The Adventures of Pinocchio

     I enjoyed reading Carlo Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio, honestly, a lot more than I expected to. The literature was quite interesting because I feel like even though I know the story of Pinocchio, I was learning about it from a complete different perspective. Being an adult now, all of the themes became so much clearly and I was almost getting annoyed with Pinocchio's lack of regard for those that loved him, even though I know as a child I was definitely on Team Pinocchio.

    The major theme of Pinocchio is not that he needs to be a real boy to learn to behave, but that he needs to learn to behave to have what he longs for. There were so many instances throughout the novel where Pinocchio could have turned real if he just studied in school, and listened to his Geppetto, the Blue Fairy, and the Talking Cricket, yet his curiosity of the world and his want to not work always got the best of his conscience. The Adventures of Pinocchio attempts to highlight the importance of listening to your parents because they are older and wiser, despite children often thinking they know what is best for them.

    It was hard to read this novel while Pinocchio kept getting so close to behaving, and then inevitably giving into the peer pressure that his classmates and animals he met along his journey casted onto him. Pinocchio's innocence kept getting the best of him, a parallel to David's innocence in A.I. where he wanted to be loved by Monica, but innocently kept doing all of the wrong things in attempts to accomplish his goal. There were other obvious connections between A.I. and Pinocchio, including the Talking Cricket and Teddy, the Blue Fairy in both works, and the ideas surrounding technological advancements and humanity. 

Comments

  1. Hannah HollandOctober 9, 2022 at 7:58 PM

    I was also getting frustrated with Pinocchio for making the same mistakes repeatedly throughout the story! It made me realize how headstrong children can be, and how it takes them much longer to learn lessons than adults. It's hard to believe that we may have been as naive and unappreciative as Pinocchio when we were younger. I also thought it was ironic how none of us realized as kids that this was a cautionary tale to what would happen if we didn't listen to our parents. It's so obvious now! I agree that both Pinocchio and David's child-like innocence got in the way of accomplishing their goals. Their innocence provides them with hope, but additionally complicates both of their journeys.

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