El Principito Lecture Notes

Narrative Overview and Framework

• El Principito (The Little Prince) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry presents an allegorical tale exploring fundamental truths about human nature, love, friendship, adult preoccupations, and the preservation of childhood innocence.
• The story's central narrative frame follows an aviator who experiences a severe engine breakdown (avería) in the desolate Sahara Desert, far from any human habitation.
• Confronted with a limited water supply intended to last only eight days ($8\,\text{days}$), the aviator encounters an extraordinary little prince from another planet, initiating a series of profound philosophical discussions and reflective exchanges.
• The structure follows the Little Prince's journey from his tiny native asteroid, across six other individual asteroids inhabited by symbolic adult figures, to planet Earth, where he ultimately learns the true meaning of devotion and friendship.

The Pilot's Backstory and Childhood Artworks

• At six years old ($6\,\text{years old}$), after seeing a vivid image of a virgin forest, the narrator attempted his first drawing:
  • Drawing Number $1$ depicted a giant boa constrictor in the process of swallowing and digesting an elephant.
  • When presented to adults, they invariably misinterpreted the illustration as a plain hat.
  • Drawing Number $2$ was created to clarify the scene for adults, showing the interior of the boa constrictor with the elephant inside.
  • Adults discouraged the narrator's artistic ambitions, criticizing his drawings and advising him to abandon artwork in favor of practical subjects like geography, history, arithmetic, and grammar.
• As a result of adult misunderstanding and discouragement, the narrator abandoned a promising career as an artist and grew up to become a pilot, keeping his inner child hidden while navigating the adult world.

The Sahara Desert Encounter and the Drawing of the Sheep

• After suffering a mechanical failure in the Sahara Desert with only eight days of drinking water remaining, the pilot is unexpectedly awakened by a strange little voice requesting a drawing of a sheep (cordero).
• The pilot attempts several drawings for the Little Prince, each met with rejection:
  • First drawing: A sickly-looking sheep, which the Little Prince rejects as unhealthy.
  • Second drawing: A ram (carnero) featuring horns and an ugly appearance, which the Little Prince rejects because it is not a simple young sheep.
  • Third drawing: An aged sheep, rejected because the Little Prince desires a sheep that will live a long time.
  • Fourth (final) drawing: A plain wooden crate or box with air holes. The pilot explains that the sheep is resting inside the box.
• The Little Prince is delighted with the drawing of the box, noting that it is exactly what he wanted.
• When discussing the sheep's maintenance, the Little Prince firmly rejects the idea of tying or chaining the sheep up with a rope, insisting that his planet is extremely small.

Asteroid B 612 and the Little Prince's Home Planet

• The pilot deduces that the Little Prince's home planet is Asteroid $B\,612$:
  • Asteroid $B\,612$ was first observed through a telescope by a Turkish astronomer in the year $1909$.
  • During his initial presentation at an International Astronomical Congress, the astronomer's discovery was dismissed simply because he wore traditional Turkish attire.
  • In $1920$, after presenting the exact same discovery while dressed in an elegant European suit, the scientific community unanimously accepted his findings.
• Characteristics and environmental upkeep of Asteroid $B\,612$:
  • The planet is small enough that a person can watch the sunset multiple times a day simply by moving their chair. The Little Prince loved watching sunsets, noting that they bring comfort on sad days.
  • The planet contains three small, knee-high volcanoes: two active volcanoes used for heating breakfast every morning, and one extinct volcano used as a footstool.
  • The Little Prince routinely sweeps all three volcanoes clean to ensure they burn slowly and evenly without dangerous, sudden eruptions.
  • The planet is plagued by invasive baobab seeds that sprout silently. If allowed to grow unchecked, a baobab tree's root system will penetrate the small asteroid and split it apart. Therefore, regular weeding of young baobab shoots is a vital, mandatory discipline.
• The Little Prince inquires whether sheep eat bushes and young baobab shoots, feeling relieved to learn that a sheep could help clear troublesome vegetation before it destroys his planet.
• The Prince and his Flower (The Rose):
  • A unique flower sprouted on Asteroid $B\,612$ from a seed of unknown origin.
  • The rose bloomed carefully and protected herself from harsh conditions.
  • Though remarkably beautiful, the rose was proud, vain, dramatic, and demanding.
  • She requested regular watering and required a glass globe (globo or fanal) or screen to shield her from cold drafts.
  • Despite his devotion, the Little Prince became overwhelmed by her demands and tricks, later realizing he should have judged her by her actions rather than her demanding words.
• Departure from Asteroid $B\,612$:
  • Resolving to leave his planet, the Little Prince carefully prepared his home: he thoroughly swept his two active volcanoes and single extinct volcano, and pulled up the final remaining baobab shoots.
  • He watered his rose one last time and prepared to place the protective glass globe over her.
  • Holding back tears, the rose confessed her love for him, admitted her own silliness, and asked him not to cover her with the glass globe, choosing instead to brave the open air and insects on her own.

