Pippi Longstocking

“Then they all went in through Villa Villekulla’s tumbledown garden gate, along the gravel path, bordered with old moss-covered trees—really good climbing trees they seemed to be—up to the house, and onto the porch. There stood the horse, munching oats out of a soup bowl.”

Villa Villekulla is a central motif in the novel. It is Pippi’s home and where she is allowed to fully experience being a child and use her Imagination and Ingenuity. It is also the site of many of her adventures with Tommy and Annika. This quote illustrates the unusual but beautiful imagery of Pippi’s home. The way the quote is written makes it feel as though it is seeing directly into what Tommy and Annika are thinking about Pippi’s land.

“Suppose you go home now, so that you can come back tomorrow. Because if you don’t go home, you can’t come back, and that would be a shame.”

Pippi has a unique way of stating the obvious in a clever and humorous way. Her matter-of-fact nature is something that transfers into most areas of her life. She takes things literally and directly and doesn’t understand things like arithmetic, for example. It is also clear here that Pippi already adores her new friends.

“Have you ever seen hair like hers? Red as fire! And such shoes. Can’t I borrow one? I’d like to go out rowing and I haven’t any boat.”

Pippi prides herself on her appearance because it is part of what makes her unique, though others do not necessarily find it appealing. Pippi’s fire-red hair resembles her passionate spirit, and her ability to withstand bullying demonstrates her Strength of Body and Mind.

“I always have to sing to myself for a while, otherwise I can’t sleep a wink.”

Pippi takes care of herself, which includes putting herself to bed. Here is a rare moment in which Pippi hints at the loneliness she feels because her parents are gone. Although she never states it directly and prefers to give off the impression that she never feels sad, it is clear there are times she misses them. This quote also includes another of Pippi’s commonly used cliches.

“I have got along fine without any pluttifikation tables for nine years, and I guess I’ll get along without it from now on, too.”

Pippi doesn’t have a formal education and does not believe she needs one. She has plenty of Imagination and Ingenuity that get her through life. Pippi’s lack of education is sometimes blatantly obvious, however, such as when she refers to the multiplication tables.

“Oh, no, I’m sorry. I haven’t time to play any longer. But it was fun.”

Pippi is approached by two police officers who wish to take her to a children’s home and send her to school. In other words, they believe a child requires supervision and education so she can conform to society. Pippi has no plans to comply and turns the moment into a game of tag. Even after the police attempt to trick and grab her, she continues joking, always relying on humor and wit and never letting herself show anger.

“I’ve been around a bit, I said, and hit him in the head, bang, and then he hissed uiuiuiuiuiuiuiuiitch, and then I hit him again, and bingo! he was dead, and, indeed, so that is the letter s—most remarkable!”

Pippi tends to go off on tangents and spend more time than needed telling lengthy stories that aren’t always true. This is one of her major flaws and something that bothers most of the adults she meets. Pippi’s use of onomatopoeia describes the sound that the snake made as she wrestled it, which is followed by her humorous return to the present subject: spelling.

“With a ringing laugh Pippi rode out through the gate so wildly that the pebbles whirled around the horse’s hoofs and the windowpanes rattled in the schoolhouse.”

The auditory imagery in this passage is vivid as it describes the sound of Pippi’s laugh carried across the school grounds and the thunderous pounding of her horse’s hooves that rattles the windows of the school. She is fierce and bold, and her departures often have this sort of dramatic undertone.

“A few feet above the ground the oak divided into two branches, and right there was a place just like a little room. Before long all three children were sitting there. Over their heads the oak spread out its crown like a great green roof.”

Visual imagery is clear in this description of the oak tree where the children have their coffee party. The beauty of Villa Villekulla and its land is a consistent motif in the story. This descriptive passage also uses alliteration and simile to describe the appearance of the oak tree and the way it keeps the children cozy and safe.

“Hear how it squishes when I walk. It says ‘klafs, klafs’ in my dress and ‘squish, squish’ in my shoes. Isn’t that jolly?”

Pippi finds joy in the simplest of things. She is fully immersed in her childhood, and her Imagination and Ingenuity know no limits. Pippi often uses onomatopoeia, making up words to describe the things she sees and hears around her. It shows creativity and intelligence.

“What a stupid bull! He ought to know he can’t act like that. He’ll get Tommy’s white sailor suit all dirty. I’ll have to go and talk some sense into the stupid animal.”

Pippi jokes about how the bull’s misbehavior will lead to Tommy’s clothes getting dirty. She downplays the situation to prevent her friends from getting scared and promptly deals with the matter. Pippi’s demonstration with the bull is one key example of her Strength of Body and Mind and how it defines her as a protector and a friend.

