Cultivating Consciousness and Battling Baobabs: Enduring Biophilic Allegory in Saint- Exupéry’s The Little Prince

Abstract

From J.J. Rousseau’s eighteenth-century instruction on ‘cultivating’ the child, to the emergence from the mid-twentieth century of the forest school, there has long existed a strong sense of affiliation between nature and the child. This particular biophilia has gained impetus in recent years with the rise of green youth movements and the figure of the ‘eco-child’, an ecologically focused reimagining of modernism’s potent ‘wise child.’ Reflecting on his childhood, experiences of adult life, and the complex world around him, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s fervour for allegory manifested itself variously in The Little Prince (1943), but perhaps most richly in his engagement with plant life and nature, oftentimes reflecting a desperation to retain the lush pastures of childhood when faced with the arid, thorn-monster-ridden plains of modern adulthood. This paper explores the ways in which Saint-Exupéry uses metaphorical interpretations of plant life and the natural world to present allegorical readings of the wrongs of man and the modern world, and in turn the wisdom and integrity of children. Moreover, the paper acknowledges the pervasive longevity of such notions and issues, addressing their applicability both to Saint- Exupéry’s era and to the contemporary world some eighty years later.