The Journey Through the Six Asteroids

Before arriving on Earth, the Little Prince visited six neighboring asteroids, each inhabited by a solitary adult figure representing a specific human defect, empty priority, or obsession of the adult world:

• Asteroid $325$ – The King (El Rey):
  • Represents the absolute desire for power, authority, and control.
  • Demands complete, blind obedience from anyone on his planet.
  • Operates on reasonable command principles: he only issues orders that can realistically be fulfilled (e.g., ordering the sun to set only at the exact moment when natural conditions allow it).
• Asteroid $326$ – The Vain Man (El Vanidoso):
  • Represents extreme vanity, egotism, and self-centeredness.
  • Desires non-stop admiration, applause, and praise from anyone he meets.
  • Is completely deaf to any criticism, comment, or question that does not flatter or praise him.
• Asteroid $327$ – The Tippler / Drunkard (El Bebedor):
  • Represents a complete lack of willpower and the destructive nature of human vicious cycles.
  • Drinks continuously to forget that he is deeply ashamed of his drinking habits.
• Asteroid $328$ – The Businessman (El Hombre de Negocios):
  • Represents greed, materialism, and obsession with numerical ownership.
  • Spends his time continuously counting and recalculating the stars in the sky to claim legal ownership over them.
  • Believes that accumulating numbers makes him rich, even though his possession of the stars serves no practical purpose and benefits no one else.
• Asteroid $329$ – The Lamplighter (El Farolero):
  • Personifies rigid routine, unthinking routine adherence, and blind obedience to duty.
  • His task is to light a streetlamp at nightfall and extinguish it at dawn.
  • His planet rotates so rapidly that a full day lasts only one minute ($1\,\text{minute}$), forcing him to ignite and douse the flame continuously every single minute without rest.
  • Unlike the previous inhabitants, he is the only one who does not think purely of himself, as his work serves a purpose and benefits others; however, he remains trapped as a slave to an absurd rule.
• Asteroid $330$ – The Geographer (El Geógrafo):
  • Represents theoretical, academic wisdom detached from real-world experience.
  • Compiles massive, impressive scholarly books, yet never travels or explores his own planet because he relies entirely on theoretical reports from external explorers.
  • Reveals to the Little Prince that his beloved rose is "ephemeral" (efímera)—meaning she is of short duration, fragile, and bound to disappear—causing the Prince his first deep wave of regret for leaving her behind.

Arrival on Earth, the Garden of Roses, and the Fox

• Upon arriving on Earth, the Little Prince wanders into a garden filled with thousands of blooming roses:
  • He experiences profound sorrow, feeling betrayed because his rose had claimed she was the only one of her kind in the entire universe.
• Meeting the Fox (El Zorro):
  • The Little Prince meets a fox, who serves as his spiritual teacher regarding relationships and human connection.
  • The fox explains the concept of "taming" (domesticar), defined as establishing mutual emotional bonds and ties of affection.
  • Taming creates uniqueness: to the rest of the world, a person or object may seem ordinary, but once an emotional bond is forged, they become unique and irreplaceable to one another.
• Key lessons imparted by the Fox:
  • What is Essential: "What is essential is invisible to the eye" (Lo esencial es invisible a los ojos). True value resides in feelings, emotional ties, and spirit, rather than external, material possessions.
  • The Value of Time and Investment: The Little Prince's rose is completely unique in all the world specifically because of the time, effort, patience, and devotion he spent caring for her on Asteroid $$B\,612$.
  • Responsibility: One remains forever responsible for that which one has tamed.

Core Character Profiles and Symbolic Meanings

• The Little Prince (El Principito):
  • Symbolizes childhood innocence, emotional purity, open-minded curiosity, and the uncorrupted capacity for wonder that adults tend to lose as they grow older.
• The Pilot (El Piloto):
  • Serves as the narrator and represents the adult world struggling to reconnect with and restore the hidden child within.
• The Rose (La Rosa):
  • Represents the Little Prince's true love. She is physically exquisite, fragile, and vulnerable, but simultaneously proud, vain, demanding, and capricious.
• The Fox (El Zorro):
  • Represents wisdom, spiritual guidance, and the profound nature of friendship and mutual emotional investment.