"Happy Princes" by Juliana Diaz Baldocchi

Transcription

1 Happiness, Childhood and Children s Literature Conference St Hilda s College, Oxford 16 November 2013 "Happy Princes" by Juliana Diaz Baldocchi An Analysis of Different Definitions of Happiness in The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupéry and The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde

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3 Eudaimonia Greek: εὐδαιμονία [eu dai monía]), commonly translated as happiness or human flourishing Long term flourishing rather than fleeting pleasure

4 The Little Prince and The Happy Prince Simple actions Moments Relationships

5 Men set on their way in express trains, but they do not know what they are looking for. Then they rush about, and get excited, and turn round and round (St. Exupery, 32). So, what is it that we are continuously looking for?

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7 by Anya Stone Image taken from

8 What is the thought of that cruel education which sacrifices the present to an uncertain future that burdens the child with all sorts of restrictions, and begins by making him miserable, in order to prepare him for some far-off happiness which he may never enjoy? (Rousseau, 30)

9 What is this?

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11 Friendship

12 If I am attempting to describe him, it is in order not to forget him. It is sad to forget a friend. Not everyone has had a friend. And I could become like the grown-ups who are only concerned with figures. (23)

13 To what extent is friendship itself a necessary or central component of the happiness of human beings? How central to human happiness is loving?

14 Aristotle describes a good friend as someone who: wishes good to the other for the other s own sake, even if no one will know about it. (1168b2 6).

15 If someone loves a flower of which there is only one on the millions and millions of stars, it is enough to make him happy when he looks at them for he can say: my flower is somewhere out there. ( 34)

16 Relationships: A web of encounters

17 One can only understand the things one tames, said the fox. Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy ready made things in the shops. But since there are no shops where you can buy friends, men no longer have any friends. If you want a friend, tame me! (pg 78)

18 prince love quotes/

19 happy indeed I was if pleasure be happiness (3). Illustration for the first edition by Walter Crane Fromhttp:// www wikipedia com

20 Image by NikoShite fabel

21 Image by catterbuter

22 it is curious but I feel so warm now, although it is so cold. And the prince replies, that is because you have done a good action. Image taken from: lights dramaplay in day happy.html

23 Images taken from

24 They are in a great hurry. What are they looking for? No one is ever satisfied where he is, replies the signalman. Are they pursuing the first travellers? Asks the little prince. They are pursuing nothing at all. They sleep in there or yawn. Only the children press their noses against the windowpanes. Only the children know what they are looking for replies the little prince. (67)

25 Hedonic Treadmill

26 The idea of happiness has done its job as it has kept us trying. In other words, evolution has not set us up for the attainment of happiness, merely its pursuit. It says there is a crock of gold at the end of this next rainbow, and when we get to the end it says, there s a crock of gold at the end of the next rainbow. (Nettle, 168)

27 It is a flaw In happiness, to see beyond our bourn It forces us in summer skies to mourn It spoils the singing of the nightingale (Keats in Nettle, 160)

28 Happiness is not something that you can find, acquire or achieve directly. You have to get the conditions right and then wait. Some of those conditions are within you, such as coherence within the parts and levels of your personality. Other conditions require relationships to things beyond you: just as plants need sun, water and good soil to thrive, people need love, work, and connection to something larger. It is worth striving to get the right relationships between yourself and others, between yourself and work, and between yourself and something larger than yourself. If you get these relationships right, a sense of purpose and meaning will emerge. (Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis)

29 Happiness is a butterfly, which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. (Hawthorne in Nettle, 184)

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31 3 simple ways of getting to the roots of happiness 1. Paying attention to the moment 2. Simple kind actions 3. Creating relationships

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33 Bibliography: Primary texts: De Saint Exupery, Antoine. The Little Prince. Hertfordshire:Wordsworth Editions Unlimited, Wilde, Oscar. The Happy Prince and other stories. London: Penguin Classics, Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics. In W.D. Ross (trans). Adelaide: The University of Adelaide, Digital file. Secondary texts: Ahmed, Sarah. Multiculturalism and the Promise of Happiness. New Formations; Winter 2007/2008; 63; ProQuest Direct Complete pg

