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 novels 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 Princes 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

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.

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 grownup is presented as an individual who deals with matters of
consequence such has geography, history, arithmetic, grammar, bridge, golf, politics and
neckties. Most grownups understand very little of life for they focus on numerical figures as the
indicator of existence, beauty and appreciation. However, the Aviator though a grownup
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

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 grownups
discouraged me in my painters 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 Aviators lack of artistic knowledge on how to draw complex images such as
animals or humans, coupled with the idea that grownups 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.
Grownups 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

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 joboriented for the purpose of avoiding economic
struggle such as losing their means of livelihood or to avoid creating events that may be
detrimental to others 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 jobs 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.

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
grownups, 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 superiors 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 clearsighted, 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 grownup
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 grownups 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 Tipplers purpose for drinking is

to forget that he is ashamed, a part of him drinks because he enjoys it and has been enticed by the
alcohols 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 grownups 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.

Conclusion

Ultimately, using Tillie Olsens 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 grownups 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 childrens book written for adults, so that the
grownups may become aware and better understand the effects of the norms they set for people
that restrict or hinder an individuals 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
Olsens Silences to help better understand how the Aviator became a silenced individual.