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THEME I.
The American notion of karma – bad things will happen to bad people and good things will happen to good people – is evident in many character interactions and the dynamic – rather than static – nature of the Fox and the Cat’s characterization. While the entire rising action of The Adventures of Pinocchio is a cyclical bombardment of bad karmic justice for Pinocchio (i.e. steals grapes, captured as makeshift watchdog; deviates from path, hanged by assassins, etc.), there are also instances where this theme manifests itself in the opposite respect, which brightens the dark tale. For example, after Pinocchio saves Aldorno the dog from drowning, Aldorno rescues the puppet from the fisherman (327-329, Ch. XXIX). Since the Tuna gains freedom from the shark’s stomach by following Pinocchio’s escape route, the Tuna shuttles the two back to shore when Pinocchio can no longer swim (441, Ch. XXXVI). These scenes culminate to the novel’s ultimate example of karma: Pinocchio sends the bedridden Blue Fairy his cooper pennies, and he awakens to find gold coins in addition to a transformed cottage and self (455-461, Ch. XXXVI). Karma also manifests outside the context of the eponymous character, offering secondary support to this theme. In a longitudinal study of the Cat and the Fox, these characters epitomize the karmic fate of Pinocchio had he not been reformed by his donkey metamorphosis. When they are first introduced, the Fox and the Cat present themselves as “lame” and “blind” (157, Ch. XII), even though they are not handicapped (161, Ch. XVII). At the end of the novel, however, the Cat is actually blind and the Fox is tailless and paralyzed (443, Ch. XXXVI). Pinocchio even recites a proverb to articulate the bad karma that befall them: “He who steals his neighbor’s cloak is bound to die without a shirt” (445). The various Voices of Reason in the novel, however, exist outside of the laws of karma. The Talking Cricket is smashed by a mallet. The White blackbird is devoured by the Cat. And the others are blatantly ignored, especially the Crab who "preaches to the wind." |
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THEME II.
The advice of “those who know better than [Pinocchio]” – which originates from Geppetto and Blue Fairy – is at odds with the guidance of Pinocchio’s peers, (i.e. Lampwick and the Cat and the Fox). Therefore, Pinocchio must constantly choose between the two groups. Usually in the middle of some errand in which he is fulfilling elder advice, Pinocchio is led astray by his peers after a clear internal conflict. While traveling to meet Geppetto, Pinocchio goes off with the Cat and the Fox. While inviting his friends to his boyhood initiation, Pinocchio gets sidetracked by Lampwick. There are also minor characters who assume the Voice of Reason and appear in the middle of the peer coercion, reminding Pinocchio of Geppetto or the Blue Fairy’s wishes. They are either ignored (the Crab and the Firefly) or exterminated (the Talking Cricket and the White Blackbird) by the peer group, showcasing the disharmony between the two groups.
Whom Pinocchio chooses to listen to – whom he gives the final influence over his heart and who the victor is of this thematic tension – changes. The size of Pinocchio’s ears comes to reflect whether Pinocchio chooses to listen to his elders, so this theme’s progression can be tracked through symbolism. At the very beginning of the novel, Geppetto realizes that “in his haste to carve [Pinocchio], he had forgotten to make [ears]” (103, Ch. III). Therefore, the microscopic size of his ears symbolizes Pinocchio’s refusal to listen to his elders by making it almost literally impossible for him to do. Consequently, visually appealing places attract Pinocchio: the puppet show, a field of money trees, and Funland. The symbolism evolves to substantiate the common reading that Pinocchio’s rebirth occurs during his donkey transfiguration, since the first thing to transform are his ears: “During the night his ears had grown so long that they looked like two dusters made of sedge” (373, Ch. XXXII). As soon as Pinocchio receives his donkey ears, Pinocchio begins listening to Geppetto and the Blue Fairy, and the largeness of the ears represent his newfound willingness and desire to do so by making it seem like it is physically impossible not to hear them. |
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THEME III.
Pinocchio endures the consequences of his bad behavior – “bad” as defined in the novel: lazy and disobedient to parents – but the nature of those consequences is atypical. Pinocchio is not just scolded; he also repeatedly suffers physical pain. Therefore, a child’s knowledge of parental disappointment is not seen as an adequate – or a didactic/reformatory - means of character-building punishment. Over the course of the novel, Pinocchio suffers everything from a fatal fever to a hoop-jumping circus injury that dooms him to permanent lameness as a donkey. Furthermore, Pinocchio is hanged by assassins, and comes so close to death that three doctors nearly pronounce him dead and black rabbits nearly carry him away in a coffin. Pinocchio also steps into a peasant farmer’s animal trap and almost faints from “the intense pain caused by the animal trap that was sawing at his shinbones” (241, Ch. XXI). Pinocchio’s life under the ownership of his whip-cracking circus Manager is described as “extremely harsh and abusive treatment” (389, XXXIII). And nearly drowning and getting devoured by the Fairy’s fish are not pleasant experiences either, so it can be assumed that those events came with their fair of physical pain, as well. Taking it to the extreme, Collodi embraces the idea that in order for a kid to learn not to touch a hot stove, he must be burned by a hot stove.