“You who are young,

Come join in our song.

Don’t sit home moping all the day long.”

Tommy and Annika sing a song about the joys of childhood, Imagination and Ingenuity, and Living Every Day as a New Adventure. They call out to the children of the world to come out of their homes and experience the many marvelous things that the world has to offer. Pippi has brought this joyous spirit out in them.

“I can go with you most anywhere, but whether I can go to the surkus or not I don’t know, because I don’t know what a surkus is. Does it hurt?”

Words in Pippi’s dialogue are occasionally misspelled to indicate her lack of understanding, mispronunciation, or general skepticism toward a particular subject. When she hears about the circus, she is hesitant at first because her experience at school, the last place Tommy and Annika invited her, was less than pleasant. Still, Pippi’s curiosity gets the better of her, and she goes to the circus.

“Man, yes, but I am the strongest girl in the world, remember that.”

Pippi is an icon of female Strength of Body and Mind. This is perhaps best demonstrated by her encounter with the world’s strongest man, who has never been beaten. Pippi can wrestle and win without even making an effort and reminds her friends that she is a strong girl and that such a type of girl can and does exist.

“That thing! What would I want with that old piece of paper. Take it and use it to fry herring on if you want to.”

Pippi has no need for regular money, as her father’s gold has set her up with anything she might need. In this way, she is in a sense above the world and regular society because she has no real need to partake in it to survive. Indeed, Pippi spends most of her time on her own, taking care of herself and doing things her own way. Her sarcasm is also evident here: She is handed a prize but reacts by telling them to use it as cooking material.

“She was dead serious and danced as if her life depended on it.”

Lindgren’s writing is full of cliches from a time before the idea of avoiding cliches was popular. She uses them frequently to describe Pippi and her behavior and to characterize Pippi’s dialogue. Pippi’s entire life is one in which she dances to survive because it is through her optimism and strong spirit that she endures her hardships.

“Why should there be the kind of sugar to sprinkle on things if somebody doesn’t go and sprinkle it?—that’s what I’d like to know.”

This question from Pippi is a metaphor for her outlook on life and the way she believes in Living Every Day as a New Adventure. She doesn’t see the point in simply looking at things from afar; she wants to dive in and enjoy everything that life has to offer.

“For the longest time Grandmother thought she had a very dark complexion but, honest and true, it was nothing but dirt that would wash off. And once at a bazaar at the City Hotel she got first prize for the dirt under her nails. Mercy me, how dirty that girl was!”

Some of Pippi’s stories about the places she has been call into question the stereotypes and racism that existed during the era in which the story was written. It was frequent for people with dark skin to be called dirty or compared to someone covered in ash or mud. Pippi means well, but one of her major flaws is the lies she tells.

“That’s just what I was afraid of. That I couldn’t behave properly. It’s no use to try; I’ll never learn. I should have stayed on the ocean.”

Pippi is invited to Annika and Tommy’s house for a party and upsets their mother by yelling, telling ridiculous stories, making a mess, and generally annoying the guests. Pippi tries to fit in for Tommy and Annika’s sake, but she fails. It occurs to her that perhaps she isn’t meant for this sort of life.

“Outside the gate their ways parted. Pippi went toward Villa Villekulla and the ladies in the other direction.”

In this metaphorical scene, Pippi and the ladies leave the party at Tommy and Annika’s house and each go their own separate ways. Pippi goes her own way, the opposite way of the ladies that she is expected to become like one day.

“Pippi rode through the little town, and people pressed anxiously up against the walls when she came storming by.”

Pippi’s presence is powerful and always noticed, and the more that she does to help the townspeople, the more they come to appreciate rather than fear her. They see her as a hero and want to catch a glimpse of her unusual appearance and horse.

“They had taken the money out of their own piggy banks, and on the way home from school had run into the toy shop on Main Street and bought a very beautiful—well, what they had bought was a secret for the time being.”

Pippi often gives her friends gifts as a show of appreciation for the fun they have together and the way that Tommy and Annika accept Pippi just as she is. In return, Tommy and Annika do the same for Pippi when her birthday comes. This quote builds anticipation of what will be inside the gift; Lindgren hints at it but then refrains from revealing the entire truth—much like a person does while orally telling a story.

“Big dark clouds sailed through the sky and did their best to hide the moon. And the wind sighed in the trees.”

The imagery of the natural environment is an important part of the story because it is a source of Imagination and Ingenuity for Pippi. Here, the clouds and wind are personified to have intentionality in their movements. The entire evening of the birthday party is shrouded in mystique and suspense.