The Allegory to Pinocchio

1. A Haller
Pinocchio – The Allegory – Part I
Conformity - A Puppet that Performs to Please the Crowd (or Culture)
Like Pinocchio created new and with wide eyed innocence we come to life.
Home provides shelter in the early years. By age nine we barely know what a dollar
is. Troubles are few. No chance exists to wreck the family car. Health tends to be
the best. No chance exists to do something stupid. Embarrassing or illegal behavior
with friends won’t happen. Drugs and alcohol cannot be abused. As for girl
problems, the worse it can get is an annoying sister. Shelter, food, medical
attention, and transportation costs nothing. Job? Who needs a job? Perks like a
vacation are provided for us.
A parade of family activities, friends, relatives, and
traditions pass us by. Eventually the veiled curtain of being
sheltered lifts. We arrive at the dawn of adulthood. A
consciousness of the world around us arrives.
Herein comes our test. We exit the known safety of home
like Pinocchio. The adventure of being on our own arrives.
Home hopefully grants the skills to be self-sufficient. Our
social skills mature. What role awaits us? We become
aware of a feature known as our conscience.
Parents fail to warn there is risk in this adventure. Hazards await us. Naivete sets
us up to be ambushed. Heaven and our conscience become our sole protector.

2. A Haller
In the story Pinocchio, on his way in the world shows his
great naivety and gullibility. The fox convinces him to not
attend school. Instead, join a puppet in a show. Even so,
deceptive enticements will be set before us. If we yield,
degrees of self-inflicted wounds happen. Add to it the
injury visited on us by others.
Pinocchio agrees to be a puppet performer. Notoriety,
fame, and likeability delight him to no end. He gets to be
in charge, so he thinks. All along his conscience forewarns
him of the danger. Pinocchio becomes enthralled with the
glamour of the stage. He ignores his conscience.
The show’s intimidating and verbally abusive owner Stromboli imprisons him.
Found in a cage, the Blue Fairy rescues him. His freedom depends on his need to
be truthful. He must not return to his former ways. His nose grows whenever he
tells a lie. Finally, he agrees to be truthful from now on. Even so, do we follow the
same path? In the dawn of our youth do we ignore and even lie to our conscience
and thus ourselves? We conform to meet the expectations of others.

3. A Haller
Pinocchio – The Allegory – Part II
Pleasure – Join the Crowd of Our Peers and Have Fun
A Life of Self Infatuation, Consumption, and Absorption
Pinocchio hopefully abandons lying to others and himself. Listen to his conscience.
He leaves behind the bondage of being a puppet. He avoids being someone else’s
puppet. Now a broader set of temptations appear. The fox along with the diabolical
Coachman offer to take him to “Pleasure Island”.
Here Pinocchio discovers every possible rebellious boyhood pleasure. Smoking
cigars, drinking, carousing with his wayward peers, etc.
Their aim seeks to turn young boys into donkeys to be sold. This seduction offers
the boys any pleasure for the transformation to begin.

4. A Haller
Pinocchio yields to being impulsive. It corrupts his behavior. He knows better. He
ignores his reliable advisor the cricket. Yielding to this deception, he begins to be
transformed into a braying donkey.
Pinocchio's Pleasure Island portrays our agreement to enjoy adventure and abuse
the pleasures available in the world. We hear our conscious. We sense its magnetic
tug. Our conscience whispers the right decisions to make. Nudged to act right we
don’t. Externally we make a fool of ourselves. Our actions make us into fools and
donkey. Guilt, shame, dishonor, vanity, and embarrassment are no longer words
in a book. They are deeply felt leaving us demoralized.
Jiminy Cricket finds Pinocchio just in time as
he began growing donkey ears and tails.
“Let’s go” cried Jiminy. They return home to
Geppetto. Our conscious takes us out and
brings us back home where the risk of
excesses ceases.
A purpose or mission in life Pinocchio had missed. Starting the adventure of life,
he succumbed to giving himself over to carefree pursuits. He awaited what new
person or social occasion, or pleasures would be available. Time wasted, careless,
games, social events, excessive consumption of the wrong things, the wrong
friends, and the late hours proved empty. Even so, the least rebellious reader can
identify with an era of going in the wrong direction. Pinocchio is ready to change!

5. A Haller
Pinocchio – The Allegory – Part III
Selfishness versus Self Sacrifice
At home a letter from the Blue Fairy states Geppetto
has gone to look for Pinocchio at Pleasure Island.
Geppetto while enroute has been devoured by a great whale. Forgetting his own
safety, Pinocchio seeks to save Geppetto’s life. He and Jiminy find the whale.
The whale swallows them all. “Father it’s me”. Geppetto was very happy to see
Pinocchio and hugged him in delight.
They built a fire inside the whale. The whale sneezes and they are freed! They
are chased by an angry whale.
Pinocchio drowns during a desperate attempt to save Geppettpo. Pinocchio is
found lying face down, limp, and lifeless.

6. A Haller
Broken-hearted Geppetto takes Pinocchio home. Geppetto cries and cries.
Geppetto mourns grief-stricken.
Yet God in His undeserved mercy brings Pinocchio back to life. The Blue Fairy
comes and uses her magic wand. Pinocchio comes back to life. Spontaneous joy
results. They live happily everafter.
Epilog
Pinocchio matures.
Life is not about self or achieving personal happiness. Great if it
happens! Overall life is about honesty, give not take, integrity, duty,
honor, truth, love, forgiveness, and self-sacrifice.
Previously proud, pleasure seeking, and dishonest, Pinocchio’s
selfishness has died. Pinocchio now wiser changes. If he makes a
bad choice, he will be brave and own up to it. Tell the truth. Avoid
vain pursuits. Discover the beauty of love seeks not its own self-
centered gratification.

7. A Haller
When You Wish Upon a Star you wish
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires will come to you
If your heart is in your dream
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do Fate is kind
She brings to those who love
The sweet fulfillment of their secret
Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true