Pinocchio also suffers extreme emotional pain when he is led to believe the Fairy with blue hair and Geppetto are dead (257-259, Ch. XXIII; 285, Ch. XXV). In the case of the Blue Fairy’s faked death, Pinocchio must even deal with being cited as the cause of death on the gravestone: “Here lies the Little Girl with blue hair who died of grief for having been abandoned by her little brother Pinocchio.” There was an article published in 2011 in the Los Angeles Times that argues that emotional pain is equivalent to physical pain, substantiating the inclusion of Pinocchio’s intense experiences with mourning in this theme. See below for the article’s citation: Healy, M. (2011). Heartache or headache, pain process is similar, studies find. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/2011/apr/04/health/la-he- mood-pain-20110404
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THEME IV.
This theme has two subthemes:
A. The Importance of Work Ethic and Academia Sacrificing his winter jacket for a spelling book within the first few chapters, Geppetto demonstrates the importance of education: it is superior to having one’s physiological needs of comfort, like warmth, met. The Fairy and Pinocchio’s teachers uphold this belief by urging school attendance and warning against hanging out with the wrong – meaning lazy – crowd of schoolmates. Additionally, it is interesting to note that a “ragman” jumps at the chance to purchase Pinocchio’s textbook, belittling Pinocchio by indicating that even a homeless man has enough sense to recognize the value of learning (141, Ch. IX). Whenever Pinocchio is not studying, he is getting into trouble. Never does his laziness lead to engagement in neutral activities. In a self-description of his lifestyle, Pinocchio claims he is a “vagabond” and a “loafer,” fully recognizing his hedonistic lifestyle and the fact that it contrasts the attributes of a "proper" boy’s lifestyle (285, Ch. XXV). Only when Pinocchio studies hard (343, Ch. XXIX) and works hard (459, Ch. XXXVI) does the Fairy even consider granting his wish to be a real boy. B. The Social Unacceptability of Laziness It is clear that society frowns upon Pinocchio’s laziness. In the very beginning of the novel, Pinocchio’s begs for food in the village streets, resulting in a little old man’s unique condemnation of his behavior: “…an enormous basin of water pour[s] down on [Pinocchio], drenching him from head to foot as though he were a pot of withering geraniums” (121, Ch. VI). Additionally, when Pinocchio wanders in the town of Busy-Bee Town - where “lazybones Pinocchio” stands out like a sore thumb because, as implied by the name, the town is presented as a hardworking Utopia – the brick layer, coal merchant, and twenty other workers chastise Pinocchio for his begging, telling him swallow his pride and challenging him to derive good from yawning (275, Ch. XXIV). Pinocchio is even “ashamed” to do his begging, indicating his awareness of its social unacceptability (275, Ch. XXIV). |
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THEME V.
Despite the hardships and suffering that Pinocchio’s
disobedience and broken promises inflict upon the Blue Fairy and Geppetto, the
two always soften after a dose of tough love, showing their
unconditional love and loyalty to Pinocchio. For example, even though
Pinocchio’s temper tantrum in the village gets Geppetto arrested for suspected
child abuse, Geppetto returns, gives all three of his breakfast pears to a
starving Pinocchio – even peeling them when the puppet complains – and sells
his jacket for a school textbook so Pinocchio can be educated (Ch. VII-VIII). Additionally,
even though Pinocchio’s runaway behavior sentenced him to a two year
imprisonment inside a shark – as he was swallowed in the middle of his search -
Geppetto still embraces the puppet and calls him “dear boy” – a term of
endearment – when they are reunited (431, Ch. XXXV).
Just as Geppetto lets Pinocchio wail over his burned feet (Ch. VIII), the Fairy with blue hair also handles the puppet with tough love. She scares Pinocchio with the black rabbit’s coffin procession and lets him weep over his elongated nose before summoning woodpeckers to shave it down. Although the Fairy with blue hair assumes a sisterly, maternal, and guardian angel role in Pinocchio’s life, there are gaps in her love that exceed tough love and verge on cruel and inexcusable punishment, indicating a more complex, less pure relationship with Pinocchio than Geppetto has. For example, the Fairy makes no haste to offer Pinocchio her white cottage as a safehaven even though assassians are chasing him. She merely proclaims her deadness and disappears (183, Ch. XV) . Additionally, she fakes her own death (257, Ch. XXIII). Despite these two questionable actions, the Fairy does intervene in arguably life-saving ways (i.e. school of fish to eat dead donkey flesh) and does show compassion (213, Ch. XVIII) and forgiveness (343, Ch. XXIX) and love (287, Ch. XXV; 213, Ch. XVIII). |
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THEME VI:
When Pinocchio is given the opportunity either to have fun or to study, it is always presented with the underlying implication that by picking one, he will entirely surrender the other. When Pinocchio must choose between school and Fire-Eater’s puppet show, the novel reads, “Nonetheless, it was necessary for him to make a decision: to go to school or to listen to the fifes” (137, Ch. IX). Pinocchio chooses the puppet show, and the total sacrifice of academia is symbolized by the necessity of selling his spelling book to enter the show. Later on, he must choose between going shark-sighting at the shore or school (295, Ch. XXVI). The Blue Fairy even lays out a distinct dichotomy between a proper boy and Pinocchio, listing distinct desirable and undesirable traits, offering no hope that there can be overlap and coexistence (285, Ch. XXV). The Blue Fairy does not suggest that Pinocchio can blend his true self with the studious and hardworking ideal. The Blue Fairy urges conformity, not compromise.
