enter the submarine, which they discover is the Queequeg captained by Captain Widdershins, a V.F.D. member who says "Aye" a lot and old friend of the Baudelaire parents. Also on board is Widdershins' stepdaughter Fiona and the ship's cook, Phil, the Baudelaire's optimistic past fellow worker at the Lucky Smells Lumbermill. The Baudelaires discover that the crew of the Queequeg are searching for the mysterious sugar bowl.
Klaus examined the tidal charts to estimate the location of the sugar bowl given the water cycle. He suspects it to be in the Gorgonian Grotto. An approaching submarine vessel on the sonar, in the shape of an octopus, captained by Count Olaf, but it is driven off by a mysterious ship which appears on the radar in the form of a question mark, which Captain Widdershins seems afraid of.
Fiona then looks in her mycological textbooks to discover information about the Gorgonian Grotto. It is a cone-shaped cave which houses a rare species of poisonous mushroom. They wax and wane periodically, but when the mushrooms are waxing, they are extremely deadly. The grotto is remote enough that it can quarantine the Medusoid Mycelium from the outside world. Fiona suspects there may be an antidote to the poisonous effects of the fungus. Over dinner, the Baudelaire's discuss everything that they have learned from their journey so far. Widdershins mentions the Snicket siblings, who fought on the side of good. Jacques Snicket, whom the children saw murdered in the Village of Fowl Devotees, was a researcher similar to Klaus; Kit Snicket, who helped build the Queequeg; and before Widdershins mentions the third Snicket Sibling, Fiona interrupts him, wanting to know about the VFD Headquarters the children had been too.
When the submarine arrives at the Grotto, Fiona, Klaus, Violet and Sunny are sent in. Inside it is a sandy beach scattered with many items that have washed ashore. Then they find a narrow room with a tiled floor and walls with three lamps bearing the letters "V", "F" and "G". Only the first two are lit up, so they assume the letter on the third one was they can not see it.
Whilst they search the beach for the sugar bowl, the Medusoid Mycelium suddenly wax, springing up from the beach and the tiled floor and walls - the children retreat to the narrow room where the mushrooms do not grow, and they await the waning as there seems to be no other exit. While they are waiting, the children occupy themselves by continuing to investigate the knick-knacks lying around the cave, some of which seem to be connected to the V.F.D. including a newspaper article, a book of poetry and a personal letter. Sunny also picks up some food to prepare a meal for them all, including a tin of wasabi sauce.
On returning to the submarine, they discover that Widdershins and Phil have mysteriously disappeared, with no sign of where they have gone. They also discover that a spore of the mushroom has infiltrated Sunny's helmet while in the grotto. Fiona stops Klaus from opening the helmet, insisting that Sunny must remain in the helmet for their safety until she can find an antidote. Just as the ship starts up, Olaf's submarine swallows it up and he captures the children. The orphans enter Olaf's ship and are taken to the brig where they are interrogated by the hook-handed man, who is revealed to be Fiona's brother - Fernald. Fiona begs him to help them get back to the Queequeg, for Sunny's sake, and Fernald finally agrees on the condition that they take him along.
Back on the Queequeg, Sunny is very close to death. Klaus and Violet read Fiona's books and realize that the antidote is horseradish. They search the submarine's kitchen without finding the condiment. Violet and Klaus begin to break down but have enough courage to open up the helmet containing Sunny, and Sunny saves her own life when she manages to blurt out one word, the culinary equivalent of horseradish: wasabi - what Sunny took from the grotto and Violet still has in her pocket. The wasabi is administered and takes rapid effect: the other two Baudelaires finish it off in case they are also affected by the fungus.
While Sunny has a short nap, the telegram machine starts back up again. The Voluntary Factual Dispatch they receive is from Quigley Quagmire, The Baudelaires are needed at a certain coded location the next day, and just two days before the V.F.D. meeting at the Hotel Denouement. Klaus decodes the first poem by Lewis Carroll: they will be met at Briny Beach. As Violet begins decoding the other part (using T.S. Elliott's poem "The Wasteland"), they are discovered by Olaf and his accomplices. Olaf announces triumphantly that they are just minutes from the Hotel Denouement and Fiona has joined his team to be with Fernald. The Baudelaires are to return to the brig. Shortly after, on the radar, the mysterious question mark ship appears again. Olaf clearly knows what it is, as he orders everyone to battle stations to flee. Fiona, knowing that she has made the wrong decision, allows the Baudelaires to escape in the Queequeg.
The next day they arrive on Briny Beach - back where all of their troubles began. Surprisingly, Mr. Poe emerges from the fog. He received a message from the mysterious J.S. - whom he assumes is The Daily Punctilio's reporter Geraldine Julienne - that he had to meet them at the beach. He tells the children to come with him to the police station t.o resolve all of their troubles. Violet, however, has decoded Quigley's message and has concluded that a taxi will be at the beach for them, and she sees it in the distance.
They bid farewell to Mr Poe and arrive at the taxi to find a woman at the wheel that they have never seen before. She reveals herself to be Kit Snicket so the children climb into the taxi where they drive off. Soon, however, Kit tells that they're being followed and she quickly stops the car, instructing them all to grab their things and run.
Foreshadows
- On the last picture, there is a concierge's cap on the beach, foreshadowing The Penultimate Peril.
- Sunny says etartsigam which is magistrate backwards. This could be a foreshadow of The Penultimate Peril in which two villains are unjust members of Justice Strauss's jury.
Cultural references and literary allusions
- Queequeg is a character in Moby-Dick, and the face of Herman Melville appears on the submarine's uniforms.
- In another reference to Moby-Dick, Brett Helquist's portrait depicts him as a man similar to Captain Ahab with a scar on the side of his face, a whaling harpoon and a peg-leg, as described in Melville's novel.
- Throughout the novel, there are constant jibes at Edgar Guest's lack of talent.
- While in the grotto, Violet Baudelaire finds a rock, its description closely resembles the Rosetta stone.
- Sunny uses foreign words in this book:
- Three poems are mentioned involving the Verse Fluctuation Declaration:
Translations
- Brazilian Portuguese: "A Gruta Gorgônea", Cia das Letras
- Czech: "Ponurá sluj"
- Finnish: "Synkkä syöveri" (The Grim Whirlpool), WSOY, 2006, ISBN 951-0-31491-9
- Greek: "Η Σπαρακτική Σπηλιά", Ελληνικά Γράμματα
- Russian: "Угрюмый Грот", Azbuka, 2006, ISBN 2-35201-790-7
See also
- Violet Baudelaire
- Klaus Baudelaire
- Sunny Baudelaire
- Count Olaf
- Lemony Snicket
- Esmé Squalor
- Captain Widdershins
- Fiona (A Series of Unfortunate Events)
- Phil (A Series of Unfortunate Events)
- Carmelita Spats
- Hook-handed man
- Count Olaf's theater troupe
- Sugar bowl (A Series of Unfortunate Events)
- Great Unknown (A Series of Unfortunate Events)
- V.F.D.
| A Series of Unfortunate Events |
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| All the Wrong Questions | |||||||||
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| Related | |||||||||
