The Ersatz Elevator

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2001

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-7

Chapters 8-13

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

The Penthouse

The penthouse is one of the main settings of The Ersatz Elevator, and it represents the major theme The True Significance of Life. Under Esmé’s direction, the appearance of the penthouse changes in accordance with what is trending on Dark Street. At the opening of the book, darkness is In, and the penthouse, like the rest of the building, is made dark by having all the windows covered and the lights off. As soon as Esmé receives a call that light is back In, the window coverings are taken down and the lights switched back on, showing how quickly trends change and how they influence the people who follow them. The penthouse has 71 bedrooms and many other rooms, and as a result, the Baudelaires often find themselves lost. In this way, the penthouse represents the greed and eagerness with which the Squalors acquire material possession and uphold their priority of maintaining appearances. Even with the addition of three orphans, the penthouse is too large for the family and has many extra rooms that are never used. For Jerome and Esmé alone, the penthouse is comically huge and symbolizes Esmé’s obsession with status.

For the Baudelaires, the penthouse is the next in a long line of homes where they don’t feel like they belong. Though the children lived in a mansion and stood to inherit a grand amount of wealth when they came of age, they did not have the same obsession with money and status that Esmé has. Comparing the Baudelaires to Esmé shows how material wealth does not make someone vain or greedy. The Baudelaires are the opposite of Esmé, seen by the love they show each other and the concern they have for the Quagmire triplets. The differences between the way the Baudelaires and Esmé use the penthouse puts the gaudiness of the apartment into sharp relief. Esmé is only ever seen tending to her home when trends change, tossing aside things that are Out in favor of things that are In. When the Baudelaires discover the ersatz elevator shaft, they make use of the Out objects to explore the shaft and later attempt to rescue the Quagmires, showing how their values in The True Significance of Life differ greatly.

Olaf’s Hideout

Olaf’s hideout is comprised of the ersatz elevator shaft, the space at the bottom, and the long hallway the children traverse to the remains of their family home and demonstrates how appearances are not what they seem throughout the novel. The Baudelaires discover the hideout as a result of Klaus noticing an extra elevator door on the penthouse level, and this jumpstarts the Baudelaires adventures to rescue the Quagmires and stop Olaf’s wicked plans. The children traverse the shaft by tying objects together into a rope and climbing down through darkness, showing their bravery and ingenuity. Though the shaft frightens them, they come up with a way to get to the bottom and don’t give up on their mission, showing how they see through the appearances that others do not. They know Olaf is up to no good and that it’s up to them to stop him, since none of the adults will listen. The shaft also represents how adults underestimate children. When Esmé pushed the Baudelaires into the net midway down the shaft, she figured the children couldn’t escape and left, and her confidence allows Sunny to retrieve the rope so the children can continue their mission.

The bottom of the hideout offers the Baudelaires its own adventure. Initially, the children find the imprisoned Quagmires at the bottom of the shaft, but when they return to free them, the triplets are gone, suggesting Olaf has been watching the Baudelaires’ movements closely. After Esmé pushes the children into the shaft and they are able to climb back to the bottom, they traverse a hidden tunnel that leads them under the city and to the remains of their childhood home. It is unclear how long this tunnel has been there, but since the children are surprised at their final destination, it is clear they were unaware of the tunnel when they lived in their family home. Regardless of how or when the tunnel came to be, it represents how part of the Baudelaires children’s journey has come full circle. Six books after their home was destroyed, they arrive back where their story began.

The In Auction

The In Auction occurs in the final chapter of the book, but it has an impact on the story from the beginning. From the moment the Baudelaires meet Jerome and Esmé, the idea of In and Out things are brought to their attention, and the In Auction is identified as a huge sale where only In things will be sold with all the profits going toward making Esmé richer. The auction is also part of Olaf’s latest scheme to abscond with the Quagmire children and steal their family’s wealth, making it an important event for the Baudelaires because it is their last chance to save their friends. The auction itself features rich people bidding on In items ranging from doilies to a giant statue of a red herring fish.

The In auction symbolizes the book’s major theme The True Significance of Life. All the items up for auction are only valuable because they have been arbitrarily deemed In by whoever makes the decisions about what is In or Out. As a result, the objects being auctioned off don’t really matter because their perceived value could disappear at any moment. Thus, the auction itself is a farse. The objects are assigned value depending on how important they are to a person, but unlike the In Auction, the items at a real auction don’t necessarily lose all value based on the momentary whims of popularity. The auction is the stage in which the trends that the Squalors abide by are presented, hosted by Olaf himself as auctioneer. This important event has been built up to in the narrative, reinforcing the differences between the Squalors and the Baudelaires in what they value. While the Squalors attend to maintain appearances and track the In and Out trends, the Baudelaires attend with the purpose of saving their friends from danger.