Sample written essay: "The Little Prince, Chapter 15"

This is a sample written essay for The Little Prince, Chapter 15.

"The Scholar as Metaphor"

by Justin Aukema

June 11, 2018

In Chapter 15, the little prince meets a geographer. Although the little prince is impressed with the geographer’s job at first, he changes his mind when he realizes that the geographer doesn’t actually visit the places that he studies. In fact, the geographer is a metaphor for scholars and scholarship in general, and the story subtly pokes fun at the somewhat paradoxical and hypocritical way that many scholars today approach their subjects. In other words, The Little Prince indicates that it would be better to actually experience somethings in person, rather than study them “objectively” from afar and only rely on second-hand information. Moreover, the little prince also discovers that, despite his scholarly air of “objectivity,” the geographer is, in fact, much more similar to other adults than he may like to believe. 

At first, the little prince exclaims that the geographer’s job is “very interesting” and says, “at last, this is a real job” (120). Yet his excitement soon changes to disappointment. “It is not a geographer’s job to look for cities or rivers or mountains or oceans or deserts,” says the geographer, “a geographer is too important to do that” (122). In other words, instead of visiting the places he studies in person, the geographer relies on second-hand information from “explorers.” Moreover, the explorers must present the geographer with “evidence” which the geographer must then verify the veracity of. Of course, this situation bears much similarity to the work of actual scholars today, who often study their subjects from afar without actually going to experience what it is they are writing about. Moreover, considered in this way, The Little Prince also throws into question the actual “objectivity” of scholars and the authenticity of their second-hand information and “evidence.” The story questions, therefore, whether it is really possible to know something without directly experiencing it. 

In addition, the geographer’s elitist and detached position vis-a-vis his subjects border on the point of absurdity. Geographers are “too important” to actually visit the places they study, he explains, and he continues to say that “geography books are the most important books of all” (122, 124). With these statements, we see that, in spite of his “objective” appearance, the geographer (scholar) is, in fact, more concerned about his own perceived “importance” rather than discerning the truth of reality. In this sense, the geographer is very similar, indeed, he is the same, to the other adults that the little prince has met thus far. That is to say, he mainly acts out of selfish desire rather than from pure curiosity and in the interest of others.