The adventures of Pippi Longstocking are a source of inspiration for several generations of children. But adults can also have fun with this naughty, unapologetic girl. What life lessons can be discovered in these books by Astrid Lindgren? Pippi Longstocking, a nine-year-old girl, lives alone in Villa Kakelbont. Her mother died early and her father has been missing since falling from his pirate ship. To the outside world this all feels pathetic, but Pippi puts this into perspective. She simply talks about what she encounters on her life path. She was raised in a mini-anarchist environment (a pirate ship) where she was not trained to function in a predetermined straitjacket.
Everyone is unique!
Pippi is who she is: a red-haired girl with freckles, strange clothes, long stockings and shoes as huge as boats. She is different from the others and doesn’t care about that. Pippi is self-confident and has a colorful imagination.
Rarely does she feel that she is different from her peers. She notices that she never receives letters. As a solution to this, she writes herself a letter that has to be neatly delivered by the postman. The headstrong Pippi puts a twist on everything so that it fits in with her situation. In this way she can undo the injustice she thinks she experiences. Tommy and Annika, her best friends, enjoy visiting Pippi. The children can do anything without being reprimanded. Villa Kakelbont is a safe home for them, a place to be themselves, without the influences of the sometimes colorless outside world.
Everyone is equal
Pippi cannot tolerate injustice for people and animals. She will quickly and firmly reprimand the person in question. She always does this in a playful and friendly way. But no matter what happens, she forgives it almost immediately. Some clumsy burglars quickly become her playmates after she scolds them. Another time she catches a farmer abusing his horse. First she puts the man in his place, after which she lends a helping hand by pulling the heavily loaded cart to the farm with one hand.
Pippi does not make a (definitive) judgment about anyone. All living things are equal and should receive the same treatment. She has great compassion for everyone. For example, Pippi has just saved Tommy from a shark. She starts to cry on the beach. Not because she was afraid of losing her best friend, but rather because the shark is without food that day.
Everything is new!
Miss Longstocking looks at everything as if she is discovering it for the first time. She still questions what has long been accepted by adults. The grown-ups have already given a name to everything. In turn, Pippi also wants to invent a word, such as the word ‘spunk’. The girl with the pigtails looks for something that fits this word.
She looks at things with an open mind and gives them a unique interpretation. For example, Pippi uses a toilet brush to make dough.
She likes to tell imaginative stories as if they were real to make life more interesting.
Life is a colorful game!
Life is beautiful from Pippi’s sparkling childish eyes. She sees everything that comes her way as a fun board game. After all, Pippi does not know what is often the negative motivation in today’s society, namely fear. She tackles her daily worries as if it were a puzzle that she can color in with her imaginative ‘lies’. In Pippi’s world, household chores must be done in such a way that they are a joy to do. She attaches two brushes to her feet and sands the entire house until it shines!
It’s pointless to keep jamming after some setbacks . Repeatedly telling the bad story to everyone doesn’t solve anything. In this way the negative is relived again and again. It’s better to put it into perspective and defuse it by laughing about it.
For example, the children of Taka-Tukaland are threatened by 2 criminals. Pippi quickly overpowers them and the crooks are no longer a threat to the brave girl. She has all but forgotten them, while this has a greater impact on the other children. Ephraim Longstocking, Pippi’s father, returns to land. A ‘normal’ child would run to her father in panic, but she tells a futility about her monkey: ,Oh yes, Mr. Nilsson has lost his straw hat.,
The deeper sense as a reliable guide
Pippi’s deeper original nature determines what is possible and what is not. Not the parents, the school or the police who want to impose the rules of society on her and send her to a children’s home. She answers simply and wittily: ,I am a child and this is my house, so this is my childhood home!, Not her mind but her heart guides her through the day. She doesn’t sit around endlessly thinking about everything. She impulsively follows her feelings.
How can we interpret her enormous power? Is it the power of the mind, the power of a person in balance? Someone who acts from his own center can handle anything! Walking through life with the motto: ,anything is possible, everything is possible!,
Pippi flutters through life full of confidence in the goodness of people.
Keeping the child within you alive
At the end of this fascinating ‘trilogy’, the three children take a pill to prevent them from growing up. They don’t want to worry. Thanks to this miracle pea, they want to face every day with childlike freshness! They see everything they do as a big game where you sometimes lose but often you can also win.