"And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly: what is essential is invisible to the eye."
Do you recognize this quote that I read in a recent article? When I read them, I knew immediately the words came from Le Petit Prince, an illustrated book by Antoine de Saint Exupery,
The Little Prince captivated me in college when I read it for the first time in French, then subsequently many times in English. The thoughtful, sweet story resonated with me as a college student making her way in the world. I looked at the tender drawings and saw the loneliness of the little prince so far from home. The drawings in the story are spare yet relate so well to the themes of the book about love, friendship, and responsibility as the little prince travels the universe and learns wisdom from his experiences.
Why did this story intrigue me so much at that time of my life? Was it the illustrations? The foreign-sounding name of the author? The baobab tree? The little prince's action of picking up seeds from the baobab tree to protect his little planet from being overwhelmed by these large trees? The humor behind his encounters with people on each asteroid he visited? I remember one of the encounters, a lamplighter who has to light his lamp each day at dawn and dusk. This lighter lives on an asteroid so small that dawn and dusk occurs every few minutes. Yet lamplighter was dedicated to his job. As the little prince travels the universe, his experiences help him to develop an understanding of a person's responsibilities towards himself and to the world around him. The themes of the book made me cherish Le Petit Prince and work to adopt a sense of responsibility to the world around me.
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Paul Gallico's Snow Goose is another tale of bravery and mystery that I read while in college. The story is about a reclusive artist who develops a relationship with a snow goose as World War II rages. The artist and the goose participate in the Dunkirk rescue by hundreds of small English boaters who took to the waters to save thousands of soldiers stranded at Dunkirk in France during the war. I think of that rescue when I hear about the entrapment of Ukrainians in Mariupol right now and wonder why we can't do something similar to save hundreds of lives.
I think that I'm reaching for these thoughtful stories as a way to see hope and bravery in a time of doubt when the sense of responsibility and character within human beings seems diminished. When I taught English in a middle school, we read The Diary of Anne Frank together. I choked up in front of my students as I read aloud Anne Frank's quiet words, "....I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart."
From Letty: Your blog reminds me so much of the writing in the Little Prince. You have simply stated humanities truths. I also read the Little Prince and the Snow goose. I haven’t revisited the Snow Goose in a long time, so when I get home I’ll have to look at my cupboard of books and see if I still have that beautiful beautiful story. I absolutely adore this particular story, keep it up.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Letty. I think I touched a cord in several people who had good memories of those two books. My copies are a little musty now. I’m glad I still had them. They both have such good stories to tell. And thank you for your comments on this post.
DeleteFrom Meta: I was first introduced to The Snow Goose as a TV film in 1971. It made a great impact on me and I went on to read it and teach it to freshman students in the 80's. The stars of the film were Richard Harris and a young Jenny Augutter, whom I now watch on Save the Midwife! Thank you for reminding me of that lovely book.
ReplyDeleteI hadn’t thought about the Snow Goose in a long time. I was looking through a group of books, thinking that there might be some I could give away, and found my copy. I also was introduced to the story in high school. I don’t think I ever saw the movie. I will have to look it up! And I watch Call the Midwife too — love the issues that the series brings up over the decades.
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