Pinocchio

The central theme of "Pinocchio" is personality development, maturation, and the personal trip from beeing evil to beeing good. Experiencing the psychological transformation of the main character Pinocchio who is the mischievous wooden puppet, and eventually becomes a good boy.

His transformation occurs mostly thanks to his father (Geppetto) and mother (Fairy), and in his example, we can see that we learn best when we experience something on our skin.

This story is a mixture of novel, fable, fairytale, and story. Some parts of the story seem completely unrealistic, while again, some parts of the story seem exceptionally real.

Genre: story

Time: unspecified

Place: at home, on the way to school, inside of a shark

Theme: personality development, maturation, and the trip from beeing evil to becoming good

Book Summary

The story began with an old woodcarver Geppetto who carved a puppet and named it Pinocchio, but the doll wasn’t well behaved. He would take off his wig, run around the house, etc. The old Geppetto threatened him on the street and grabbed his nose that was growing uncontrollably and because of that Geppetto ended up in prison. He was accused of mistreating a child.

At home, Pinocchio stumbled upon a talking cricket who tried to explain to him that he should treat Geppetto better.  Pinocchio wouldn’t listen to him, and he smashed him with a hammer. Pinocchio was starving and realized that the cricket was telling the truth. He had to eat something, but without Geppetto, he didn’t know what to do. He found an egg, but when he cracked it open a little chicken came out of it and ran out of the house. He was desperate and went to the street in search of food. Instead of food, he got a splash of water.

He returned home and tried to get dry next to the fireplace, but his wooden legs caught fire and turned into ashes. In the morning Geppetto knocked on the door, and Pinocchio tried to open the door but couldn’t since he had no legs. Geppetto got into the house through a window and gave the starved boy some pears. He ate them all and left none for Geppetto. He promised to be well-behaved from now on. Geppetto made new legs for him and sold some of his stuff to get Pinocchio into school. The boy realized then that Geppetto was like a father for him and that he was good.

Even though he had bad behavior, Pinocchio had a good heart and his nobility finally got out in the open. On his way to school, he was thinking how to earn money and help Geppetto, but he got into troubles again. He sold his book and bought a ticket to see a puppet show. The puppets were amazed to see their puppet brother, but they mean master Mangiafuoco got a hold of Pinocchio and decided to throw him into the fire so he could make dinner.

The boy started to cry and call his father, but he was nowhere to be seen. The mean Mangiafuoco had mercy upon him but then decided to throw his friend into the fire. To save him Pinocchio says that he should end up in the fire. Mangiafuoco had a change of heart and decided to keep both puppets alive. He wasn’t so mean after all, and he gave some money to the boy so he could give it to his father. The naïve boy stumbled upon the cat and a fox. They convinced him in the existence of a magical land where you can plant money.

The boy goes to the fox and the cat into a bar where they eat a lot. He fell asleep excited about the magical land. The barmen woke him up around midnight and told him that he should pay for everything that his friends ate because they left. Pinocchio was left with some money, and he talked to the cricket again. He tried to explain to him that he shouldn’t believe people who promise to make him rich overnight. He ignored him again.

Pinocchio thought that he was very strong and he got attacked by two robbers. He bit one of the robber's hand, and it turned out to be a cat's paw. He started to run, and when he was about to give up, he saw a little white house and starts knocking. A girl opened up and told him that everyone was dead including her. The robbers caught him and hung him on a tree.

The beautiful girl was The Fairy with Turquoise Hair who called her falcon to get the boy off of the tree. She called the owl and the cricket as doctors to heal the boy. The cricket told everyone that Pinocchio was a spoiled, lazy brat who will make the old Geppetto very sad. Pinocchios conscious woke up, and he started to cry.

The fairy wanted to help him, so she gave him medicine, but Pinocchio wants the sweet medicine and says no to the bitter one. Gravediggers came for him with a coffin, four bunnies and when he got scared he drank the medicine, and the fairy started talking about the burglars. Pinocchio was lying, and his nose got bigger and bigger. He felt ashamed about that, and the fairy left him with his thoughts for a little while. In the end, he called a woodpecker to get his nose back to its regular size.

