The Adventures of Pinocchio Lesson Plan

Why are the boys who go to the Land of the Boobies turned into donkeys?

Donkeys have a complex symbolism in The Adventures of Pinocchio. As explained by translators Anna Kraczyna and John Hooper, the word "donkey" in Carlo Collodi's 19th century Florentine dialect had a number of surprising meanings. "People who had to work hard were called donkeys," they say, "[and] so were children who refused to apply themselves in school." Thus, if children like Pinocchio "insisted on being ‘donkeys’ at school, they risked living the life, and maybe dying the death, of a donkey.” The same double association between immature, foolish behavior and the unremitting labor of beasts of...