The tale of Pinocchio contains Biblical allusions to the books of Luke (the Prodigal Son) and Jonah (swallowed by a large fish). In Pinocchio and both of the Bible stories, we see (1) a young man who makes a conscious decision to disobey his father’s wishes (earthly father in Luke, heavenly father in Jonah); (2) the man pays a terrible price (hunger drove the Prodigal to envy the food of pigs and a storm caused Jonah to be tossed into the ocean by the ship’s crew); and (3) a loving and gracious father chooses to save the man’s life (God sent the great fish to prevent Jonah’s drowning) and to restore him to his prior status (the Prodigal’s father welcomed him as a son, not as a servant). In the Bible stories and also in Pinocchio, the young man’s journey brought him into contact with unsavory characters who exerted a bad influence on him.
Interestingly, the biggest takeaway from the Pinocchio story is that the actions responsible for initiating his descent into profligate and dissolute living were lies — especially ones that made his nose grow. Neither Jonah nor the Prodigal son were known for lying — just disobedience and foolishness. It seems that both Carlo Collodi (1883) and Walt Disney (1940) wanted to highlight lying as the gateway drug for bigger corruptions and crimes (e.g., fraud, graft, racketeering, tax evasion, abuse of power, insurrection … ah, but I’m getting ahead of myself).
Forgive me if this seems too much of a stretch, but I believe the story of Red America in 2016-2021 parallels these stories quite closely — especially when we are talking about the religious cohort of the MAGA tribe. We can assign roles to the different players in the American drama as follows.
The Pinocchio character is played by Trump voters who grew up knowing right from wrong, but nonetheless decided to cast their lot with Trump and his deceivers because they felt entitled to “spend their (American) inheritance” whichever way they saw fit. They were highly energized by Trump’s promise of “so much winning” that they fooled themselves into believing they were winning prize after prize at the carnival games on Pleasure Island (… even though the baubles were worthless and the sweets promoted tooth decay). One can only imagine how difficult it is to stop playing ring toss when the barker repeatedly tweets that he has given you “...the greatest economy in the history of the world!”
The Fox and Cat duo are played alternatively by Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Roger Stone, Lindsay Graham, Steve Bannon or any of the other hucksters who tried to defraud the MAGA followers out of their money (as in political donations) and their heritage (as in the party of Honest Abe). Their confidence game was to convince Pinocchio to willingly sow his five gold coins in a field and wait until they grew into a tree of gold coins. Pinocchio obliged and in the dark of night, the Fox and Cat dug up the coins and vanished.
The Puppet Master character is played by American oligarchs (e.g., Fred and Donald Trump, Charles and Jared Kushner, Charles Koch, Robert Mercer), their evangelical propagandists (Paula White, Jerry Falwell Jr., Eric Metaxas, James Dobson, Franklin Graham), and their talk show propagandists (Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, Mark Levin, Rush Limbaugh, Sebastian Gorka, Dennis Prager).
The Talking Cricket character is played by all the honorable friends, community leaders, pastors, and journalists who have utilized every non-coercive means they can imagine (e.g., history, prose, poetry, and even song and hymn) to help convince Pinocchio to do the right things and to leave the bad company of Lampwick and Honest John. We all have a conscience, but we aren’t always willing to listen to it.
The Geppetto character is played by Joe Biden. His faith in his fellow Americans (red and blue) never wavered and his desire to help all Americans regardless of which candidate they voted for is demonstrative of the type of grace and selflessness we expect from a loving father/president. Of course Geppetto was wise enough that he never bought into the fraud schemes of the Fox and Cat and he earnestly instructed Pinocchio to go to school and learn his lessons. His love for and trust in his “child” never faltered, in spite of Pinocchio’s record of making one bad decision after another.
I once had a pastor who had a great line for all those instances where he couldn’t figure out how to segue from one train of thought to the next one — “Let’s close in prayer.”
Before we close, it is important to look at one additional difference between the Old Testament story and the Pinocchio story. The man trapped in the belly of the giant fish was not the protagonist (Jonah/Pinocchio), it was Geppetto, who had set sail many days earlier to find and rescue Pinocchio.
Pinocchio’s redemption was complete when he bravely swam out to sea to do battle with the sea creature who had swallowed Geppetto. Although Pinocchio was initially trapped in the beast’s belly too, he soon thereafter facilitated the escape of the marine prisoners and was eventually granted his wish of becoming a real boy.
We know that Pinocchio was in dire need of redemption. We also know that he obtained it — but not as something he earned all by himself… rather it was given to him as a gift. Receiving the gift only required one preceding action by the one on the threshold of redemption — to exhibit the courage to admit that his habits were bad and they needed changing.
Just as Jonah eventually understood that God really did need him to go to Nineveh…
Just as the Prodigal eventually understood that his father loved his wayward son always and forever…
Just as Pinocchio eventually understood that Geppetto had always wanted him to be honest and brave and willing to sacrifice himself for his loved-ones (since that’s the example Geppetto set for him)…
… I believe a significant proportion of Red Americans will eventually understand how important it is for them to do the right thing and to escape from the evil clutches of Trumpism.
To get there, they must hold themselves accountable for willingly choosing to believe all of Trump’s horrific lies.
They must hold themselves to a higher standard — to be honest and brave (like Mitt Romney), not foolish and deceptive and hateful (like Donald Trump).
They must understand that accountability works best when its watchdog is present at all times — because self-accountability is a precious present that one gives to oneself by simply saying, “I was wrong”.
Maybe readers know a pastor or two out there who might be seeking a new theme for their Good Friday sermon?