The fairy told him that she called Geppetto and that he was on his way. The boy was waiting for him and stumbled upon the cat and the fox again and trusted them again. He ended up in a town with them where cheated naïve idiots lived. Pinocchio didn’t understand what was going on and he was grateful to the fox and cat for bringing him there. Pinocchio met a parrot that told him that money doesn’t grow on trees. The parrot told him that the cat and the fox dug up his money and ran away. Pinocchio went to the police but ended up in jail because the whole city was working differently that the normal world. When he finally got out, he tried to go back to the house of the Fairy.

He realized that boys who wouldn’t take advice from anyone ended up badly, so he decided to become the best student but gets into trouble again. The lazy kids convinced him to go with them into Toy land where he doesn’t have to do anything except for play. After some time the boys grow donkey ear and turn into donkeys. Pinocchio was sold to the circus where he broke his leg and with a broken leg he was useless for the circus. They tied a rock around his neck and threw him into the sea.

Pinocchio was saved thanks to the Fairy who look after him as if she was his mother. He was swimming, and he got swallowed by a shark. Inside the shark, he found Geppetto and a tuna fish. With the help of the tuna fish, he carries his father out of the shark because he was sleeping with his mouth wide open. When he came to the shore, he stumbled upon the cat and the fox again, but they couldn’t trick him again.

In the village, he learned how to work and earn money, so he helped Geppetto a lot. When he heard that Fairy didn’t have any money he worked long hours, so he could give her some money. She rewarded him and turned him into a real flesh and blood boy and healed Geppetto. Geppetto explained to him that everything happened thanks to him and that bad boys that turn into good boys have the ability to give a new appearance to their family.

Characters: Pinocchio, Geppetto, Fairy, Cricket

Characters Analysis

Pinocchio - the main character that is made of wood by Gepetto. When he was made, Geppetto had problems with him. His nose grew more and more, no matter how many times Geppetto shortened it. He ran from home, but before that he killed the cricket who only wanted to give him well-meaning advice. When he found himself without his father Geppetto, he realized hunger was. At first, he is selfish, thinking only of himself. He saw what it means to be generous when his father sold his coat in the dead of winter just to buy him his school book. He learns something good from every accident, instead of listening to the elder. However, in the end, he changes and becomes a good and noble boy who treats his family members with respect.

Papa Gepetto - a caring father, even when he does not get anything in return. He helps Pinocchio in all ways and sacrifices everything. Although poor, he has a great imagination.

Cricket - tries to get back Pinocchio on track with well-intentioned advice, but he hits him on the head with a hammer. Later appears in the story as Pinocchio's spirit and conscience.

Blue Fairy - she has blue hair and helps Pinocchio to be safe from the danger or even death. Transformed into a blue mansion,  in a good wife, then the shrimp and eventually becomes Pinocchio's mother. She is good and loves him.

Cat and Fox - are false cripples who befriend Pinocchio only to extract money from him. Advise him not to work. They are rough and shameless, lying and represent evil.

Carlo Collodi Biography

Carlo Collodi is an artistic name of an Italian author Carlo Lorenzini. He was born in 1826 in Florence. His father was a cook, and his mother was a housewife.

He worked a lot as a bookstore employee, French translator, comedy writer. He was a great patriot and worked as a journalist and politician.

When he was 49 he started writing for kids and then he dedicated himself to that. He wrote a couple of books: "Giannettino", "Manuzzuolo" and "Pinocchio" was the book that made him famous.

It was translated into many languages and was named one of the best books ever. Collodi died in 1890.

The children literature in the 19th century was well known for its lessons about good behavior. After he had written Pinocchio Collodi stopped that boring tradition and created an interesting character who was disobedient at the beginning but through the story and many experiences he became a good boy.