34 Andrade, Ricardo Alberto. About Reality and Lies: A principle of The Little Prince. Revista Electrónica de Psicología Social «Poiésis» ISSN No 19 Junio de 2010 Berlant, Lauren. Cruel Optimism. Durham: Duke UP, Chazal, Axelle. Translation and Readership: Readers Opinions and Preferences in Two Translations of The Little Prince. Thesis: Mc Quaire University, March PDF file. Killen, Jarlath. The Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde. Burlington: Ashgate Publishing company, Kraut, Richard, "Aristotle's Ethics", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = ethics/ Nettle, Daniel. Happiness: The Science Behind Your Smile. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Rousseau, Jean Jacques. Emile. Trans. Allan Bloom. New York: Basic Books, PDF file. Zipes, Jack. Fairytales and the Act of Subversion. London: Routledge, Zabelina, D., & Robinson, M. (2010). Child s play: Facilitating the originality of creative output by a priming manipulation. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 4 (1), DOI: /a

35 "Happy Princes" by Juliana Diaz Baldocchi The question of happiness in The Little Prince by Antoine de St. Exupery and The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde Good morning, today my presentation will focus on two texts: The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint Exupery, (1943) and The Happy Prince, which is a fairy tale by Oscar Wilde. (1888) I will talk about how the child and animal characters contest grown-ups definition of happiness and offer a different perspective. My aim is to invite you to think about how these texts can contribute to your own views on happiness within your everyday lives. There are many different views of what happiness is, or what it should be, and how it should be attained, how it can become an expectation, which we should seek within our human quest and accomplish at the end. Sarah Ahmed, in launching this conference, spoke of humanity searching for the promise of happiness as it becomes the purposeful nature of human action. Aristotle, thought the goal of every human life was eudaimonia, {slide} a deep conception of happiness as long-term flourishing, rather than fleeting pleasure. However, The Little Prince observes:, {slide} Men set on their way in express trains, but they do not know what they are looking for. Then.they rush about, and get excited, and turn round and round (St. Exupery, 32). So, what is it that humans are continuously looking for? Both stories, use child and animal characters to challenge adults pursuit of unachievable happiness and suggest paying attention to simple actions, treasured moments and cherished relationships. Now today, as I refer to (or dip into) the two stories, don t worry too much about which prince is which. In both cases they are child princes. And, just like you, they are observing, The Little 1

36 Prince observes what he has encountered on different planets in the Universe; and The Happy Prince observes what he sees in his city. I shall also be using some observations of Aristotle and observers/(scholars, philosophers, thinkers) through the centuries to today. I wrote this paper because I am fascinated with what children look for, what interests them and what they can teach us. Whether it s children looking out the windows of trains, or my young students in Colombia and in London, how children view happiness is essential for me to realize for my work and (in my) every day life. {Slide} The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde begins with townspeople admiring the statue of the Happy Prince. Both children and adults appreciate its beauty but for different reasons. Grown-ups produce sophisticated, aesthetic judgments about the statue, while the children say, He looks just like an angel. However, the maths teacher tells the children that they cannot know that because they have never seen angels. The children retort that they have, in their dream! That causes the maths teacher to frown because he disproves of children dreaming! From the start of the fairy tale, adults are portrayed as unimaginative and dull compared to imaginative and open-minded children. This teacher is indeed a representation of the constraining educational system that Jean Jacques Rousseau attacks: {slide} What is the thought of that cruel education which sacrifices the present to an uncertain future.that burdens the child with all sorts of restrictions and begins by making him miserable, in order to prepare him for some far-off happiness..which he may never enjoy? (Rousseau, 30) Rousseau hates the suppressing of children s present imagination and pleasure, for the expectation of happiness sometime in the long term future. {Slide} A similar situation arises at the beginning of St. Exupery s The Little Prince. The narrator had found when he was a child that boring and uninspired adults did not understand his drawings. This one {Slide} they thought was a hat, whereas in fact it is a drawing of boa constrictor digesting an elephant {Slide}. Eventually, by the age of six, he abandoned what could have been a career as a painter to dedicate his time to something more serious. 2

37 When he grew up he became an aeroplane pilot. But then, as an adult, the narrator finds himself living all alone (11) because other grown-ups, whom he tests with his drawing of the boa constrictor, have lost their imagination and much rather talk about bridge, golf and politics within other more important subjects. One day, his plane crashes in a desert. There the narrator meets the little prince and he is immediately touched by how full of imagination the fact the little prince s voice is as he narrates his adventures. From the beginning of the book, Saint Exupery presents the importance of friendship, as the relationship between the narrator and the Little Prince develops. Because the whole story unfolds as the narrator s memory, his description of the little Prince is something that the narrator wants to hold on to forever: {slide} If I am attempting to describe him, it is in order not to forget him. It is sad to forget a friend. Not everyone has had a friend. And I could become like the grown-ups who are only concerned with figures. (pg. 23) So Saint Exupery highlights the subject of friendship early on in the Little Prince. The story emphasizes the relationship between characters, and juxtaposes the egoistic grown ups, who live by themselves on their own planets, which the Little Prince visits during his different adventures. The Little Prince and The Happy Prince are both texts that give special importance to the creation of relationships. They help us to reflect upon several issues that Aristotle brings up on relationships. First in the Nicomachean Ethics, Without friends, no one would choose to live, though he possessed all the other goods (115a5-6). {Slide} I would now like us all to revalue:- 1) To what extent is friendship itself a necessary or central component of the happiness of human beings? 2) How central to human happiness is to love? {Slide}. 3

