Student Question
What examples in Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince suggest it's also meant for adults?
Quick answer:
Examples in The Little Prince that suggest it is also meant for adults include its exploration of complex social issues like materialism and vanity. Materialism is highlighted through the businessman who values stars as possessions, while vanity is depicted through the demanding rose. These themes, along with the emphasis on unseen values like love and faithfulness, convey adult lessons about life.
The Little Prince exposes the reality of life by exposing
many social issues. Among those issues are materialism, vanity,
problems of absolute authority, conceit, and drunkenness. Saint-Exupery argues
that rather than all of these problems, what is really important in life are
the things that can't be seen, such as love and faithfulness. Below is a
discussion of a couple of the social issues Saint-Exupery exposes.
Saint-Exupery especially exposes the issue of materialism in the first chapter of the book through the use of the pilot's drawing of a "boa constrictor from the outside." The fact that the adults who viewed his picture did not have a keen enough ability to interpret minor details, but rather saw the image as a material object, such as a hat, shows us that the problem he is trying to expose is materialism. In addition, the pilot asserts that he is able to...
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discern a person's ability to reach "true understanding," an understanding of things beyond the corporeal (Ch. 1). Materialism is especially exposed through the businessman who can't be bothered to converse with the prince because he is "concerned with matters of consequence" (Ch. 13). In fact, he is busy counting the stars that he considers to be his own material objects that will make him very rich. He believes he owns the stars because he "was the first person to think of it," as we see in his subsequent lines of reasoning, "When you find a diamond that belongs to nobody, it is yours. When you discover an island that belongs to nobody, it is yours" (Ch. 13).
The social issue of vanity is expressed especially through the
prince's rose. Her vanity makes her very demanding and not at all appreciative.
She demands a screen to keep out the draft and a glass globe to protect her
from the cold night air. She torments the prince so much that he decides to
leave her and his planet. Finally, she realizes her errors and asks for his
forgiveness, assuring him that she truly loved him all the while, showing us
just how dangerous vanity can be.
Hence we see that The Little Prince deals with many complex social
issues and teaches many lessons, making it a very adult book told in a child's
voice. In addition, Saint-Exupery shows us that these social issues are a way
of life and that in rising above them we reach "true understanding."Â