asas

Introduction

The famous novel The Little Prince has moved most of its readers, probably due to its heart warming and eye-opening tale of a little boy who has travelled from planet to planet in search of what it means to understand another individual. In a realm where individuals have grown up and have little time for trifle things, The Little Prince has shown that despite the many matters of consequence adults must deal with, we must not forget to learn to appreciate the various things we encounter in our day to day activities as we struggle to find our own self – as an individual with our own aspirations and capability of achieving our goals – and not as someone who must always conform to the rules of our society. Antoine de Saint-Exupery is a pilot whose experiences flying over South America and various European countries has influenced his literary works. Two notable examples are The Little Prince and Night Flight. In the 1940s, while Exupery was recovering from his wounds, he was inspired to turn his adventures and experiences into a novel – The Little Prince – such as his plane crash in the Sahara Desert, the basis of the novel’s setting, and the character of the Rose which was primarily based off of his wife Consuelo. These real life inspirations has greatly influenced the text in the way that they become the medium through which the important lessons are conveyed, as experiences of the Little Prince relayed to the Aviator through their time in the desert. Through the Little Prince’s stories, the Aviator has learned to appreciate the importance of the things that surround him and that he is a human full of spirit and creativity that can understand the true value of the things presented to him, that in the true essence of an object, there is more to love and appreciate than the numbers on a price tag or name plate. In this

1

process, he has also discovered himself, an individual with his own dreams and aspirations – to become a painter –, only that he has been muzzled by the society due to its long standing tradition that careers such as this are of little importance and are not beneficial.

2

Discussion

In our daily drives, we strive to express who we truly are through our interests, beliefs, and decisions to define our own set of characteristics and to be known for those attributes, but due to silencing, we are not able to express ourselves and wind up submitting to the norms of our society. This is greatly portrayed by the aviator. According to Tillie Olsen, an individual is silenced when circumstances such as being born into the wrong class, race or sex, being denied education, becoming numbed by economic struggle, muzzled by censorship or distracted or impeded by the demands of nurturing. Through the Aviator, Exupery showed how much our society, especially the grown-ups, have been stripped of its capability to freely express who they are due to the confinements and restrictions brought by various events such as education and economic struggle. In the novel, a sensible grown–up is presented as an individual who deals with matters of consequence such has geography, history, arithmetic, grammar, bridge, golf, politics and neckties. Most grown–ups understand very little of life for they focus on numerical figures as the indicator of existence, beauty and appreciation. However, the Aviator though a grown–up understood the essence of life: that figures are a matter of indifference, yet he is unable to express his views for he is oppressed by the solid foundations and beliefs of their society that when a child ages, he must take on the responsibilities bestowed upon him, such as the ability to teach and understand how the world functions scientifically. Being a painter will not help in understanding how a tree comes to bear fruit or why the sun rises in the east and sinks in the west. In this aspect, I am able to say that the Aviator is deprived of his ambitions as a painter through denial of education, specifically visual arts education in favor for subjects similar to

3

mathematics and science and in effect, the artistry of the Aviator did not improve, which lead to the time where he stopped drawing. “I jumped to my feet. . . Here you may see the best portrait that, later, I was able to make of him. But my drawing is certainly very much less charming than its model. That, however, is not my fault. The grown–ups discouraged me in my painter’s career when I was six years old, and I never learned to draw anything, except boas from the outside and boas from the inside.” Due to the Aviator’s lack of artistic knowledge on how to draw complex images such as animals or humans, coupled with the idea that grown–ups lose the ability to see sheep through boxes or their creativity, he was only able to draw a box partnered with an explanation. Maintaining ones financial status in order to survive the fast growing economy is a part of what adults consider to be important and a matter of consequence, and being a painter will not aid an individual in that aspect for the curves or colors of a line will not calculate how much money you will need to spend on your next trip or your food for the week. That is why a grown– up must have proper focus to ascertain that his calculations are not wrong so that he may make the proper decisions and avoid economic struggles, and this will not occur if the Aviator chose to be a painter because he will use the money he earns to buy materials such as paper and colors, trivial things that will not help an adult feed their family or buy medicine for acquired illnesses. Grown–ups follow a strict set of rules, especially in the office they work in so as to maintain the balance set by those with a higher position. One does not question or disobey the regulations set because economic struggles rise, even if the implementation of the rules becomes

