A Jungian Interpretation of The Little Prince

Sara Setayesh, PhD Candidate, Shiraz University, International Division

Abstract
In analytical psychology or Jungian psychology, founded by Carl Gustav
Jung, Jung’s emphasis is on the collective unconscious which is the
repository of archetypes and he regards literature as an expression of these
archetypes. According to Jung coming to terms with the four archetypes of
the shadow, the anima or animus, and the Self is necessary for the process
of individuation. The literary relevance of Jung’s theory of shadow, anima,
and persona can be seen in an analysis of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The
Little Prince (Le Petit Prince). The total context of the work supports an
archetypal reading since symbolic projections of the three archetypes of the
shadow, the persona, and the anima are clearly seen in this story. One can
consider the whole story of the Aviator’s acquaintance with the Prince as a
dream in which the desert where they meet can be a symbol of the
unconscious and the unperceived psychic aspect of the aviator’s personality.
In this study important aspects of The Little Prince are clarified by reference
to Jung’s definition of the four archetypes of the shadow, the anima or
.animus, and the Self and the process of individuation

Key Words: Jungian psychology, archetypes, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry,

The Little Prince

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Introduction-1
Myths are “the symbolic projections of a people’s hopes, values, fears, and
aspirations” that disclose something “about the mind and character of a
people” (Guerin, 2005, p.183). As Mark Schorer put it they are “the
dramatic representation of our deepest instinctual life” (as cited in Guerin,
2005, p.183) and a complex of stories “as demonstrations of the inner
meaning of the universe and of human life” (Alan W.Watts as cited in
).Guerin, 2005, pp.183-4)
Since myths are universal, similar motifs, images and themes found in
different mythologies, called archetypes, “have a common meaning” and
“elicit comparable psychological responses” (Guerin,2005, p.184). Myth
.critics study these archetypes and archetypal patterns
In analytical psychology or Jungian psychology, founded by Carl
Gustav Jung, whose “primary contribution to myth criticism is his theory of
racial memory and archetypes” (Guerin,2005, p.202), the archetype stems
from “images within the human spirit, within the turbulent depths of the
.unconscious” (Cirlot, 1971, p. xxxiv)
Jung calls the superficial layer of the unconscious which is individual
the personal unconscious. It rests upon an inborn deeper universal layer, the
collective unconscious which contains contents that are “the same
everywhere and in all individuals” (Read, Fordham, Adler, & Mcguire,
.1972, pp.3-4)
The contents of the personal unconscious” which “constitute the “personal
and private side of psychic life” are called “the feeling-toned complexes”,
while the contents of the collective unconscious are called archetypes
(Read et al.,1972, p. 4). Jung’s emphasis is on the collective unconscious
which is the repository of archetypes and regards literature as an expression
.of these archetypes
According to Jung coming to terms with the four archetypes of the
shadow, the anima or animus, and the Self is necessary for the process of
individuation or “becoming a whole, individual person” in order to “to
.achieve psychic health” (Snider, 2009)
The literary relevance of Jung’s theory of shadow, anima, and persona
can be seen in an analysis of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince
(Le Petit Prince). The total context of the work supports an archetypal

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reading since symbolic projections of the three archetypes of the shadow,
.the persona, and the anima are clearly seen in this story
The Aviator who narrates the story makes an emergency landing in the
Sahara desert where he meets the Little Prince, the only inhabitant of tiny
Asteroid B-612. The Prince has grown very fond of a Rose that grows
there. He left her when the Rose’s demands became too great to explore
other planets. He meets men on other planets and lastly, the Prince comes
to Earth, where he encounters the Snake, the Fox and the Aviator. Finally,
on the anniversary of his landing on Earth, the Little Prince journeys back
.to Asteroid B-612 and returns to his Rose With the help of the Snake
According to Jung’s theory of dreams, dreams contain archetypes or
“universal psychic images” and help the individual in the process of
individuation or “the uniting of consciousness and the unconscious in a
healthy, harmonious state of wholeness”. If an individual is troubled or
suffers from an imbalance in the psyche then his/her dream will be
archetypal (Snider, 2009). One can consider the whole story of the
Aviator’s acquaintance with the Prince as a dream in which the desert
where they meet can be a symbol of the unconscious and the unperceived
psychic aspect of the aviator’s personality and since dreams “express their
contents in the language of nature” (Jung, 1964, p.95) the prince appears as
.a magical mystical being who has left his planet

