The Adventures of Pinocchio — Chapter 9

About This Passage

Collodi structures this passage as a slow ethical descent. ‘Wild with curiosity’ names the appetite; ‘forgetting all his good resolutions’ names the will’s collapse; ‘shamelessly’ names the conscience’s anesthesia. Then notice the second movement: when offering the card crosses Pinocchio’s mind, conscience flickers back — ‘he had not the courage’ — and he hesitates. The passage shows that the moral self is not destroyed but only displaced; the fact that Pinocchio still recognizes the A B C card as the ‘last thing’ means he knows what it weighs. He sells it anyway, which is the chapter’s real horror: not that Pinocchio cannot tell right from wrong, but that he can, and proceeds.

Narration Prompt

Retell the events of Chapter 9 with attention to the moral architecture: the idealizing daydream of the gold-and-silver suit for Geppetto, the seductive interruption of fife and drum, the negotiation in the square, and Collodi’s closing reminder that Geppetto remains trembling at home. Be specific about which choices Pinocchio understands he is making and which he hides from himself.

Discussion Questions

1. Pinocchio’s opening monologue — the gold-and-silver suit, the buttons of brilliants — expresses real love for Geppetto. Is the moral failure of Chapter 9 a failure of love, of will, or of attention? Use the text to defend your answer.
2. Examine the formula ‘there is always time.’ Why is procrastination presented in this chapter not as laziness but as a kind of self-deception? What grammatical or rhetorical move does Pinocchio make to convince himself this lie is true?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide