Monday, February 13, 2012

something about love.

A friend M and I chatted about "The Little Prince" by Antoine Saint de Exupery since he was reading "Wind, Sand and Stars".  He'd found the book accidentally in the library: "I looked up at the stacks for a study break and decided to read pick this up", he explained.


Komo- my aunt- has always been an avid reader. Whenever we visited our grandma's house, she would pick out mathematical puzzle books, travel memoirs, and children's stories for me to read. I remember several of these that I grew up reading, many of which felt different as I read them years later. I'd dismissed "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein as boring until I read it much later and couldn't believe how different it felt.


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"The Little Prince" is one of those. M reminded me how sad it was that the rose could never love him, while I recalled how I thought the prince was a brat. I remember transitioning from thinking that he was so very adventurous (when I was younger) to thinking he was rude (about his age) to reading deeper into his encounters and interactions. Here on earth the fox convinces the prince to tame him, to bring meaning into his daily life:
The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the color of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back to the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wheat in the wind...
Love may be familiarity, forming associations that make you smile when you are reminded of something you love. And I am so glad to have so many people I love in my life, even if we are all over the globe. Happy Valentine's day.

2 comments:

  1. I read The Little Prince in French back in high school. As it was explained to the class by the French teacher, both the fox and the prince had confused the word "tame" with "friendship" or "befriend". So, one interpretation of the exchange is that they were actually referring to becoming friends, illustrating their innocence and naivety.

    Here's a clip from the musical, showing the fox's and the prince's encounter in song (translated from French).

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4u9qHj-LU4

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  2. That's so interesting! I read it in Korean and by this point, the word "tame" has been translated into literally that. I thought it was an interesting choice of words, but you read it in the original? (and thanks for the clip- didn't know it was a musical too)

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