Character Analysis
The Fire Chief
The fire chief is the first adult to fully embrace Pippi as she is. The school teacher sympathizes with Pippi and implies that she might be able to fit in at school when she's older, but the fire chief fully appreciates Pippi with all her quirks right there and then. And consider this: she shows up on the scene and essentially shows him up. He has, after all, just declared that the boys in the window are a lost cause, and then she comes along and proves him wrong.
To add insult to injury, she does what amounts to a touchdown dance on a highwire backlit by the fire's flames, but the fire chief takes it in stride. Unlike the ringmaster, he doesn't need to be in control and he's able to appreciate Pippi's unique abilities. When he shouts, "Three cheers for Pippi Longstocking! Long may she live!" we're thrilled to see an adult finally accepting Pippi, idiosyncrasies and all.
The Mighty Adolf
The scene with The Mighty Adolf really hammers home just how strong Pippi is. Okay, so we already knew she could lift horses and cows and two police officers at a time, but this guy is billed as "the Greatest Marvel of all time, the Strongest Man in the World" (7.46). It's his introduction that gives Pippi the chance to say the words that have made her a feminist icon from the get-go: "Man, yes, but I am the strongest girl in the world, remember that" (7.55).
Mr. Settergren
Tommy and Annika's dad is absent from most of the book except in name—much like Pippi's father. Unlike Pippi's father though, he shows up in the end to bring his kids home and tuck them safely into bed. His appearance hammers home two points: first, the fact that Pippi is still alone, an idea that is made especially prominent by the fact that while Annika and Tommy have a flesh and blood father, Pippi has only a nightshirt.
But second, the fact that Mr. S allows Tommy and Annika to stay "long past their bedtime" (11.7), and that he, along with Tommy and Annika, both turns to wave to Pippi and hears her last words, indicates that Pippi has found at least a tacit acceptance among the whole Settergren family. And that's a relief after the way she left things with Mrs. S following the coffee party fiasco.
Mrs. Settergren
As Tommy and Annika's mom, Mrs. Settergren is the first adult whose approval might actually matter to Pippi. That's why she tries so hard to get it by dressing up for the coffee party, and that's why it's so heartbreaking when all her attempts fail.
The Policemen
The policemen in Pippi Longstocking, like policemen in the real world, are tasked with helping to uphold and enforce society's laws. And when they come to Pippi's house, they are acting on behalf of "some nice people in the town [who] were arranging for her to get into a children's home" (3.8), which makes them representatives not just of the law but of the society itself. So when Pippi outsmarts, outruns, and outmaneuvers them, it's pretty easy to see that fitting Pippi into traditional society is like fitting a square peg into a round hole.
The Ringmaster
Here's another adult that isn't thrilled with Pippi's approach to life. Or circuses. And we kind of get where he's coming from: he's rolled into town with his three rings to put on a show, and Pippi completely derails it. What the ringmaster misses, however, is that the crowd loves the show Pippi puts on. When he sent five guards to remove her, "all the people shouted, 'Let her stay! We want to see the redheaded girl'" (7.40). This shows us that it isn't so much the show he's concerned with as his control of the show. And like so many other adults in the book, he tries (unsuccessfully) to control Pippi. Pick your battles, ringmaster.
The School Teacher
The school teacher is actually quite nice and more patient than we suspect most teachers would actually be. Pippi arrives late, talks back, interrupts, speaks out of turn, hogs the mic, draws on the floor, and lies down to take a nap when it's time to sing, and yet it's not until this very last incident that finally "the teacher's patience came to an end" (4.53).
And even then she's a class act. Instead of reprimanding Pippi in front of the other students, she talks with her privately, listens to her side of things, and keeps the door open for her to return when she's ready. Lindgren may have had some beefs with public education and society's treatment of children, but it certainly wasn't personal and she clearly had a lot of respect for teachers.
Thunder-Karlsson and Bloom
The two burglars once again reinforce the concept of Pippi's superior strength, but they also help us to see a few other things about Pippi. First, that she has a strong sense of right and wrong. While no one should be able to help themselves to someone else's property, people who do honest work—like playing the comb and dancing the schottische—should be rewarded for their efforts.
And second, Thunder-Karlsson and Bloom show us that Pippi is kind, compassionate, and generous. These guys walked into her house intending to steal her money, but instead of just kicking them to the curb (as she does with the policemen), she engages them and then feeds them, pays them handsomely for their time, and sends them on their way. If all social welfare programs were as effective as Pippi, there would be no poverty and hunger in the world.