Books that changed my life that aren’t self-help: The Little Prince
The Little Prince books from left to right: Mîroka (میرۆکە) in Kurdish Sorani, The Little Prince in English, and El Principito in Spanish. (Gardi, 2023).
When thinking about books that changed your life, most of us revert to self-help books. We’ve all seen the many YouTube videos, and blog posts exclaiming “If you read these self-help books, your whole life will change, you’ll be fixed!” Well, what if I told you a little secret? Reading fiction can be just as life-changing, if not more, than self-help. I believe self-help books can be great resources and tools to better oneself, but it’s important to be mindful when consuming them so much because they can become antithetical to our own growth.
I’ve read many self-help books, and quite a few of them have been impactful, however, in this series I want to shed light on other books that are just as life-changing. Books that made me cry, think critically, laugh, and open my eyes, heart, and mind to so much diversity.
With that said, let’s start with The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
When I was 8 years old, I received The Little Prince as a gift. I remember being fascinated by the drawings, especially the one of the boa constrictors eating the elephant from the inside and from the outside. As an 8-year-old I didn’t understand the story.
The second time I ran into The Little Prince was in 11th grade French class, we had to read it and write an essay about it. I read the original French alongside the English translation; I remember quite enjoying the book, even though, I didn’t retain any of it.
It wasn’t until 2017 that I finally read the book from start to finish. This was a transformative year in my life, a lot of major changes were happening externally and internally, so when I picked up The Little Prince to re-read, I let my mind wander into the story.
Once we reach our 20s, we tend to feel lost, confused, or stuck on where we’re headed in life. Our society expects us to be serious, find a “decent” job, make a reasonable amount of money, get married, have babies, etc. This is the “life plan” that many of us are expected to follow, and many are following it. There’s nothing inherently wrong about this way of life, what’s wrong about it is how it leaves little room for self-discovery, exploration, and flexibility in our “life’s plan.”
Books like The Little Prince are considered classics for a reason, because they tell the story of us, of our work-driven, productivity-craving, burnt-out society. The underlying theme in The Little Prince is the importance of remembering the child we once were. When we were curious and imaginative about life and all its peculiarities. And how most grown-ups have lost sight of this, specifically because at one point or another, our dreams were crushed by other grown-ups, and those same grown-ups perpetuate this cycle of never-ending dream-crushing and “seriousness.”
One of the most famous quotes from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is from the dedication to his novel, “All grown-ups were children first. (But few of them remember it.).” As we grow older, and as society’s pressures and different responsibilities set in, we tend to forget the child we once were with the dreams and ambitions that were crushed all too soon.
It’s difficult to unlearn the logical thinking that society has ingrained in us, and I also struggle between listening to the logical side and following my heart. Maybe that’s the reason I’m writing this post, to remind myself of the story of The Little Prince and remember my dreams and ambitions are not “far-fetched” and “illogical” but are full of curiosity and wonder.
The quote that really got to me in the book was after the pilot’s dreams of becoming a drawer were crushed by the grown-ups, “Then I wouldn’t talk about boa constrictors or jungles or stars. I would put myself on his level and talk about bridge and politics and neckties. And my grown-up was glad to know such a reasonable person (p.3).”
I’d completely lost myself after graduating from university, but what’s funny is I didn’t know myself to begin with because I’d spent my late teens and early 20s in a little bubble called university. Please, don’t get me wrong, university was one of my favourite life experiences, and I wouldn’t take it back, but expecting students to know exactly what they’re doing straight after leaving that bubble is detrimental. I stopped talking about the boa constrictors or jungles or stars in the pursuit of being logical and finding a “reasonable” career while sticking to the status quo.
The little prince ends up becoming frustrated with daily life on his planet, so he leaves and takes us on his journey of discovering new planets and meeting new people.
One of those people was the businessman who declared he owned all the stars in the universe and was so busy counting each star because he was a “busy” and “serious” man, he never actually enjoyed looking at those stars he proclaimed to own. The businessman reflects the monotony of traditional adult life, where grown-ups don’t have time to do anything besides deal with numbers, make more money, and own more things because that’s what serious adults do!
Similarly, the little prince encounters a lamplighter, who lights a lamp every minute, and on his planet, 30 minutes is equal to a whole month! He didn’t have a moment’s rest and had to obey orders to continue lighting the lamp, blowing it out, and relighting it again. In my view, this can relate back to the alienation of working-class jobs, and how companies and employers expect workers to work faster and faster to increase their version of capitalist productivity while the workers are burnt out, not able to keep up with sleep or rest because they must follow orders and continue working at an ever-increasing pace.
The inhabitant that I ended up sadly relating to the most was the geographer. As a child, I was obsessed with maps and atlases, to the point where I memorized every capital and country of the world and could label a blank world map. My teachers in high school nicknamed me “The Walking Atlas.” I ended up majoring in geography at university.
Those maps and atlases were forms of escapism for me, I’d look at all these foreign places and imagine myself there. I’d create adventurous stories in my head of heading to the Balkans, or the depths of Brazil, or the pyramids of Egypt. My one ambition in life is to travel, to be “the walking atlas”, not just an armchair version.
The geographer in The Little Prince knew the geographies of everywhere, every map, every mountain peak, river, country, planet, etc., yet he never ventured from his own desk! He would record the accounts of explorers instead of going out to explore on his own. I saw myself in the armchair geographer and it saddened me. Why am I not courageous enough to set off on new adventures and leave the status quo?
An important part of this story is the little prince’s relationship with the rose and the fox.
The little prince has a rose that he adores on his planet, he’s taken care of his rose and finds her so unique. Once he visits Earth, he realizes there are plenty of roses just like the one on his planet, but he realizes, “Of course, an ordinary passerby would think my rose looked just like you. But my rose, all on her own, is more important than all of you together since she’s the one I’ve watered (p. 63).” Highlighting the importance of nurturing one’s own relationships and friendships and how they can leave their own unique and specific marks once a deep connection is established, even if there are others who are similar.
There is a short dialogue between the little prince and the switchman where the little prince asks, “They weren’t satisfied where they were?” and he replies, “No one is ever satisfied where he is (p. 65).” I’ve recently graduated with my post-graduate degree, and it’s difficult to find satisfaction in the unknown. I was heavily burnt out by the end of my degree and excited for a break, yet, because our society has instilled in us to constantly be seeking and working, I don’t feel satisfied where I am. Yet, if I look at it through another lens, I’m at a really great place and it’s completely okay not to have everything figured out. Our 20s are meant for exploration.
The pilot’s journey with the little prince has a lot of symbolism and metaphors. For instance, the broken engine symbolizes being lost in life, whereas being stuck in the desert represents the monotony, seriousness, and drought of a serious life. The little prince represents the inner child of the pilot he’d forgotten about; the child who drew boa constrictors inside and outside before his dreams were crushed.
At the end of the story, the pilot finally fixes the engine of his plane, which is a metaphor for the pilot reconnecting to his heart and dreams, and now he’s free to “fly again.”
The Little Prince is an influential short story packed with symbolism, metaphors, and lessons. It teaches us to understand the simplicity of life, to follow our hearts, and to love our friends and loved ones dearly, even if we only meet for a short time, for they are unique. But most importantly, it’s a catalyst to remember our inner child drowning in the deafening world of grown-ups.
