Little Prince
Matthew Majewski Mrs. Loudis English IV October 29, 2012 Little Prince Essay God’s will, a moral imperative and a fresh outlook, drove Antoine De Saint-Exupery to the stars and back for answers to his own questions. Even though we don’t see much influence in Saint-Exupery’s work what we do see is mostly from the existentialist philosophy. Saint-Exupery was always trying to find the meaning of life through the choices that he made throughout his life.
These existentialist views are seen all throughout Antoine De Saint-Exupery’s book The Little Prince. Existentialism is the philosophy that would like to find the meaning of life through life choices and personal responsibilities. “Soren Kierkegaard who, a century earlier, told himself what he most needed was that which would make it clear what he must do, not what he must know; to find a purpose, God’s will; to find a personal truth hat will lead him to meet crucial situations in an honest and responsive matter” (Webster 6).
What Kierkegaard said was the basis for Saint-Exupery’s life. While we see similarities in Saint-Exupery’s quest for his moral imperative, research cannot connect any philosophers’ influence to Saint-Exupery’s work directly said by The Life and Death of the Little Prince by Paul Webster. In Saint-Exupery’s existentialist mindset he strongly believed in what Pascal and Nietzsche wrote down saying “Man should reach beyond himself for, if not greatness, at least goodness.
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Saint-Exupery believed that man must rise above social, political and even moral conventions even if the decision that was made was wrong or right. Saint-Exupery wanted people to realize that life is a painful journey and that everyone has problems and despair in their life but it is the moral duty of the individual to move past all the problems and positively participate in life. The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery has a lot of symbols of the existentialist views that Saint-Exupery believed in throughout he book.
While Saint-Exupery wanted people to adapt to their social environment in real life he showed how the pilot in The Little Prince adapted with the little prince the character. All the different inhabitants of the planets all teach us a lesson on how easy it is to g wrong in our life choices said by www. theatlantic. com. For example, the red faced man was to busy being serious to “stop and smell he roses” and the businessman who counts stars, so he can then own them but is to busy counting stars to enjoy being rich.
These examples are exactly the opposite of what Saint-Exupery was trying to emphasize. Saint-Exupery wanted people to reach beyond themselves and what the serious man and businessman did was stay in their bubble and be content with their boring lives. The thought that The Little Prince is a children story is absurd and is worthy of an adult designation more than most other “adult” books. While most little kids look at the pictures in awe, the fact of the matter is that the issues are serious from when it was written, to today.
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