4

too demanding for the individual due to the growing economy, such as the case of the lamplighter. “Orders are orders. . . I follow a terrible profession. In the old days it was reasonable. I put the lamp out in the morning, and in the evening I lighted it again. I had the rest of the day for relaxation and the rest of the night for sleep. . . From year to year the planet has turned more rapidly and the orders have not changed! . . . Then – the planet now makes a complete turn every minute, and I no longer have a single second for repose. . .” Like the Aviator, they are both highly job–oriented for the purpose of avoiding economic struggle such as losing their means of livelihood or to avoid creating events that may be detrimental to other’s progress, but because of this, they barely have enough time to repose and appreciate what surrounds them due to their arduous and taxing jobs that they may have lost sight of what is important to them and that accomplishing that is just as important as satisfying their job’s requirements. Censorship is defined as removing something considered to be unsuitable in literature, music or other forms of creative expression, which is primarily done by the government (Heins, 1993). In each environment, there are specific standards set to determine if one is right or wrong. If what you have done, shown or said is deemed the latter, it will be removed from the medium in which you expressed the wrong deed which may leave an individual muzzled by censorship. The people who decide whether you have done something proper or inappropriate are the ones with the authoritative power – government or the bourgeoisie – and in most cases, we do not go against the orders given by them. This is expressed in Chapter 10 of the novel wherein the Little Prince visits Asteroid 325 inhabited by a King.

5

“For what the king fundamentally insisted upon was that his authority should be respected. He tolerate no disobedience. He was an absolute monarch. . . ‘They obey instantly. I do not permit insubordination.’” The Aviator, much like the Little Prince, follows the rules of those in authority – the grown–ups, which is why the Aviator forgone his dream of becoming a painter. In Chapter 11 on Asteroid 326, the Little Prince meets the Conceited Man who believes he should be admired and praised in all aspects. Adults, having more knowledge than children or those younger than them, have built what they have through years of efficient work, which they are prideful of, and shares that knowledge with the younger generations, which is why they demand respect and appraisal. Since their authority and knowledge are far superior, they may demand to be acknowledged positively, which causes suppression of the freedom of expression of their peers if they want to state something to the contrary of their superior’s beliefs. In relation, the Aviator has experience this whenever he conducts his experiments of showing his Drawing Number One to a grown up. “Whenever I met one of them who seemed to me at all clear–sighted, I tried the experiment of showing him my Drawing Number One. . . But, whoever it was, he, or she, would always say: ‘That is a hat.’ Then I would never talk to that person about boa constrictors . . . I would talk to him about bridge, and golf, and politics, and neckties. And the grown–up would be greatly pleased to have met such a sensible man.” In most societies, people consider the act of drinking shameful and improper – a wrong deed, so grown–ups advice the people to not indulge in the act of drinking, but there are some who still do such as the Tippler on Asteroid 327. Although the Tippler’s purpose for drinking is

6

to forget that he is ashamed, a part of him drinks because he enjoys it and has been enticed by the alcohol’s addicting components. However, he cannot admit that he enjoys alcoholic beverages to the masses because majority of the people will view him as an individual without control over his own emotions, illogical, and foolish. These negative qualities and extremities are being controlled or reduced by the government because it is not only unhealthful, but also because it imparts a negative characteristics to the whole environment and not just on the individual. The Aviator is similar to the Tippler in such a way that both of their desires are muzzled by censorship– to become a painter and to drink, respectively. Even though becoming a painter is not necessarily a bad trait, in analogy to the Tippler, becoming a painter contains the qualities a drunkard does which is not permitted in their society. The most common similarity between the two is the heightened sense of emotions they portray. For a painter, it is somewhat blasphemous if one does not put emotions into his artwork, and that flurry of emotions defies the structure built by the government. Drinking also ensues high emotions which usually lead to baseless actions and decisions when drunk that may cause unwanted problems which the people are always trying to avoid. Secondly, the Aviator and Tippler are both advised to not pursue their desires – to become a painter and to drink, respectively – because the grown–ups consider it impractical since they both would be wasting their times on matters of little consequence when they could rather spend time searching for new planets, working in a factory, or maintaining the order of their society.

7

Conclusion

Ultimately, using Tillie Olsen’s definition of a silence individual, the Aviator was proven to be denied of education, numbed by economic struggles, and muzzled by censorship which lead to his silencing. He also serves as the representation of the majority of the masses that were affected by the views of their society on who they should be and how they should act. However, the Aviator did not remain silenced all throughout his life. He had the courage, after six years upon meeting the Little Prince, to tell the story of his companion in the desert – one full of mystery and wonder for who would meet a prince from another planet – and that the Aviator has started to draw once again and more than boa constrictors from the outside and the inside, even if both would surely be unapproved of by the grown–ups or majority of the people. The Little Prince, is not only a piece of fiction that strives to remind us that we should not lose the child within us, but it also serves as a children’s book written for adults, so that the grown–ups may become aware and better understand the effects of the norms they set for people that restrict or hinder an individual’s capabilities to reach their full potential. In addition, there are various other characteristics defined by Tillie Olsen that may help prove the silencing of the Aviator. In line with this, it is highly recommended that one reads Tillie Olsen’s Silences to help better understand how the Aviator became a silenced individual.

8