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Copywork
About This Passage
This passage is the chapter's quiet moral peak. Pinocchio could have improved his standing by exposing Bruno's corrupt contract with the Polecats — but instead chooses silence to protect a dead dog he never met. Copying this passage trains a middle-grade reader to feel how kindness can take the shape of holding back a true word.
The marionette then would have told all he knew about the shameful contract between the dog and the Polecats; but remembering that the dog was dead, he said to himself: "Why should I accuse the dead? ...
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Walk through Chapter 22 in three movements: the Polecats' midnight visit and offer, Pinocchio's trick with the door and stone, and the farmer's morning praise and release. What changes in Pinocchio at each step?
Discussion Questions
- When the lead Polecat first speaks to Pinocchio, he calls him 'Bruno' and offers him 'the same agreement that I had with the dead Bruno.' What in the story shows you that the Polecats had been making this corrupt deal with Bruno for a long time? Why did Collodi reveal Bruno's bad secret only after Bruno was already dead?
- Pinocchio says 'Very well' to the Polecats' offer, but he is shaking his head as if to say 'In a little while we will talk about this again.' How can you tell Pinocchio is being clever rather than dishonest? What kind of lie is this, compared to the lies that have made his nose grow before?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
A dog kept to guard property and warn of intruders.
Item 2
An arrangement that two or more people accept together.
Item 3
A bird raised on farms for eggs and meat.
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Critical Thinking
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