When he chooses wealth not by honest means (i.e. work) by accompanying the Fox and the Cat to the Field of Miracles, Pinocchio envisions “small trees laden…with gold pieces that went clinkety-clink swaying in the wind as if to say, ‘Whoever wants us, come and get us’ (169, Ch. XIII). With similar diction and a similar setup, Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar describes how Esther sees her future options as “beckoning” and “winking” figs on a tree, “but choosing one meant losing all the rest.” So the gold coins' flirtation in Pinocchio’s dream represents how Pinocchio’s idealization of laziness pulls him away from work ethic. Plath’s novel is not children’s literature and was published after Pinocchio in 1963, but the parallels are interesting. As discussed in class, children were viewed as a “miniature adult” prior to the Middle Ages. Collodi published Pinocchio after the Middle Ages in 1883. But, the novel advocates for the pre-Middle Ages perception of children (with the infusion of education, however). Almost immediately after Pinocchio is carved from wood, the Talking Cricket demands that Pinocchio find a trade (109, Ch. IV), and the Blue Fairy agrees (285, Ch. XXV). Pinocchio is only cast in a positive light when he carries the water jugs for the Blue Fairy (279, Ch. XXIV) and draws water for Giangio (449, Ch. XXXVI). |
"As soon as he had told the lie, his nose, which was already rather long, immediately grew another
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Hair
Most of the human characters in The Adventures of Pinocchio are distinctly described with vibrant, bold hair color: Geppetto has a yellow wig, Fire-Eater has a jet black beard, the Little Girl has radiant blue hair, and the Fisherman has a green beard and seaweed hair. And these human characters are all adults (the Little Girl with blue hair transforms to an adult mother figure in Ch. XXIV), which is also noteworthy. These adult human characters are contrasted with the puppet child, Pinocchio, who has wooden hair. And in the novel, Pinocchio’s wooden hair comes into play as a detriment, as a handicap: “And while he was wailing in this fashion, he made as if to tear out his hair; but since his hair was of wood, he couldn't even have the satisfaction of thrusting his fingers into it” (259, Ch. XXIII). When Pinocchio laments the apparent death of the Blue Fairy, his suffering and anguish cannot be relieved due to his lack of real hair. And when he tries on Geppetto's wig, he nearly "suffocates" beneath it, a metaphoric act chastising his attempt to prematurely leap into adulthood. Therefore, the role of hair in Collodi’s novel takes on a similar role as the one in the biblical story of Samson. One of Samson’s vulnerabilities is his hair. Without it, he is powerless. Similarly, Pinocchio is cast as powerless at the gravestone. Because he is still an immature child, he must suffer the psychological torment of believing he lost a loved one. This argues that there is power in adulthood that cannot be accessed when one is a child. There are abilities – like "sensibility" and "goodness" – that prevent suffering and hardship and promote "happiness" (457, Ch. XXXVI). When one is a child, he is doomed to - and deserves to - suffer because he does bad things. So through this motif, Collodi furthers his portrayal of childhood in a negative light, and elevates the status and desirably of adulthood. However, once Pinocchio becomes a real boy – a transformation that signals his crossing his adulthood – he is described with “chesnut brown hair” (459, Ch. XXXVI). Therefore, the hair mofif in The Adventures of Pinocchio supports and extends Collodi’s overarching idea that adulthood is superior to childhood. |
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Water:
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Third-Person Narration Breaks the Fourth Wall
The narrator refers directly to his audience - as either "little readers" or "you" - several times. Most often, the breakage of the fourth wall takes the form of a rhetorical question. In some cases, the audience questioning is used as a pause - for suspense and for reader reflection - before divulging some fact. Other times, it is followed by some means of clarification, inserted conveniently at points in the novel assumed to be confusing to children. For example, after questions, the exact operation of Funland is described and the novel's past references to the shark are highlighted. PAGES: 83, 105, 107, 373, 385, 389, 417,
425, 433.
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“But do you know what was the worst moment for those two wretches? The most humiliating moment was when they felt a tail growing behind” (385).
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Anthropomorphism
Pinocchio stumbles upon numerous animals who have human qualities and traits, the most common of which are the gifts of speech and reason. Aside from Master Cherry, Geppetto, the Fisherman, the Little Girl with blue hair, Fire-Eater, and secondary townspeople / farmers / the carabiniere, all the other characters are anthropomorphized animals (but not to the exaggerated extent of Disney's clothed animal versions): the Talking Cricket, the Cat and Fox, the martens, the dog Aldorno, the Pigeon, the shark stomach Tuna, the Field of Miracles parrot, the Snail, the Firefly, the Crab, the White Blackbird, the Dolphin, the asthmatic shark, the Serpent, and the Blue Fairy goat. |
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