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Copywork
About This Passage
Collodi suddenly speaks directly to 'little readers' here — breaking the narrative frame to make sure the satire lands. Copying this passage trains a middle-grade reader to feel the moment a story stops being naive and starts using the reader as an accomplice.
And there he remained four months and would have been there much longer if something fortunate had not happened. You must know, little readers, that the young emperor of the city called Stupid-catcher...
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Read the chapter as a satire of legal institutions. Trace the four corrupt structures Collodi exposes: the Field of Miracles, the Parrot's economic lesson, the Monkey-judge's court, and the convict-amnesty. Which is the sharpest critique?
Discussion Questions
- Pinocchio's heart beats 'tic-tac-tic-tac like a big hall clock' as he walks to the Field of Miracles imagining a palace and a library full of candy. Why does Collodi front-load the chapter with such vivid daydreaming before the empty hole? What is the rhetorical effect of building hope just to demolish it?
- The Parrot, missing most of his feathers, delivers the chapter's only honest economic advice: money is gotten 'with your hands or invent[ing] something with your head.' What evidence in the chapter shows Collodi placing wisdom in the mouth of a comic, half-bald creature on purpose? Why not let an angel or the Fairy say it?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
Showing careful thought; reflective.
Item 2
Rudely bold or disrespectful.
Item 3
In an extremely angry manner.
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Critical Thinking
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