The Miserable Mill

Theme

In order to control the inheritance, Olaf must control the children.

Plot

The Miserable Mill, by Lemony Snicket, is a tale of three young orphans, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny, running from the evil Count Olaf, who is trying to steal the fortune given to the orphans when their parents died.

The story begins with the three children traveling to their new family at the Lucky Smells lumber mill in Paltryville. Arriving at the mill, they meet the employees of the mill and discover that they too will be working in the mill. They try to protest, because they are only children, but it doesn't help. The next day they are put to work with backbreaking activities. They are paid with coupons and for lunch, they receive a five-minute break and a piece of gum.

After a few days of working in the mill, the foreman, Mr. Flacutono, trips Klaus, causing him to fall a break his glasses. He is taken to the local optometrist, where he meets the receptionist, Shirley, who is Count Olaf is disguise. When he returns to the mill, he is in a hypnotized state. Realizing this, Violet and Sunny try to bring him back, but fail.

When they wake up the next morning, Klaus is back to normal, and they go back to work. During the day, Foreman Flacutono, again, trips Klaus causing him to break his new glasses. Again, Klaus goes to the optometrist, and again, come back hypnotized, but the next morning he is still in his trance. At work, Klaus, seeming to be under the command of someone, gets behind one of the milling machines and tries to kill his siblings. Sunny and Violet duck out of the way just in time. As they gain their composer, they see Shirley, or Count Olaf, walk into the mill. He curses at Klaus for not killing the girls correctly and comes after them himself.

The other workers off the mill take it upon themselves to help protect the children. One of them calls the police while the others fend off Olaf. Before the police can arrive, Count Olaf escapes through the open door. Klaus finally comes out of his trance and realizes what he almost did. The orphans are ban from the mill for causing so much trouble and must move on and find another guardian.

Character: Count Olaf

In this