The Adventures of Pinocchio — Chapter 20

About This Passage

This is Pinocchio's most articulate self-diagnosis in the novel — a small thinking-out-loud passage where Collodi briefly lets the marionette talk like a moral philosopher. Copying it forces the middle-school reader to sit with the precise vocabulary of self-knowledge: 'headstrong,' 'touchy,' 'paying attention.' The honesty of the lines is what makes the test that follows so painful.

Narration Prompt

Read Chapter 20 as a study in how moral resolutions get tested. Trace the three episodes — the joyful muddy run, the green serpent, and the polecat trap — and argue what each episode contributes to Collodi's portrait of obedience under pressure.

Discussion Questions

1. Pinocchio runs through the mud 'like a hare,' splashing his clothes without caring, wild with longing for his papa and the Fairy. Argue what Collodi gains by opening Chapter 20 with such joyful, undignified motion. What does the contrast between his urgency and his appearance tell the reader about the kind of son Pinocchio is becoming?
2. Pinocchio's thinking-out-loud speech — 'I am a headstrong and touchy marionette' — is unusually articulate and self-aware for a small wooden boy. Argue why Collodi gives him this level of moral vocabulary right before the serpent appears. Is the speech sincere, performative, or both at once, and what makes you think so?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide