On Illogicality and Insensibility

By Ralph Niere
"This is a critical analysis
of the movie 'The Little Prince'
which is our project in English"


Just like when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, grown-ups often devour their common sense and logical judgment. They are, at times, senseless and illogical. For them, to see is to believe. Worse, they are unable to see what is supposed to be seen. Worst, they do not know and understand that they are partially blind to things that matters most. What makes an adult senseless and illogical is their habit of believing what they can only see and not knowing what is supposed to be understood. Logical judgment and common sense are uncommon to adults.

Unlike adults, children are sensible and logical. In the novelette, the Little Prince shows how sensible and logical he is. On Earth and other planets, he found out that he can see beyond what grown-ups can see. Although the Little Prince is bewildered by the oddity of grown-ups he met, the Little Prince understands perfectly why adults are senseless and illogical. Later, he learned from the fox, his friend on Earth that what is essential is invisible to the naked eye. Through his adventures, the Little Prince discovers what children have that adults do not have. The Little Prince is sensible and logical, unlike adults.

Before he came to Earth, the Little Prince journeyed on different planets with different inhabitants. However, these inhabitants are the same in one thing – their insensibility and illogicality. On the first planet he met the king who ruled everything, but it turns out he ruled nothing. On the other planet is where the tippler lives, who drinks so he can forget his problem – being a drunkard. The most dominant of all is the creature on the third planet – the businessman, who busies himself on what he owns even if he is of no use to his possessions. Every inhabitant of every planet indulges deeply on meaningless pursuits. The Little Prince is astonished on how senseless and illogical they are.

After the Little Prince travelled on the different planets, he arrived on Earth, where he encountered adults; most of them are not sensible and logical. First, there were the people who travel to far-flung places and then go back again wasting time, money and energy. Second, there was the pilot who busies himself on repairing his crashed plane. Last, there was the merchant who invented and sells pills to quench thirst and can save a lot of time. Adults on Earth focus more on what they see and what they assume they would see with their naked eyes. Unfortunately, this makes them senseless and illogical.

Generally, adults become senseless and illogical because they only believe on what they can see and what they think they would see. Had the tippler seen that a mistake cannot correct another mistake, he would have made sense. Had the businessman saw that he is of no use to the stars and the stars have no use to him, he would have been sensible. Had the travelling people on Earth saw that they have achieved nothing by travelling, they would have had achieved something. Had the tippler, the businessman, the travelling people and the others used their common sense and logical thinking, they would have been sensible and logical. What is essential is invisible to the naked eye.

The setting of the story plays an important role by reflecting what the main theme says. What we see is not always what is important. The main setting is on the desert where humans are unlikely to survive because, as one would see, of the vastness of the sand. However, the invisible friendship that the pilot and the Little Prince established lived and even grew because of the desert. On the other hand, the time when the story happened is indefinable, thus, the theme of the story knows no time. The setting is one of the crucial factors as foundations of the theme.


Another crucial factor is the plot of the story. The plot really begins on the second chapter where the pilot, after his plane crashed, met the Little Prince. From then on, even though it is marked with flashbacks where the Little Prince narrated his past adventures to the pilot, the story can be easily followed. The plot is then starting to rise as the Little Prince travel from one planet to the other, as he meets unique creatures until he finally met the fox who shared with him a secret. The climax of the story is the time then the Little Prince realizes that he has to fulfill his responsibility to his rose and that he has to go home. After that, there was the brief falling action when the pilot finally said his farewell to his friend. The end of the novelette is an epilogue.

There are also other elements that contribute to its simplicity which almost every age group can appreciate. The story is in the first person point-of-view. It was originally written in French and is now translated to English where simple and tender words are used. However, behind those simple words are hidden meanings that are making the story appealing. Readers raging from different ages can appreciate this novelette

Another factor that makes the novelette appealing is the symbolisms used. Because they create a sense of mystery, they make the story more alluring to the readers. The different creatures living in the different planets are some of these symbolisms. They represent the different personalities of grown-ups and they emphasize how illogical and senseless they are. Another symbol is the snake which symbolizes the inevitability of death. In addition to those, the Little Prince himself is a representation of an innocent child who can discern more properly than grown-ups. The symbolisms challenge the readers’ mind and making the story alluring and more sophisticated.

Its sophistication is further exemplified by its theme. The theme asserts that the naked eye cannot see things that are essential, only the heart can. As the Little Prince travels from planet to planet, he discovers that the theme of the story is true. The king, the tippler and the businessman see only with the eyes. The travelling people failed to realize that they are accomplishing nothing because they see with the ordinary eyes. The pilot, at one time, became similar to them. All of them are adults. Therefore, the theme further asserts that adults can’t see what is essential making them senseless and illogical.

The whole of the story illustrates the insensibility and illogicality of adults which is the theme. It shows that adults see only with their eyes that is why they lack common sense and logical judgment. The characters, especially the adults, obviously portray how senseless and illogical adults can be by believing only what they see. The setting of the story serves as the place of suffering when the pilot crash landed there, but it became a place of growth after the pilot met the Little Prince. The symbolisms hide essential meanings which could not be seen by the naked eye. The novelette strives to teach the readers not to become senseless and illogical by looking things, not with the eyes, but with the heart.
 

2 comments so far.

  1. Carlo September 11, 2009 at 5:04 AM
    NICE!
  2. Ralph Niere September 11, 2009 at 5:36 AM
    Thank you sir!

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