38 Before he sets off from his planet on his adventures, The Little Prince demonstrates care, affection and attachment to a rose. He invests time and energy towards his flower by watering it, protecting it and caring for it. The flower is vain and naïve, but the relationship that the Little Prince cultivates with her is a relationship that involves love. When the Prince leaves his planet he wants to return to his planet hoping to see her again. Because of the rose, the little prince finds that taking responsibility gives him a sense of purpose that makes him happy: [slide] If someone loves a flower of which there is only one on the millions and millions of stars, it is enough to make him happy when he looks at them for he can say: my flower is somewhere out there. (pg 34) Aristotle describes a good friend as one who wishes goods to the other for the other s own sake, even if no one will know about it. (1168b2-6). Initially The Little Prince makes us aware that social reality is made up of weaving human bonds, as we all journey through an endless web of encounters. The relationship between The Little Prince and his rose is an example that demonstrates dependence, responsibility and virtue. Slide Later [slide] In Chapter XXI, The Little Prince has arrived to Earth and meets a fox who asks to be tamed. The fox explains to the little prince that investing oneself in another person makes that person, and everything associated with him or her, more special. The fox here is explaining the importance of creating a connection and establish ties with another in order to feel that one needs the other. One can only understand the things one tames, said the fox. Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy ready-made things in the shops. But since there are no shops where you can buy friends, men no longer have any friends. If you want a friend, tame me! (pg 78) At that moment, The Little Prince realizes that he has tamed his rose, for although there are millions of roses that are similar to his, that particular one is important to him because he has created a relationship with her. He realizes that what he has given to her is even more important to what he has received from her in return, once again reiterating Aristotle s approach to 4

39 friendship for the others sake. These ties that are created indicate love, attachment, connections and purpose. Slide That is why the fox insists that: it is only with one s heart that one can see clearly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. (82) slide Similarly, in Oscar Wilde s The Happy Prince, the relationship that is built between the Prince s statue and the swallow is a clear example of friendship for the other s sake. When The Happy Prince was alive, he originally lived in the ignorance of a palace within an enclosed garden Sans souci, (without worries). {Slide} Sorrow was not allowed to enter his palace, he says, happy indeed I was if pleasure be happiness. But when he died, he was put up as a statue outside the garden, and he was introduced to the poverty of his city. So sadness invades the statue of the once Happy Prince and he weeps. A swallow who was migrating to Egypt, but was left behind because he had fallen in love with a reed, decides to rest under the statue before he continues his journey. He finds is immediately drenched, with the prince s tears. [Slide] The Prince realizes that he can use the jewels that dress his statue to help others. He wants to give people the material relief that they yearn. To do this, the statue asks the swallow to become his messenger. The weather is getting colder and the swallow knows he should move on, but he decides to be helpful. He takes a ruby from the sword of The Happy Prince and flies off across the city to give it to a seamstress who the Prince has seen has a sick child. The statue then tells the swallow to take one of his eyes made of sapphire to a poor writer and then his other sapphire eye to a poor little match girl. [slide] Now the prince is blind, he asks the swallow to give out the leaves of gold that cover his body, to the poor. The prince admits that I am covered with fine gold you must take it off leaf by leaf and give it to my poor for The living always think that gold can make them happy. (11) 5