Discussion -2
The Process of Individuation -2-1
According to a source the individuation process begins with becoming
conscious of the Persona, the Shadow and the Anima respectively after
which “the image of the old wise man, or the old wise mother appears”
which is followed by the experience of the Self. These phases “are not
necessarily chronological” but “can overlap each other or run parallel”
.(Herzel & Gillabel)
According to Jung the process of individuation is the arrangement or
pattern followed by dreams (Jung, 1964, p.160). A “hidden regulating or
directing tendency” is at work in our dream life which creates an
“imperceptible process of psychic growth, the process of individuation”
which gradually leads to the emergence of a mature person “visible to
others” (Jung, 1964, p.161). In this story, the prince travels to mother earth
.resulting in his rebirth in the process of individuation as a journey

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Journal Psyche defines individuation as “the achievement of self-
actualization through a process of integrating the conscious and the
unconscious”. Throughout the story, being in contact with the conscious
world as a pilot as well as experiencing the unconscious self by becoming
.acquainted with the Prince helps the Aviator achieve individuation
Individuation can also be defined as “the process of discovering those
aspects of one’s self that make one an individual different from other
members of the species” (Guerin,2005, p. 204). If one fails in confronting
and accepting the unconscious elements in his psyche during this process of
self-recognition, whether favorable or not, then it leads to symptoms of
.neuroses
This journey is essential for the prince, or in fact the narrator, to mature
and grow up psychologically. Unconsciously, he projects his weaknesses to
the rose instead of accepting them as part of his nature so lack of concern
and to be demanding seems to belong to the rose. Since “projection ceases
the moment it becomes conscious” (Guerin, 2005, p. 205) when the prince
realizes the real value of his rose and his fault in leaving her, he decides to
.return to his planet
Wounding of the personality and its subsequent suffering is the
beginning of the process of individuation i.e. “the conscious coming-to-
terms with one's own inner center” or Self; this shock makes the ego
project this “obstruction onto something external” and to accuse other
people or things for being responsible for the obstruction (Jung, 1964,
p.166). In this story this initial stage in the process of individuation is
symbolically described by the narrator’s giving up a probable magnificent
.career as a painter

Persona, Shadow, Anima and the Self -2-2

Jung’s theory of individuation is related to three special archetypes:
persona, shadow and anima. The term persona means “a mask that feigns
individuality”; in fact, “it is a compromise between individual and society
as to what a man should appear to be” (Read et al., 1972, pp.216-17). So,
because of the demands of the society the narrator hides the true nature of
.himself
If an individual’s persona is flexible enough that “can be brought into
harmonious relationship with the other components” of the psychic
makeup, then he or she can achieve psychological maturity; otherwise a too
.artificial persona results in neurotic disturbances (Guerin, 2005, p. 207)

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The persona the Aviator is portraying is that of a successful pilot.
Maybe the prince’s mask, or in fact that of the narrator, that he shows to the
.world is too caring so he becomes irritable by the rose’s orders
The prince’s persona (as a dream that of the Aviator) is inflexible. It is
the persona of an individual who shows sympathy and concern for the rose
and takes care of her on compassionate grounds but fails to persist when
.the rose seems to become demanding
Jung considers shadow as the “unconscious part of the personality”
since it usually appears “in dreams in a personified form”. In dreams
according to Jung “the shadow appeals as a person of the same sex as that
of the dreamer”. Moreover,“through dreams one becomes acquainted with
aspects of one's own personality that for various reasons one has preferred
not to look at too closely. This is what Jung called “the realization of the
.shadow” (Jung, 1964, pp.165-66)
The shadow can be both positive and negative aspects of our being that
are undeveloped or repressed. Guerin (2005) considers the Shadow as “the
darker side of our unconscious self” and “the inferior and less pleasing
aspects of the personality, which we wish to suppress” (p. 205). Since the
aviator does not acknowledge his shadow he sees it in the prince and
others. One can see the symbolic representation of this dark aspect of the
narrator’s personality in the figure of those the Prince visits in different
planets: a king of no one, a conceited man with no admirers, a greedy
businessman, a lamplighter who never rests, and a geographer without any
.maps
So the prince maybe a positive undeveloped potential and inhabitants of
other planets as the repressed attributes Because of the demands of the
society the Aviator does not have enough opportunity to experience the
archetype of Shadow so it retreats to an unconscious state and manifests
itself in his dream, his encounter with the Prince. The Aviator’s inability to
confront his shadow stunt the process of individuation or psychological
growth so he projects the shadow image in the form of the inhabitants of
.other planets and even on his anima, the rose
Anima and animus are the image of the opposite sex in a man’s and a
woman’s psyche respectively. The former is the inner feminine aspect of
the male personality and the latter is the masculine part of the female
personality. They usually manifest themselves in personified form by
.appearing in dreams

