I said I would post my Existential findings in The Little Prince. Here’s my final report for class.
The Little Prince was saturated with Existential meaning, showing the key concepts of Absurdity, Angst, Bad Faith and Authenticity within its pages. The story is wrapped around the confusion and “seeking” mood of the little prince who goes out on a journey of exploration. The fact that he was propelled to venture into the unknown, carrying within him curiosity to see what else there was to see, willing to take on the adventures that came to him is a chiseling of Angst. It was not the little prince’s desire so much, though ignited by Angst in my opinion, but rather his mood, his void of something indescribable. I’ll add something “meaningless” for which a meaning is necessary or begging to be heard. This is the kind of voice which propels a need for change, be it large or small. On the surface, this Angst mood is “sad” or “depressing”, a feeling of being “lost” without understanding of what it exactly is that’s causing it: the “void” or as Sartre would say Nothingness. It is this nothingness which needs to come into awareness before it can be filled and Angst brings it to consciousness, or conscious awareness. The little prince slowly fulfilled the void he missed.
During his journey, he met various characters throughout his “absurd universe”. Absurdity is simply the underlying reality, which termed loosely means that any meaning we place on anything only comes from us, from the subjective meaning created by the self or the “they” through our historicity. There is no given which suggests that anything actually has true meaning simply because we are Beings-in-the-world, those whose true nature is Freedom where meaning is created by the situations and knowledge, comprehension and understanding of what it means to be x. As the little prince met others, the reader got an opportunity to see what Absurdity would be like – from an authentic view. Each planet was inhabited by one resident; that in itself is “absurd”. Each character represented a different quality of adult Bad Faith. For example, the lamplighter’s job was to turn the lamp on and off but he was exhausted but could not stop to take a break. He could, but he was locked into his treating himself as a being-in-itself, one who depended on the “orders” of when he had to light his lamp, trapped by time something he felt he could not control. Perhaps he could not control time, but he could control his perception of it whereby freeing himself from the restrictions which has been placed as a “given”, thus all he “sees” and understands.Bad Faith was laced in almost everything, except of course, the little prince. While the geographer never ventured to explore on his own, or the businessman’s need to own everything (which of course is absurd in itself), or the king who needed to rule, yet he was the only inhabitant on his planet show not only the absurdity of life’s meaning and “authority” but also the Bad Faith that each had confined himself to becoming a “thing-for-himself” as neither had anyone else to become a “thing” for. Also, because there are no others, I believe the drunk was a prime example of Sartre’s The Look; the drunkard was ashamed but had no one else there to judge him, to look and direct or influence meaning. He brought this on to himself, as perhaps from the Angst he felt, his isolation on a “deserted” planet created a conscience, which acted as the Other when no one else was there. Therefore, not listening to one’s conscience can be interpreted as an act of Bad Faith.
As to our final, authenticity, it is only the prince whom I see as the sole character in this book who lives an authentic life. He is free. He searches, seeks knowledge, welcomes adventures, tries to empathize and is true to himself. Just these few life “virtues” is enough for the existentialist to live as authentically as possible, to which only means to live a life aware of one’s current or potential Angst and Bad Faith while understanding that life is ultimately Absurd. There are no rules and we make them up as we go along, individually and socially. The little prince, unaware of other cultures on other planets, witnessed just how absurd any one of them were, including his. But his was special, as it had his rose. It had something which gave him meaning, meaning which when applied becomes a part of him and something bittersweet to let go. However, this is ultimate freedom with ultimate responsibility. It seems children are those who simply live this way: committed yet available while resuming the incredible responsibility it takes to be as pure and free as their nature dictates. And they don’t even recognize what power they have in their hands. Meanwhile, the adults think they know what the meaning of life is about. It turned out that the adult pilot learned more about life from the child prince.
* I’ve got an adult in mind who needs to learn a lesson or two from a child. But that’s for another time.
