Snicket, Lemony, and Brett Helquist. The Bad Beginning. New York: HarperCollins, 1999. Print.

The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket (illustrated by Brett Helquist) follows the
miserable lives of the three Baudelaire siblings where nothing seems to go their way. Introduced
in chapter one, Violet seems isolated and intelligent, and the book explicitly states her interest in
mechanical engineering several times, whether in the library of Justice Strauss or in her own
inventive mind. However, the maleficent Count Olaf truly tests her ingenious and skillful-or
"adroit" as Snicket puts it- engineering. Violet indeed prevails, but she prevails as a hero. By
saving herself and her younger siblings, Violet's actions clearly portray her possession of the key
heroic traits. By using wit, she tricks Count Olaf and reveals him as a criminal. Chapter ten
reveals her strength as she throws a grappling hook thirty feet high to rescue her baby sister.
Loyalty, selflessness, sacrifice, and perseverance are all also demonstrated in Violet's attempt to
save Sunny Baudelaire. Many other major and minor characters demonstrate these qualities in
the test of time (i.e. Klaus Baudelaire uses perseverance and intelligence to prove Count Olaf's
true intent of "The Marvelous Marriage", and Mr. Poe demonstrates loyalty to the siblings in the
aftermath of the fake play).