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Since the aviator as the dreamer is a man so he finds “a female
personification of his unconscious” (Jung, 1964, p.174). This female form
.is his anima
One source refers to the characteristics of Anima as an archetype: she
looks young, is wise and has the feeling of being special. “She is often
connected to the earth or water and can have great power. She has both a
light and a dark aspect (Herzer & Gillabel). This is what one can see in the
Rose. Moreover, following Jung’s theory one might say that “any female
figure who is invested with unusual significance or power” is a symbol of
the anima (Guerin, 2005, p. 206) so the rose can be the contrasexual part of
.the Aviator’s psyche
Furthermore, in the story the sheep is feminized and is the focus of the
aviator’s anima projection as the Prince caress and pampers it
Moreover, the prince’s travel to earth leads us to mother archetype as
the anima image in the story. So the feminine side of the Aviator’s psyche
.also takes the form of the Earth Mother
The unconscious can appear in another symbolic form, the Self which “is
often personified in dreams as a superior human figure”. The Self might
appear as a wise and powerful goddess to women and “personifications of
the Self in men's dreams often take the form of "wise old men”; “The Self,
however, does not always take the form of a wise old man or wise old
woman”. It may be personified as ‘something that is not entirely contained
in time—something simultaneously young and old” (Jung, 1964, pp.193-4);
so the prince signifies the Self. “The Self usually appears in dreams at
crucial times in the dreamer’s life” (Jung, 1964, p. 195) like the Prince who
.meets the Aviator while he is trying to fix his plane

Conclusion -3
Jung believed that humans are motivated by inherited experiences
which make up the collective unconscious and coming down to us from our
ancestors and has roots in the ancestral past of the humans. Archetypes are
generalized archaic images that derive from the collective unconscious. In
this study, important aspects of The Little Prince were clarified by
reference to Jung who believed that coming to terms with the four
archetypes of the shadow, the anima or animus, and the Self is necessary
for the process of individuation.There are two possibilities regarding the
ending. Maybe the Prince’s projection of the shadow upon others and
rejection of his anima portrayed in the figure of the rose resulted in a

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failure of individuation and hence his disappearance and falling down in
the end. He may also have been successful in the process of recognition
.and personality integration and hence his decision to return to his planet

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"References"
[1] Cirlot. J.E., (1971). A Dictionary of Symbols. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd.

[2] Jung, Carl G. (1964). Man and His Symbols. New York: Anchor Press, Doubleday.

[3] Guerin et al. (2005). A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. New York: Oxford
University Press.

[4] Herzer, Carol, & Gillabel, Dirk. (n.d.). The Individuation Process. Retrieved from
http://www.soul guidance.com/houseofthesun/individuationprocess.htm.

[5] Jung and his Individuation Process. (n.d.). In Journal Psyche. Retrieved from
http://journalpsyche.org/jung-and-his-individuation-process.

[6] Read et al. (1972). Two Essays in Analytical Psychology. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton
University Press.

[7] Snider, Clifton. (2009). A Brief Outline of Jungian Psychology with some Archetypal
Images, Themes, and Symbols. Retrieved from
https://web.csulb.edu/~csnider/jungian.outline.html