Education and Rudeness in Pinocchio and Cuore. A Comparative Analysis

Abstract

In the newly unified and young Italy, two highly successful children's books were published within a few years of one another: The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi (1883) and Cuore by Edmondo De Amicis (1886). Both are typical coming-of-age narratives and, as such, also stories of education. Despite their different settings, both works emphasize the same educational principles such as respect for parents, the importance of education and work, the sense of sacrifice, the value of discipline, and the preservation of social order. On the other hand, they diverge in their representation of rudeness as a form of opposition to the system. Pinocchio retains a certain attraction and nostalgia for rudeness, using it as a means to reject the principles of bourgeois society, whereas in Cuore rudeness is confined to the figure/character of Franti and soon erased. The aim of this article is to analyze the educational models and the forms of rudeness that emerge in these two literary texts, evaluating – through a comparative perspective – similarities and differences.