Pinocchio, 1940

Feb. 15 2022 | NEYDA SIGUENCIA CALLE

This story starts with firewood falling into the hands of Geppetto. He makes a puppet out of it and names him Pinocchio. From the start, Pinocchio was disrespectful and wouldn’t listen to his “father”. He is very lazy and doesn’t want to go to school. All he wants to do is eat, sleep, and drink. Everyone thinks Geppetto is a mean man and believes that he will break Pinocchio up in pieces after he disobeyed him, therefore, the community puts Geppetto in prison. Geppetto returns the next day and finds Pinocchio very hungry and cold. He had even lost his feet because when he was cold he decided to put them near the fire. After seeing Pinocchio in this state, Geppetto forgave him. After this awful night without his father, Pinocchio learned his lesson and decided to “change”. He says he is going to be respectful and even enroll in school.

The next day, Pinocchio hears music and gets distracted so decides to skip school and instead go see a show. He sells his spelling book for money to get into the show. Geppetto sacrificed his life to go get the spelling book, it was a cold snowy day and he even sold his jacket to be able to have enough money for the book. Pinocchio is so vulnerable and greedy, he wants to do things his way and become “rich”. The wolf friends he met had tricked him. Even though the cricket stops him and tells him to go back home to his father, Pinocchio rebels and decides to not listen.

As the story continues, Pinocchio gets himself into many dangerous situations where his life is on the line. His nose starts to grow when he lies, and Pinocchio is devastated. He does not want a huge nose. He begs the fairy godmother to get rid of his big nose and that he will never lie again. This does not last long, because Pinocchio continues to lie and not listen. Pinocchio has many dreadful adventures and feels tired and discouraged and wants to go ask the fairy godmother to forgive him once again but she has disappeared. To his surprise, she had died because of him.

While going to search for Pinocchio across the ocean, Geppetto gets into a severe storm and disappears. Pinocchio is left with nowhere to go, and nobody to take care of him. He comes across his fairy godmother once again. This time she becomes like a mother to him. Pinocchio desires to become a “real boy”, he is tired of being a puppet. In order for this to happen, the fairy godmother tells him he has to be obedient, always tell the truth, and go to school. Once again, he disobeys these orders.

Later on, Pinocchio ends up being swallowed by a whale, and to his surprise, he is reunited with his father because he had been swallowed by the same whale the night he went looking for him. After a few ups and downs, and facing many obstacles, Pinocchio finally actually learns his lesson and changes his ways. He becomes a hard-working boy, and takes care of his old, sick father. He was also able to multitask and become well educated. After following these deeds for a while, the fairy godmother finally grants him the wish of becoming a real little boy. More so, she granted Geppetto his health again.

I truly think this story relates strongly to Aristotle, and especially to the concept of virtue ethics. First of all, Pinocchio is not made by “nature” since he is made out of wood. Therefore, it is easier for him to change his ways because he has no genes that would have been passed down to make him act the way he is (except for the fact that his brain is made out of wood). As the reading emphasized, learning is a process and you need to practice it. In this case, Pinocchio wants to portray good characteristics such as; being honest, responsible, respectful, etc. In order to do this, he needs to try and practice. Although he has many ups and downs throughout his learning, eventually he gets to the point where he wants to be. This reinforces the idea that human beings need to practice to be good and do what is right.

More so, Aristotle emphasizes the idea of being “intermediate”. In this case, we see times where Pinocchio has some shortcomings, for example when he disobeys his sick father. But, we also have times where he excesses his virtue. For example, when trying to be obedient, he listens to the wrong people that have bad intentions toward him. The reading explained three rules one must follow when trying to achieve a good action; have the knowledge, choose the act for their own sake, and the action must proceed from a firm and unchangeable character. In the end, Pinocchio seems to have mastered all of these requirements. He understands and gains knowledge on how and why to act well. He decided to change his ways for himself because he desires to be a real boy and not have a long nose. Finally, the action does begin from an unchangeable character. It was extremely hard for Pinocchio to be a good boy. It took him a variety of trial and error to become who he became.

According to Stephanie Painter, who wrote an Honors College Thesis as an Oregon State University student, Pinocchio was about moral instruction since from an obvious stand it’s a story to teach kids right and wrong. We see virtue ethics since from the beginning the full responsibility is thrown at Pinocchio to become a good boy and he has an “extrinsic goal”, desiring to become a real boy. In this case, Pinocchio is the “moral agent” and the virtues he desires to achieve are “bravery, honesty, and unselfishness” . Something to keep in mind is that Pinocchio starts at a blank state, with no character whatsoever. He has no awareness or knowledge of the outside world and can't differentiate between good and bad, or right and wrong. This means that he needs to begin by first developing his moral character and then achieving his virtues. The fairy godmother and the cricket are put in the story to show and explain morality to Pinocchio. Hence, throughout the story, they give him much advice that he does not follow until the end of the story. In the end, Pinocchio finally acts ethically and morally. He is rewarded for his achievement by the fairy godmother turning him into a real little boy. Pinocchio had finally learned to behave “virtuously”. It took him many obstacles and tries to obtain all his virtues. This scholarly essay emphasized that Pinocchio learns how to listen to his consciousness and that’s what ultimately makes him act like a good boy and gives him the ability to become brave, honest, and unselfish.

Additional Resources:

Painter, Stephanie L. "Disney and Virtue Ethics: Understanding Disney Film through Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics." (2013)