I.E.S Nº 9-011 “Del Atuel”.

English Teaching Training Course

ENGLISH LANGUAGE III
Teacher: María Paz Vizcaino
Student Rocío Elgueta

The Essential in Life

Nowadays our society has many fundamental problems. Some of them are unemployment,

lack of safety on the streets, and growing violence. However, all this difficulties have their roots in

the loss of our human values. We as human beings are forgetting what is really essential in life. A

clear demonstration of it is stated in a story called “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint Exupéry.

In the course of the story, the little prince undergoes a process of maturation that consists of three

stages which are his childish and innocent way of caring about a rose, the development of his

inquiring mind and his complete awareness of his relationship with his flower.

In the first stage of this maturation process, the little prince shows childlike innocence

because he swallows everything that the rose says to him. In other words, he behaves like a child

when he takes the rose’s words seriously. For example, when the rose tells him about her horror of

drafts and coughs two or three times, the little prince begins to believe that she is a weak and

complex creature. Thus, he protects his rose by putting her under a glass globe. In addition, the

flower convinces him that she is the only one of her kind in the entire universe. For this reason, the

boy comes up with the idea of being a great prince who possesses the most beautiful thing in the

world. Hence, we can see on these occasions how the little prince demonstrates his childish

behavior towards his rose.

The second stage occurs when the blond-haired boy starts questioning himself about his

relationship with the flower. In this case, the little prince shows a state of confusion, typical of

adolescents, as he finds out the actual conditions of his rose. For instance, when the little prince

asks the geographer what does ‘ephemeral’ mean and he answers his question, the boy realizes that

his flower is in danger of speedy disappearance and that he has left her all alone. That is how his

first moment of regret takes place. Furthermore, we can also see this adolescent stage in the little

prince when he arrives at a garden. In that place, he meets five thousand roses, which are just like
I.E.S Nº 9-011 “Del Atuel”. English Teaching Training Course
ENGLISH LANGUAGE III
Teacher: María Paz Vizcaino
Student Rocío Elgueta

his flower, so he reflects that a common flower and three volcanoes that come up to his knees do

not make him a very great prince. With these events in mind, we understand how he starts to form

his particular judgments about his rose and his relationship with her.

The third stage of this process takes place when the child becomes fully aware of the unique

connection that his rose and he have built. It means that our little prince changes from a childish

way of thinking into that of an adult. One example comes about once he starts to meet up with a

fox. During those meetings, he understands that that plant is not a common rose because it is his

rose. It is the time that he devoted to his flower that makes her so important. Ever since his

conversation with his new friend, the fox, he starts to value common things such as a single rose, or

a little water. Finally, he decides to return to the place where he had landed, because he wants to go

back to his asteroid with the aim of protecting his weak and naïve flower. Thus, it can be seen from

these situations that the little prince raises a complete awareness of his love for his rose.

In conclusion, throughout the process of maturation of the little prince, we can understand

what we as a society are leaving behind. In the first stage, the little prince’s innocence is what

makes him love his rose without questioning her. In the second stage, the child begins to wonder if

his flower was as unique as she told him, but he never stops worrying about her. And finally, in the

last stage he realizes that his relationship with his rose was truly special. Bearing these in mind, we

can come to the conclusion that we must not lose sight of what really matters in life.