The Wide Window

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

Violet calls Mr. Poe to tell him about Josephine’s apparent death, and then the children sit up all night waiting for his arrival in the morning. Klaus cannot stop thinking about all of the errors in Josephine’s note. Violet wants him to stop talking about it, thinking he is being insensitive, and the two argue briefly but quickly make up. When Klaus suggests that they forge a new note omitting any mention of Captain Sham, Sunny exclaims “Aha!” and her older siblings realize that Captain Sham must have forced Josephine to write her note (77). They believe that Captain Sham is the one who threw Josephine out the window. Mr. Poe arrives, and Violet tries to tell him what the siblings have concluded, but she finds herself overcome with tears. When Poe sees the children crying, he awkwardly puts down his briefcase and puts his arms around them, saying “There, there” (80). Snicket interrupts the narrative to comment that he wishes he could go back in time to this moment. He would tell the children that their tears are unnecessary, because Josephine is not really dead: not yet.