All men have the stars,but they are not the same things for different people.

For some, who are travelers, the stars are guides.For others they are no more than little lights in the sky.

For others, who are scholars, they are problems.But all these stars are silent.

You, you alone will have the stars as no one else has them.”

- A quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Le Petit Prince

Life’s Lessons:From a Child’s Perspective

An Exploration of Le Petit Princeby Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

By Michelle Mercure (Halette)

- Antoine Jean-Baptiste Marie Roger de Saint-Exupéry (his name in full, believe it or not)

lived from June 29, 1900 – July 31, 1944.

“ He left permanent woundsin the hearts of those who saw him smile,

even once.”

- He was born in Lyons, France at the turn of the century into an old aristocratic family.

- His interest in flying was made apparent early on in his life. Once as a small child after attaching wings to a bicycle he shouted joyously, “ When I fly away on my new machine, the whole crowd will shout, long live Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.” In a sense he was right for he later became a famous aviator.

- His career in aviation is what gave him inspiration to begin a career in writing, which he is also famous for.

- Although Antoine is famous for his career as a French aviator and writer, it is the fact that he never lost his boyhood innocence which makes him so unique.

“Grandi augmente ne jamais comprendre n’importe quoi pour se, et c’est ennuyeux pour les enfants pour être toujours et

forevor expliquant des choses à eux.”

“Grown ups never understand anything for themselves, and it is tiresome for children

to be always and forever explaining things to them.”

- A quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Le Petit Prince

The Castle of Saint-Maurice de Rémens

- Antoine came from an oldaristocratic family, his father, Jean de Saint-Exupéry, fromLimousin, being a descendantof a French Knight from the13th Century, named Raymondde Saint-Exupéry, and his mother, Marie de Fonscolombe, from Provence, of the Boyer de Fonscolombe.

-Antoine’s mother brought him and his four siblings here a few years after their father diedof a stroke in 1904.

-Perhaps it was the childhood years Antoine spent at this castle that gave him the ability to hold onto his boyhood innocence, even as an adult.

Marie-Madeline, Gabrielle, François, Antoine, Simone

- Antoine and his siblingslived a fairytale existence at the castle of Rémens,filling their days by playingwith animals and insects,building mechanical inventions, and by pretending to be living in akingdom (not a hard taskconsidering the scenery of the magnificent castlesurrounded by a huge parkof golden trees).

- Because of Antoine’s blond locks and the children’simaginary kingdom he, fittingly, was given the nickname “Le Roi-Soleil” (The Sun-King).

- Antoine’s mother exposedher five children to the arts from a young age, introducing them to poetry, art, music andliterature. She herself was a singer, guitarist, and a painter, and she hoped to inspire eachof her children to explore their own individual creativeness.

“C’est beaucoup plus difficile à soi-même juger que juger des autres. Si vous arrivez à juger vous correctement, alors vous

êtes en effect homme de vraie sagesse.”

“It is much more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others.If you succeed in judging yourself rightly,

then you are indeed a man of true wisdom.”

- A quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Le Petit Prince

Antoine’s Education

- After failing the oral part of the exam and exceeding the age limit to retake the test, Antoine finds himself lost.

- Antoine received his first form ofdiscipline at Notre Dame Saint-Croix, a school that his father once attended.

- This transition, after being home schooled for most of his childhood, turned out to be a difficult one for him.

- He was classified as an untidy, daydreaming student with anutter lack of concentration.

-From there he and his brother were sent to a school in Fribourg, Switzerland, where they both were much happier. The school’s motto was de toute son ãme (with all one’s soul).

- He and his younger brother, François, were entered into this school after their mother moved them from Lyons to Le Mans (which is found in Northern France).

- After his brother dies of rheumatic fever, Antoine goes home to comfort his sisters.

- Then he travels to Paris to study to join the Naval Academy in hopes of pursuing his dream of flying.

- Antoine’s first time flying was when he was 12(just four years after the Wright brothers launched flight at Kitty Hawk, N.C.

-He joined the French Air Force in Stratsbourg in 1921 as a mechanic which would be his first step towards his ultimate goal of flying.

- Soon after he began his training to fly and at the young age of 26 he fulfilled a life long dream, when became a pilot.

- He was made commander of an airport at Cape Juby in the Sahara.

- This setting of a desert is used as the background for his books Wisdom of the Sands and Le Petit Prince. “I never loved my house more

than when I lived in the desert.”

- After the fall of France in World War II, in 1935 he joins the army and makes several daring flights

Aviation

“Personne jamais est satisfait où il est.”

“No one is ever satisfied where he is.”

- A quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Le Petit Prince

Antoine’s Various Careers

Magazine Writer

Lecturer

Publicity Agent

Foreign Correspondent

Tile Manufacturer

Aviator

Flight Instructor

Airport Commander

Truck Salesperson

Writer

“l’un risque de pleurant un petit, si l’un se permis d’est apprivoisé.”

‘One runs the risk of weeping a little, if one lets himself be tamed.”

- A quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Le Petit Prince

Consuelo Gomez Carillo

-Antoine married Consuelo in 1933.

- She can be seen in the vain, demanding character of the rose in Le Petit Prince.

- Their marriage was stormy, for she felt neglected by Antoine.

- They lived apart for several periods of time, in addition to those occasioned by the war.

“What are you doing?”“I’m drinking.”

“Why are you drinking?”

“So that I may forget.”

“Forget what?”

“Forget that I am ashamed?”

“Ashamed of what?”

“Ashamed of drinking!”

-It is amazing how the curious questions of a child can capture the stupidity of adult reasoning, as depicted in this scene from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Le Petit Prince.- This theme is explored throughout Le Petit Prince, where Antoine expresses complicated messages in a simplistic manner.

Le Petit Prince

The Little Prince

- The Little Prince is a children’s tale meant for adults to read

- Antoine not only wrote the book, he illustrated it also

- The Little Prince is said to be the third read book after the Holy Bible and the Koran.

- Antoine wrote it while living in the United States, and it was published in 1943, just one year before his unfortunate death.

- The book has been translated into over 150 languages.

- It is usually the first book that beginners of the French language read.

“It is a lonely in the desert. It is also lonely among men.”

- A quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Le Petit Prince

- He had taken off that morning from an airfield in Sardina to photograph German troop positions in the French Alps.

- The remains of Antoine’s Lockheed P-38 were found in the Mediterranean Sea 60 years after he crashed there.

-It remains a mystery as to what happened to Antoine on that day; as to whether his plane was shot down, or it had mechanical problems, or whether he committed suicide.

-Perhaps we will never know the truth as to how he died, but nothing can stop us from learning how he lived.

- Antoine disappeared on July 31, 1944

Innocence

Innocence, Where have you gone?

I think I must have lost you while deep in slumber.How quickly you did fade.

Or, I wonder

Innocence,Are you still here with me?

Buried deep inside.That is what I shall believe.

Innocence, That I still have you,

That you are a part of me,And I a part of you.

By Michelle Mercure (Halette)

The END