The Adventures of Pinocchio

Content Warning: The source material uses outdated and offensive language about individuals with physical and intellectual disabilities. This guide includes this language in quoted material when necessary.

“He struck a most solemn blow upon the piece of wood. ‘Oh! Oh! You hurt!’ cried the same little far away voice.”

The theme of Magic in Children’s Literature is alluded to through the mysterious voice that emanates from Mastro Cherry’s piece of wood; the wood seems to be capable of both sensory feeling as well as verbal speech. This leads to Geppetto’s puppet, Pinocchio, becoming an animate, conscious being, the magical event that initiates the story.

“And growing angrier each moment, they went from words to blows, and finally began to scratch and bite and slap each other.”

Geppetto is initially characterized as violent and bad-tempered, for which he is condemned by Collodi. His early characterization serves to emphasize the change in his manner when he becomes a father to Pinocchio; after initially being harsh and disciplinarian, Geppetto—motivated by his adoration and love for the puppet— learns to treat Pinocchio with selfless and unconditional love in a thematic representation of Ideal Parenthood.

“The furniture could not have been much simpler: a very old chair, a rickety old bed, and a tumble-down table.”

Geppetto is characterized as a poor man engaged in a small wood-carving trade. Collodi celebrates simple, pastoral Italian life through characters like Geppetto and critiques Pinocchio’s gullible attempts to get rich in the city. Through this characterization, Collodi offers a critique of Italian industrialization. This description of Geppetto’s minimalistic lifestyle also invokes sympathy in the reader.