The Adventures of Pinocchio · Chapter
XXXII: Pinocchio Turns Into a Donkey explained
Pinocchio wakes to find his ears have grown into donkey ears, and a Marmot diagnoses him with 'donkey fever,' predicting he will soon become a donkey.
What happens
Pinocchio wakes to find his ears have grown into donkey ears, and a Marmot diagnoses him with 'donkey fever,' predicting he will soon become a donkey. He seeks out Candlewick, who has the same affliction, and together they transform into donkeys, braying in shame as the coachman who brought them to the Land of Boobies arrives.
Themes in this chapter
Transformation and Identity
Pinocchio physically transforms into a donkey, symbolizing his loss of humanity due to his lazy and disobedient choices.
Consequences of Bad Companions
Pinocchio blames Candlewick for leading him astray, and both suffer the same fate of becoming donkeys.
Education and Labor
The Marmot explains that boys who dislike books and schools end up as donkeys, reinforcing the value of education and hard work.
Characters to notice
- Pinocchio
Wakes with donkey ears, learns he is transforming into a donkey, seeks Candlewick, and fully transforms into a donkey.
- The Marmot
Diagnoses Pinocchio with donkey fever and explains the fate of lazy boys.
- Candlewick
Also has donkey ears and transforms into a donkey alongside Pinocchio.
- The Fairy
Mentioned by Pinocchio as the good Fairy who loved him like a mamma and whom he abandoned.
Key passages
“You must know that in two or three hours you will be no longer a puppet, or a boy.”
The Marmot tells Pinocchio that he will soon become a donkey.
The Marmot delivers the prophecy of Pinocchio's transformation.
“It is written in the decrees of wisdom that all boys who are lazy, and who take a dislike to books, to schools, and to masters, and who pass their time in amusement, games, and diversions, must end sooner or later by becoming transformed into so many little donkeys.”
The Marmot explains that lazy boys who avoid school and play all day are destined to become donkeys.
This moral lesson ties laziness to a literal transformation.
“Vanquished by shame and sorrow, they wept and lamented their fate. Oh, if they had but been wiser! But instead of sighs and lamentations they could only bray like asses; and they brayed loudly and said in chorus: 'Hee-haw!'”
Pinocchio and Candlewick, now donkeys, can only bray in their shame and regret.
The final stage of their transformation leaves them unable to express human emotions, only animal sounds.