"Foxes and Rag Dolls": The Emphasis on Social Relationships in The Little Prince

     The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is often categorized as children’s literature due to the French novella’s whimsical style. The story illustrates the fabled travels of the little prince from his home asteroid where he lives with a single rose, who lovingly torments him. The rose’s vain behavior causes the little prince to take flight with a flock of birds and venture from his solitary homeworld to Earth. During his journey, the little prince meets an untamed fox, a marooned pilot in the Sahara Desert, the inhabitants of neighboring planets, and a snake. At first glance the absurd collection appears to be a child’s fairytale. However, woven throughout the little prince’s travels and interactions is an allegory for humanity’s innate and fundamental sociability. Each new connection the little prince forms emphasizes the vitalness of social relationships within a functioning civilization. The rapport and roles of the characters within The Little Prince portray the sacrifices and rewards, along with the creation of purpose and meaning that accompanies the development of companionship.

      The growing bond between the fox and the little prince illustrates the sacrifice of independence in return for companionship. Upon his arrival to Earth, the little prince wanders the desert in search of friends and finally meets a fox. The little prince asks the fox if he will play with him, instead the fox replies: “‘I can’t play with you...I’m not tamed’” (Saint-Exupéry 58). The fox explains: “‘[Taming is] something that’s been too often neglected. It means, ‘to create ties’...’” (Saint-Exupéry 59). The fox is independent of any social connection; free to do what he desires as a wild animal, though the fox despises the monotony of his life. “I hunt chickens; people hunt me. All chickens are just alike, and all men are just alike,’” the fox states (Saint-Exupéry 59). However, as the little prince regularly visits the fox, the pair grow closer and the fox becomes dependent on the connection. Even though the fox relinquishes his independence, the personal relationship with the little prince causes the fox’s life to deviate from the invariability of simply hunting and being hunted. The turn from wild to tame illustrates the progression of the fox’s civilized social status. The fox is no longer isolated and restricted to the roles of predator and prey. Instead, the companionship of the little prince forever alters the fox’s worldview, even after the little prince departs. The fox confesses to the prince, “‘If you tame me, my life will be filled with sunshine...You see the wheat fields over there? I don’t eat bread...Wheat fields say nothing to me. Which is sad. But you have hair the color of gold. So [the wheat] will be wonderful, once you’ve tamed me!’” (Saint-Exupéry 60). After befriending the little prince, the fox finds beauty in a mundane crop and will be reminded of their unique companionship. As the fox confides in the little prince, “‘One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes’” (Saint-Exupéry 63). Fox begins to see the true individuality within the little prince, a being that was once common like the wheat.

     The impact of the little prince’s attention to the fox, along with the rose from his asteroid, expresses how time spent with ordinary beings develops companionship and alters the perception of beauty. The fox states, “‘For you I’m only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, we’ll need each other. You’ll be the only boy in the world for me. I’ll be the only fox in the world for you’” (Saint-Exupéry 59). The fox’s dialogue describes the aforementioned dependency of companionship, along with the discovery of uniqueness within one another as the bond grows stronger. The statement from the fox reminds the prince of the rose he left behind. Earlier, the little prince had discovered a garden filled with five thousand roses, even though his rose declared she was the only one of her species. However, once the prince completed taming the fox, the little prince returns to the garden and addresses the roses: “You’re not at all like my rose. You’re nothing at all yet...No one has tamed you and you haven’t tamed anyone. You’re the way my fox was...You’re lovely but you’re empty...But my rose, all on her own is more important than all of you together, since she’s the one I’ve watered’” (Saint-Exupéry 63). The time and care the little prince spent with both his rose and the fox differentiated between the masses of roses and foxes in the world. Without a personal understanding of each other’s individuality and investing effort with the ordinary, the little prince would have been unable to discover extraordinary in commonplace beings.

     In addition to broadening perspectives, the creation of ties allows for individuals to discover and fulfill a purpose of caring for others. In the early chapters of the little prince’s adventures, he visits six planets inhabited by solitary men including a king, a narcissist, a drunkard, a businessman, a geographer, and a lamplighter. As the little prince arrives to each planet, he is struck by confused admiration for the men dedicated to their occupation or infatuation. However, after conversing with each man, the little prince is puzzled by each character’s obsession with “not very serious” or “strange” undertakings. Yet, the little prince does not find the lamplighter’s task of lighting and snuffing a lone streetlight absurd, despite the other men’s fascinations. The little prince remarks, “‘Now [the lamplighter] would be despised by all the others...Yet he’s the only one who doesn’t strike me as ridiculous. Perhaps it’s because he’s thinking of something besides himself...I might have made myself a friend’” (Saint-Exupéry 43). The lamplighter’s profession, unlike the other men’s, is for the benefit of others and serves a purpose larger than his own ambition. Similarly, companionship requires that participants place their own desires aside. Social connections encourage individuals to purposefully serve their friends and loved ones, rather than fixating on immediate or selfish needs. Unlike the lamplighter, the other men do not work according to outside orders. Instead, the men live and work for themselves and for their own benefit. The selfish motives, isolation, and independence of the men, besides the lamplighter, are similar to the fox’s characteristics before he is tamed. Alternatively, the fox befriends the little prince and acquires the selflessness and purpose the lamplighter exhibits.

     Without social ties, individuals are lost and wander without purpose, as illustrated through the little prince’s observations of the railway. Sometime after his departure from the fox, the little prince converses with a railway switchman as trains rush past the station. After the little prince inquires why the passengers ride the trains in such a hurry, the switchman replies, “‘[The adults] aren’t chasing anything...They’re sleeping in there, or else they’re yawning. Only the children are pressing their noses against the windowpanes’” (Saint-Exupéry 65). The depiction of the anonymous, frantic adult passengers indicates their lack of social connections as they perpetually ride the trains, unsure of a final destination. The adults are disconnected from society and consumed by the monotony of their lives, similar to the untamed fox. Without social ties, the adults do not have a substantial purpose to pursue, unlike the children who are described readily gazing out the train windows in wonder. The little prince furthers the switchman’s statement, “‘Only the children know what they’re looking for...they spend their time on a rag doll and it becomes very important, and if it’s taken away from them, they cry...’” (Saint-Exupéry 65). The children, contrary to the adults, have a clear purpose defined by the companionship of a rag doll. The children find beauty in a seemingly common toy and assume responsibility for the doll. Saint-Exupéry emphasizes how the children’s unclouded consciences minimize distraction from their purpose and sociability, such as the company of the doll. However, the adults’ maturity and experience confuses their path as they concentrate on unimportant pursuits.

     The collection of allegories in The Little Prince effectively illustrates the necessity of social relationships within civilization. In order to form companionships, an individual may have to relinquish independence and self-centricity, similar to the wildness of the fox in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s novella. However, forming connections produces benefits for individual’s perspectives. Deep social relationships allow individuals to understand one another’s being and value each other’s inward individuality. After the little prince tamed the fox, the prince understood the value of his own rose and his own fox, even though both are outwardly commonplace. The time and care the little prince invested in his relationships allowed for the appreciation of the beauty in those he tamed. True companionship grants a purpose of servitude, such as the lamplighter’s task. However, those without companionship and clear sight are unable to focus on a worthy purpose. Instead, the companionless wander and sleep like the adult train passengers. The tale of the little prince encourages the young spirit within adults and children alike to understand that companionship is a key aspect of human civilization. Without nurturing social bonds, humanity will become a disjointed railway of roaring trains without children’s faces pressing to the glass. Instead, society will be filled with sleeping, anonymous, passengers disconnected from social obligations.