Father and Son Relationships

Father and son relationships pervade Geppetto’s narrative in The Swallowed Man and reveal how difficult it can be for fathers and sons to understand each other. In one generation, Geppetto and his father clash over tradition and creativity. Geppetto’s father insists that Geppetto is a “doltish donkey for a progeny. You mock me, my boy. You mock kith and kin, you mock bread and wine, mock father, mock love” (59) because he is unable to adequately reproduce the family matter. Geppetto protests that this is not the case, but his father is unable to understand what his son means. Father and son are unable to see eye to eye, to both their sorrows.

Although Geppetto eventually comes to view Pinocchio as his son, he is at first similarly disinclined to accept Pinocchio for what he is. Geppetto carves the puppet and when...