Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death and death by suicide.

Throughout the story, Violet, Sunny, and Klaus Baudelaire must rely on themselves instead of on the adults who are charged with caring for them. Their ability to rescue themselves from Olaf again and again—and the failure of Josephine and Poe to meaningfully protect the children—reinforces the notion that, when left to their own devices, children can be extremely resilient and resourceful—the heroes of their own story.

In his portrayals of both Poe and Josephine, Handler suggests that the adult characters’ preoccupations regularly get in the way of their duty to care for their young charges. Poe fails in his duties because he places his own comfort above doing what is right for Violet, Sunny, and Klaus and because he dismisses their concerns simply because they are children. In every instance, his puts his own needs before the needs of the Baudelaires. He refuses to believe the children’s assertions that Sham is really Olaf, trusting his own observations and deductions above those of “sad and worried” children (198). Handler’s portrayal of Poe as comically unobservant and neglectful valorizes the Baudelaires intelligence and empathy by comparison.