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Copywork
About This Passage
This is one of Collodi's sharpest pieces of irony in the entire book. Pinocchio addresses the man who paid twenty-five cents to skin him for a drum, and praises him for being 'humane,' for showing 'delicate attention,' for being 'honorable,' for his 'goodness.' Every word in the praise is a knife. Copying this passage trains the writer to feel how irony works: the surface says the opposite of the meaning, and the gap between the two is where the moral force lives. The closing sentence — 'You would have succeeded if it had not been for the good Fairy' — drops the irony to credit the rescue clearly, marking the moment Pinocchio shifts from mockery to honest gratitude.
"After you bought me you led me here to kill me; but then, being a humane man, you decided to drown me. This delicate attention on your part is most honorable and I shall always remember your goodness...
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Trace the chapter's full arc, from the buyer pulling the rope to Pinocchio sighting the glimmer of light inside the Dogfish. Be sure to include the surprise marionette, the true-story confession, the goodbye jokes, the blue Goat, the Dogfish swallowing, and the philosophical exchange with the Tunny.
Discussion Questions
- Pinocchio first jokes that 'the sea never tells its secrets' and only then offers to tell the buyer 'the true story.' Examine the move from playful evasion to honest confession in the same conversation. What does Collodi gain by letting Pinocchio be playful first, and what is the difference in tone between the joke and the story he tells next?
- Pinocchio addresses the buyer with sustained ironic praise — 'humane man,' 'delicate attention,' 'honorable,' 'goodness' — applied to a man who paid twenty-five cents to skin him for a drum. What does irony do here that direct accusation could not, and why does Collodi place this rhetorical performance between the rescue and the swimming-away?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
showing kindness or compassion, especially toward those who are suffering. Pinocchio uses the word ironically — calling the buyer who tried to drown him 'a humane man' precisely because the man was not humane at all.
Item 2
carefully refined, often suggesting fineness of perception or feeling. Pinocchio thanks the buyer for the 'delicate attention' of choosing drowning over beating — irony at its sharpest.
Item 3
deserving of honor or respect; worthy of high esteem. Pinocchio uses the word ironically — telling the would-be killer, 'This delicate attention on your part is most honorable,' meaning the precise opposite.
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Critical Thinking
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