Lessons from Le Petit Prince

This is the blog of a 20-year-old young woman preparing to embark on the adventure of a lifetime: a semseter abroad in
Paris.

(Eeek!)

In order to prepare myself for la vie francophone, I've started reading everything french that I can get my hands on. French fashion blogs, Le Monde on my smartphone, I've even converted my Facebook to french. To augment my education on everything "french", my sister has taken it upon herself to educate me on the finer points of classical art. Her main teaching aid: the wonderful Ovation channel. Art and french language opportunity collided when she noticed that the movie The Little Prince was playing earlier today.

The Little Prince by Antoine Saint-Exupery (or Le Petit Prince for you francophiles) is a short book about an alien prince who meets a stranded pilot in the Saharah desert, and his journey through the galaxy to find knowledge. Along the way, he learns about the human condition and his own feelings regarding his homeplanet and the rose that lives there, whom he loves. For me, this book has always represented stress and failure. In high school, my french teacher assigned this book to my class and my memories of it are marked by short, comprehension-less readings punctuated by frequent consultations of my french-english dictionary.

Empowered by my impending trip to France and my increased knowlege of the language, I sat down with my sister to watch the movie: clutching my trusty Larousse french-english dictionary and my stolen copy of Le Petit Prince. The movie, which had been adapted into a musical, was incredibly campy and dated, yet I found myself crying at the end when the prince draws the bite of the snake in order to return to his planet and his beloved rose. The tears started welling up even before then , when the prince meets a fox, played by the incomparable Gene Wilder of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory fame. After walking through a rose garden, the prince becomes sad when he realizes that his rose is not unique. He thinks that this reflects poorly on his princely-ness, and starts to cry. He then happens upon the fox, who invites him to tame him. The process of taming that the fox describes sounds remarkably similar to that of how people fall in love: showing up in the spot where you know you'll see that person, the anticipation that you feel, slowly getting closer and closer to that person, until you are united. One day, the prince realizes that his rose is still special because he has cared for her and loved her. He loves her because elle est sa rose (she is his rose). The prince tells the fox that it is time for him to go, and the fox cries because the fox has been changed by his interaction with the prince, and will miss him terribly.

From this scene, I drew two main points. First, that when we engage with other people, get close to them, and get used to seeing them, when they leave, or when we leave..it hurts and it's unavoidable. Second: even when there are other "roses" out there who seem to be the same, to someone you are special because of the time that they have spent being with you, caring for you , protecting you. And I think that's beautiful.

I'm glad that I finally finished the book and that I shared that experience with my sister. Maybe if I had known the book had had such a profound message in high school I would have tried harder to finish it, though honestly I don't think that it would have resonated with me then as it does now. As excited as I am to be going to study abroad, I can't help but think about those I'm leaving behind, and sometimes wonder if they're thinking about me too.