The love Expressed in Le Petit Prince
The Little Prince, ironically a children’s book written for adults, teaches powerful messages through the eyes of a young prince. Originally known as Le Petit Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupéry’s most famous work explores the creative relationships between an innocent child and many stereotypical representations of adults. Along with the use of figurative language, said characters probe what it means to live a meaningful life and the function of relationships in achieving such. De Saint-Exupéry skillfully substantiates his intended theme of the multifaceted nature of love by appealing to his audience ethically, emotionally, and logically, allowing the reader to deeply connect with his message.
Antoine De Saint-Exupéry was a french writer, journalist, and aviator. As one of his main characters is a pilot, he masterfully allows his own expertise to guide this character’s development. In utilizing his own experience as a pilot, De Saint-Exupéry strengthens his argument, gaining credibility by crafting a character based on his own profession. Although The Little Prince is technically a children’s book, it is highly regarded among adults and literary scholars because of the sophisticated ways De Saint-Exupéry transcends this framework to address mature topics. By dedicating his novella to an adult, specifically the child that the adult once was, he adds depth to his narrative by removing any bias from either point of view. Instead, De Saint-Exupéry addresses both the naivety of children and the worldliness of adults, uniting the two into a story revered by all generations. In doing so, he amplifies the credibility of this argument by expanding his audience so all readers can connect with his work. De Saint-Exupéry, although engaging with a diverse audience, is able to distinguish his mature theme of the varying types of love, allowing readers to understand that which he is intending. Antoine De Saint-Exupéry was a remarkably intelligent novelist; he was so successful in opening the minds of adults to what is truly important. He did this by introducing characters such as “the businessman” who does nothing but count stars, “the king” who has all the power yet rules over nothing, and the man who turns on the lamp at sunrise and sunset over and over again. Many can see a reflection of themselves in these shallow characters, which not only gives De Saint-Exupéry’s word more weight, but also allows readers to recognize and analyze the meaningless tasks they seek to accomplish each day. The author, in writing about the Little Prince, becomes like the Little Prince in exposing his audience to the true pleasures and aspects of life that are meaningful in the end.
De Saint-Exupéry engages with his audience’s emotions by employing figurative language to explain different types of love and how they make us feel. The Little Prince finds a beautiful rose on his planet. Immediately fascinated by its rarity and beauty, he helps it grow, only to realize that this rose is vain, demanding, and selfish. Regarding the rose, “[s]he had soon begun tormenting him with her rather touchy vanity”, driving the Prince to leave his love. The prince was offering all that he could, yet the rose was never satisfied. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry appeals to his readers emotion, most humans can relate to or understand a one-way toxic relationship. He is expressing that this young relationship, however dear you may think it is, like the Prince, one must have the strength to walk away. This rose, this symbol for love and beauty, comes with its thorns and is bringing pain to the young and innocent Little Prince who has never experienced any sort of “love”. In describing this unfortunately well-known type of relation, De Saint-Exupéry connects with his reader, appealing to their emotions to further instill his theme. While reading this, I was brought to reflection of my own life, which illustrates the strength of the author’s emotional appeal. His heavy use of symbolism allows readers to associate that which they already know and feel about love and romance into a personified character. The ability to see past the pages and into our hearts is what drives so many readers to feel the pain of the prince and relate to that which the author is intending the audience to feel.
The Prince’s relationship with the rose is deeply contrasted with that of the fox. The Prince, shortly after landing on planet Earth, encounters a fox whom he hopes to befriend. The fox refuses because he is not yet tamed, without this “tie” they are nothing to each other. “But if you tame me,” the fox says, “my life will be filled with sunshine.” This relationship is built on both the desire, the reliability, and the need for others. This relationship encourages equal devotion and love by either party. The author uses elements of reasoning and logic to describe how by setting aside emotion, they are able to formulate a relationship that it is not erratic, they instead, train themselves to love one another. It is a healthy form of love, derived from logical actions and ideals. Upon leaving the fox, the Prince says, “He was just a fox, like a hundred thousand others. But I’ve made him my friend, and now he’s the only fox in all the world.” Antoine De Saint-Exupéry provides these contrasting characters to rationally evidence the different types of love. This allows the readers to compare these relationships to that of their own, allowing them to think rhetorically, evicting personal emotions and thoughts. I was able to use this to identify the endless love I hold for my best friend, my other half, the way the fox loves the Prince, and compare this to relationships that have failed because they were not deep or equal. His use of figurative language, elements of an argument, and relatability help explain his purpose in creating these characters and their relationships with one another.
The ingenuity of the novel is written so that the readers can not only believe the author, but feel and understand his words and truths that he shares. Antoine De Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince, shares the messages of love and innocence. This empowers the readers to meditate on their own lives. To ask, what is truly important in one’s life and what has society taught us is important.
