Living With The Consequences
Having to live with the results or effects that follow one's actions is a major focus of The Adventures of Pinocchio. Repeatedly throughout the novel, the eponymous Pinocchio suffers the negative consequences of his selfish or foolish actions. When he runs away and allows a soldier to imprison Geppetto, Pinocchio spends the night starving and accidentally burning his feet to cinders on a heater. After promising to be a good boy and go to school, Pinocchio sells his textbook for a ticket to the puppet theater, where he is nearly burned by the puppet master. Similarly, Pinocchio ignores the ghost of the Talking Cricket's advice to watch out for assassins and immediately finds himself in an ambush. As the story goes on, Pinocchio narrowly escapes death, kidnapping, arrest and imprisonment, all of which occur in direct consequence to his poor decisions. However, when Pinocchio finally begins working hard to support Geppetto and the Fairy, the Fairy rewards his good behavior by turning him into a real boy and gifting him a nice house to live in. In this way, Pinocchio gets to enjoy the positive consequences of his good behavior.
Greed
Greed—an intensely selfish desire to gain more of something for oneself—is another major theme in The Adventures of Pinocchio. From early in the book, Collodi establishes that Pinocchio is naturally inclined toward greed. When Geppetto selflessly gives Pinocchio the only food he has, Pinocchio eats the three pears and then cries over the fact that he has no feet. Geppetto fulfills this and every subsequent need Pinocchio has, going as far as selling his only coat to buy a schoolbook for the puppet. However, Pinocchio almost immediately sells the book to afford the entrance fee to a puppet theater, disregarding Geppetto's sacrifice to satisfy another pressing desire. When the Fire-Eater gives Pinocchio five gold coins with instructions to bring them to Geppetto, the life-changing fortune is soon at risk when the Cat and Fox tell Pinocchio about a get-rich-quick scheme that could multiply his coins to 2,500. After being duped into burying his coins in the supposed Field of Miracles, Pinocchio learns from a bird that the Fox and Cat scammed him out of his gold. As a negative consequence of his desire to have even more wealth, Pinocchio loses his riches. Similarly, the con artist Fox and Cat wind up penniless and disabled by the end of the book, having suffered their own consequences for their greedy scams.
Dishonesty
Dishonesty is another key theme in the novel. Featuring a protagonist whose iconic nose grows whenever he lies, the book demonstrates the pitfalls of being untruthful. Pinocchio's peculiar physical tell is most explicit in the scene in which the Fairy questions the puppet about how he came under attack by the assassins. Pinocchio recounts the story in detail, not lying until he reaches the part about the four gold coins he hid under his tongue. When the Fairy asks if he still has them, Pinocchio doesn't reveal that they are now in his pocket, instead claiming he lost them. As his nose grows, Pinocchio tries to take back the lie, saying that he actually swallowed the coins and so can't access them. However, this new lie only lengthens his nose until he is stuck in place, unable to turn in any direction. The growing nose and Pinocchio's flustered state give away the fact that he is lying, and the Fairy leaves him to suffer the discomfort of being literally trapped by his lies for half an hour before she summons woodpeckers to chip his nose down to regular size. Ultimately, Pinocchio's growing nose is a nightmarish consequence of the bad habit of telling lies.
Laziness
Laziness—the trait of being unwilling to expend energy, particularly for work—is a dominant theme in The Adventures of Pinocchio. Collodi introduces the theme when Pinocchio first encounters the Talking Cricket and rejects his advice to attend school and take care of his papa. Pinocchio insists that the path of an obedient son isn't for him; he prefers to live as a vagabond, roaming and playing as he avoids studying and undertaking honest work. Although the puppet promises Geppetto he will start school, Pinocchio's idle nature diverts him from school and toward the puppet theater, which sets in motion a series of events that continue to take Pinocchio away from school. Pinocchio eventually lives with the Fairy in a town where everyone works hard and refuses to give anything to beggars without some labor in exchange. In this society, Pinocchio becomes a diligent student. However, his friend Candlewick appeals to Pinocchio's inherent laziness and convinces him to move to the Land of Boobies, where the boys never have to do anything they don't want to do. Ironically, five months in this magical place turns the boys into donkeys, and they are made to labor for the men who buy them. While Candlewick's laziness results in him working to death as a peasant's beast of burden, Pinocchio is fortunate enough to turn back into a puppet. By the end of the book, Pinocchio grows out of his laziness and learns the virtues of hard work and self-sacrifice.
Sacrifice
Defined as giving up something for the sake of a different, more worthy thing, sacrifice is another important theme in the novel. Collodi introduces the theme as the preferred inverse of greed when Geppetto gives away his only food to Pinocchio to satisfy the puppet's great hunger. Geppetto also sacrifices his only coat to buy Pinocchio a spelling book, which enables him to start school. Although he is inclined toward selfishness, Pinocchio sacrifices himself to the Fire-Eater by offering to be burned as firewood instead of another puppet. Pinocchio also sacrifices his safety when he rescues the dog chasing after him rather than let the dog drown while he secures his own escape. As the story goes on, Pinocchio's capacity for sacrifice grows. Eventually, Pinocchio devotes himself to earning money and milk to support Geppetto. In a final act of sacrifice, the puppet sends five dollars to the Fairy when he learns she is ill, even though he had intended to spend the money on a coat for himself.
Redemption
Alongside the theme of sacrifice is redemption—the action of saving oneself or being saved from error, evil, or sin. As a moral tale, The Adventures of Pinocchio depicts the inherently selfish and lazy Pinocchio suffering the consequences of his moral weaknesses and learning to be virtuous. Beyond making the puppet suffer consequences that show him the errors of his ways, Collodi uses characters such as the Fairy and the Talking Cricket to guide Pinocchio toward redeeming behavior. Rather than giving up on Pinocchio every time he succumbs to his weaknesses, the Fairy reappears in altered forms and in different places to remind Pinocchio of the importance of hard work, either through her direct intervention or by giving him a place to live while he picks up the pieces of his life. With the Fairy's omnipotent help, Pinocchio eventually models the good behavior that she, the Talking Cricket, and Geppetto have encouraged.
Appreciation
Appreciation is another crucial theme in The Adventures of Pinocchio. Defined as enjoyment and recognition of something's or someone's good qualities, appreciation enters the story when Geppetto carves Pinocchio only to discover the puppet is disobedient and ungrateful to his "papa." While Pinocchio's harrowing night of starvation and embarrassment makes him understand the value of having his papa around, he betrays a lack of appreciation when he is picky about eating the skins of the pears Geppetto gives him. Pinocchio eats the skins only when he realizes there is nothing else available, and only then does he understand their value. Geppetto uses the moment as an opportunity to teach his puppet a lesson about the need for appreciating what little they have, because they never know what worse deprivations lie in their future. Through his various tribulations, Pinocchio comes to appreciate Geppetto and the Fairy, sacrificing his own needs to put theirs first. In exchange, the Fairy shows her appreciation by giving Geppetto and Pinocchio a proper house to live in. She also transforms Pinocchio into a real boy now that he recognizes the value of existence.
