36 pages • 1 hour read
Astrid LindgrenPippi Longstocking
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1945A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 7-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 7 Summary: “Pippi Goes to the Circus”
The circus comes to town, and Annika and Tommy get money from their father to go. They rush over to Pippi and invite her, but Pippi doesn’t understand what a “surkus” is (90). The siblings take some time to explain, and Pippi finds it strange that she must pay to look at something when she looks at things all the time. Still, she is curious and agrees to go. At the ticket booth, Pippi gives the lady a gold coin and refuses the large amount of change for the tickets, which only cost $1.25 each. During the first act, Pippi only mildly interferes, picking up a horse’s leg and letting it go. In the second act, she hops on the back of a tall black horse with a female performer, angering and embarrassing the circus rider since Pippi’s skills outshine even a practiced performer. The ringmaster becomes angry with Pippi and tries to have security throw her out, but they cannot match her strength and give up. During the tightrope act, Pippi climbs up to the platform and performs daring tricks, pleasing the crowd and making them cheer. When the strong man act begins, the ringmaster offers $100 to anyone who can beat “The Mighty Adolf” (97). Pippi picks the man up and tosses him and then stands like a pillar when he charges at her. She takes him down easily and wins the money but doesn’t want it. Tired from performing the stunts, she decides instead to go back to her seat and take a nap.
Chapter 8 Summary: “Pippi Entertains Two Burglars”
After the show at the circus, everyone in town knows how strong Pippi is, but those who do not live nearby haven’t heard of her. Two such men, Bloom and Thunder-Karlsson, pass through town to burglarize some houses one night. They see the lights on at Villa Villekulla and decide to knock. Pippi, who is counting her gold, invites them in. Immediately aware of their intentions, she tells them a riddle about clocks to confuse them and get them to leave. When she mentions Mr. Nilsson, the men assume it is her father and decide to come back later when everyone is asleep. That night, they wait for Pippi to turn the lights off in the home, but she is busy practicing a dance called the schottische. They break in while Pippi is half asleep. She hears them talking and startles them when she replies. The men find out that her gold is inside a suitcase and attempt to take it, but Pippi quickly takes it back and manages to tie them both up. She asks if they know how to schottische. They reply that they do, so she unties the men and instructs one to blow into a comb while the other dances with her. An illustration shows her grinning as the three of them dance in avid synchronicity. This carries on for several hours until the men have tired out, and Pippi also feeds them in the process. When the men start begging to be allowed to leave, Pippi bids them farewell and offers each of them a gold coin, noting that they earned them.
Chapter 9 Summary: “Pippi Goes to a Coffee Party”
Mrs. Settergren, Tommy and Annika’s mother, invites Pippi to their house for a coffee party. She is more than excited to attend and dresses in what she considers a fancy and well-put-together way. Her hair is bushy from being in braids for so long, and she made the unfortunate decision to paint her lips and nails red with a crayon; her eyebrows she painted black. Pippi is nervous about being judged and not accepted, so she yells commands at herself to give herself the courage to go into the living room, startling Mrs. Settergren and her lady guests. Pippi sits down in the chair she likes best, and when everyone is offered coffee and desserts, Pippi takes far more than her share. She also takes the candy off the cream pie with her teeth, accidentally falling into it and then deciding to eat the entire thing. When everyone sits down to talk, the women begin complaining about problems with their servants, who steal or don’t clean properly. Pippi makes up a long and detailed story about her grandmother’s servant, Malin. Malin was “an excellent maid” despite her flaws (131), which included biting people’s legs, breaking all the china on Tuesdays, and stealing. Mrs. Settergren sends Pippi upstairs with Tommy and Annika, but she keeps talking, and Mrs. Settergren eventually gets fed up and tells Pippi to leave. Pippi is sad to hear that her behavior was once again inappropriate: “It’s no use to try; I’ll never learn. I should have just stayed on the ocean” (129).
Chapters 7-9 Analysis
When the circus comes to town, Pippi becomes the main event—a result that is sure to be expected after the reader has seen Pippi perform feats like wrestling a bull and lifting two police officers as if they weighed nothing. Pippi’s personality and way of life contradict the norms of society and what is expected of children, especially young girls. She shocks everyone with her strength, no matter how many times they see it, and they are equally stunned by her bravery and fierce wit. Pippi outperforms the circus performers themselves, pulling off moves that no one has seen before and causing the crowd to cheer for more. The climax of the chapter comes when Pippi faces the strong man, The Mighty Adolf. Young girls, especially in the mid-20th century, were and continue to be expected to be gentle, kind, and never stronger than their male counterparts. Pippi is not only stronger than boys her own age but also stronger than the strongest man in the world: “Man, yes, but I am the strongest girl in the world, remember that” (99). Pippi’s strength is an aspect of the story that brings it out of the realm of realistic fiction and into the realm of magical realism. This and the fact that Pippi lives perfectly happy on her own are elements of fantasy that add whimsy and childlike Imagination and Ingenuity to the story.
Pippi is a good-natured person who does her best to make others happy and appeal to their better natures, and these traits are best exhibited by her reaction to the burglars who attempt to steal her fortune. She turns the whole affair into a song and dance (literally) and pays the men for the effort they put into helping her perfect her schottische. When Pippi “dance[s] as if her life depend[s] on it” (112), the significance is both literal and figurative: She is both defending herself and her fortune and demonstrating her boundless optimism and Strength of Body and Mind that keep her alive and thriving.
Alongside her good nature is a conflict with the world because she does not fit in. She is invited to a party at Annika and Tommy’s house, and it doesn’t go well at all. Even after all her experiences, Pippi still doesn’t understand why so many people, particularly adults, take offense at her behavior despite her best efforts. She attempts to dress up but instead ends up looking foolish. She tells the ladies a story of her grandmother’s servant, Malin, whose misbehavior was the result of confusion and pure, innocent differences with the world. According to Pippi’s story, Malin broke her employer’s china every Tuesday; the act was so freeing that Pippi’s grandmother began breaking it herself when Malin wasn’t there. Malin, like Pippi, showed a comical disregard for the trappings of the adult world and introduced Pippi’s grandmother to the liberation and joy found in living purely in the moment. Despite her quirks (which would have swiftly ended her career in another house), Malin was accepted as a great housekeeper. Pippi sees herself in this story because she understands Malin and wishes for the world to accept her unconventional behavior as her grandmother accepted (and embraced) Malin.
The illustrations in the novel, created by Louis S. Glanzman, are classic black and white drawings. Each chapter contains one full-page drawing depicting a key moment in the chapter. A smaller drawing at the beginning of each chapter shows Pippi in each of her many adventurous and bold forms. Pippi’s unique appearance is emphasized in the drawings, such as when she scrubs the floor with brushes on her feet. Her hair, which sticks straight out in two braids on the sides, is paired with her face full of freckles—the features which define her. Tommy and Annika sit behind her on the table, watching with childish wonder at Pippi’s Imagination and Ingenuity. There is a gleam of innocence and pure joy in their eyes. In the party scene, the stark contrast between Pippi’s haphazard, homemade dress and the ladies’ expensive, chic attire is evident. Pippi yells so loudly at herself that the picture on the wall is blown to the left, and the women drop their cups in horror of her abruptness.
