Fairy tales have been told for generations mostly as lessons in humanity as well as to inspire change in character. In ‘The Adventures of Pinocchio,’ the underlying moral lesson revolves around the need for honesty. In view of this moral, author Carlo Collodi imposes a strict punishment for lyi...
Fairy tales have been told for generations mostly as lessons in humanity as well as to inspire
change in character. In ‘The Adventures of Pinocchio,’ the underlying moral lesson revolves
around the need for honesty. In view of this moral, author Carlo Collodi imposes a strict
punishment for lying by growing Pinocchio’s nose bigger every time he tells a lie. This analysis
focuses on animism as seen in a psychoanalytic approach to the story.
As the plot unfolds, Pinocchio tells his first real lie upon learning about the consequences
of naively disclosing the truth. Having been tricked by Cat and Fox that “there is a blessed field
called the Field of Wonders (Chapter 12) where he could plant his pieces of gold and reap them
five-fold the next morning, Pinocchio realized that telling the truth to strangers was naïve. In his
encounters with the Fairy, the puppet decides to lie that he had lost the remaining four pieces.
From a psychoanalytic point of view, it would appear that the author wanted to demonstrate the
ripple effect of lying loosely referred to as the Pinocchio Effect where people are forced to tell
more lies to cover up previous ones. As a result, people are caught up in a complex web of lies,
as Walter Scott explains in the popular passage of Marmion, “Oh what a tangled web we weave
when first we practice to deceive” (Clancy). The Fairy uses the ‘broken cookie jar’ style of
interrogation, which is inherently deceptive since she feigns curiosity and ignorance to throw
, Surname 2
Pinocchio off her trail. She affirmed that everything lost in the woods is always found, which
prompts Pinocchio to tell an even clumsier lie: “I didn’t lose the four gold pieces I swallowed
them inadvertently while I was drinking your medicine” (Chapter 17). As a result, Pinocchio
finds himself entangled in a web of half-truths and familiar lies that he could have avoided had
he simply told the truth. His nose grows inches longer after every lie he tells, which Collodi uses
as the moral of the story: lying has consequences. Since the Fairy also lied at some point, such
lies are to be distinguished as ways in which adults cleverly mislead children in order to let them
learn the dangers of lying and that lies always catch up with someone. Therefore, the Fairy does
not get punished for the lie since it falls in the category one would refer to as a justifiable
misinformation.
Pinocchio in Dramatis Personae
As literary concepts, dramatis personae emerge in the works of Vladimir Propp in
reference to the tendency of fairy tales to incorporate a broad range of character types. One such
persona in Collodi’s tale is the protagonist Pinocchio around which the story revolves. The
author creates a series of events that characterize the escapades of his central character around
which the story revolves. He further develops numerous characters including helpers and villains
that help his storytelling as the plot unfolds.
One of the key turning points of the story is Pinocchio’s rude awakening upon
encountering the sly Cat and Fox who conned him with the promise of multiplying his gold.
Collodi introduces these characters in a way that the reader understands how an unsuspecting
person would fall for the tricks of professional con artists. Experience teaches us that tricksters
use deceit, psychological manipulation, and emotional blackmail to deceive their victims and
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