40 Though the centuries sages such as Buddah and Aristotle have taught humanity, that material gain alone will not fulfill our deepest needs. There is evidence in the world happiness report that people who care more about others are typically happier than those who care more about themselves. That is what Oscar Wilde is trying to show us when the swallow says: [slide] it is curious but I feel so warm now, although it is so cold. And the prince replies, that is because you have done a good action. An action that Aristotle would consider altruistic, as it appeals to a greater good and is concerned with the welfare of others. This swallow s feeling of love and friendship towards the statue is actually nourishing the swallow and keeping him happy as well. The swallow postponed his own need of going to Egypt in favour of attending to the wishes of The Happy Prince s statue and benefit others. Because it gets too cold for him to survive physically, the swallow ends up dying. The grown-ups that the Little Prince meets along his way are very different to the swallow. They are adults who have lost their sense of wonder as they see the world as a place that caters for their own selfish desires. Throughout his journey, The Little Prince encounters several grown-ups. - First, he meets a King who claims to be the ruler of the whole Universe and believes that everyone who comes upon it is a subject. The King pathetically commands the little prince to do things he actually has already done, proving that with no relationships his power is empty. - The little Prince then encounters a vain man who craves admiration from all who pass by. However, by being alone he is assured of being the richest and best-looking man on his planet. - The Little Prince then meets a drunkard who drinks to forget that he is ashamed of drinking, - and a businessman who is busy counting stars that he believes he owns. The Little Prince finds all these grown-ups to be odd and strange for his ideas of what was important were very different to those of the grown-ups. The Little Prince finds no meaning or purpose in any of these adult s lives. 6

41 The fifth planet that the Little Prince visits is the lamplighter s. A man is in charge of lighting a lamp or putting it out, almost as if he brought one more star to life. The Little Prince finds some meaning in this job, as it is a job in which he is not only concerned with himself. slide When the Little Prince reaches the Earth he meets the railway signalman who sorts out travellers in bundles of a thousand. He works at the hub for the enormous trains that rush back and forth carrying dissatisfied adults from one place to the other: The little Prince says, They are in a great hurry. What are they looking for? As the exchange of travellers comes in, and the little Prince asks, were they not satisfied where they were? No one is ever satisfied where he is, replies the signalman. Are they pursuing the first travellers? Asks the little prince. They are pursuing nothing at all. They sleep in there or yawn. Only the children press their noses against the windowpanes. Only the children know what they are looking for replies the little prince. This is another example of the difference between the grown-ups and children with regards to taking the present for granted. The pursuit of happiness is seen as something that must continuously be looked for and searched for. Slide It becomes a hedonic treadmill: each time we advance towards a desired state, we quickly get used to the new terrain, and thus have no more satisfaction than we did in the previous location. As a result, we work hard at running but never get anywhere. (Nettle 76) It is precisely the view of the children, the fact that they are pressing their noses against the windowpanes of life, that they are considered to know what they are looking for; they are looking to get the best of life in the here and the now. They live the present. As Keats suggested, to experience happiness requires us to be at least sometimes fully present in the here and now, and not distracted by other desires: slide It is a flaw In happiness, to see beyond our bourn- It forces us in summer skies to mourn It spoils the singing of the nightingale (Keats in Nettle 160) 7

42 Critic such as Sarah Ahmed and Lauren Berlant, along with scientists such as David Nettle agree that: The idea of happiness has done its job as it has kept us trying. In other words, evolution has not set us up for the attainment of happiness, merely its pursuit. It says there is a crock of gold at the end of this next rainbow, and when we get to the end it says, there s a crock of gold at the end of the next rainbow. (Nettle, 168) Therefore, what should we do in order to avoid getting on to this hedonic treadmill? Jonathan Haydt in the Happiness Hypothesis proposes that Happiness is not something that you can find, acquire or achieve directly. You have to get the conditions right and then wait. Some of those conditions are within you, such as coherence within the parts and levels of your personality. Other conditions require relationships to things beyond you: Just as plants need sun, water and good soil to thrive, people need love, work, and connection to something larger. It is worth striving to get the right relationships between yourself and others, between yourself and work, and between yourself and something larger than yourself. If you get these relationships right, a sense of purpose and meaning will emerge. (Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis) Therefore, characters such as The Little Prince, the fox, the pilot, the Happy Prince and the swallow remind us that: slide Happiness is a butterfly, which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. The stories of Antoine de Saint Exupery and Oscar Wilde teach us that there are simple ways of reaching the roots of happiness which include paying attention to the present moment, doing kind actions and creating cherished relationships. If we decide to focus on these every day throughout life then we just might find the butterfly of happiness fluttering around us. As I had said at the beginning of my talk, I believe it is important to connect our research papers to our daily lives, and I therefore want to share with you a video in which we can notice how children show us that living the present, sharing with others, and creating relationships can bring us true happiness. 8

43 Bibliography: Primary texts: De Saint Exupery, Antoine. The Little Prince. Hertfordshire:Wordsworth Editions Unlimited, Wilde, Oscar. The Happy Prince and other stories. London: Penguin Classics, Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics. In W.D. Ross (trans). Adelaide: The University of Adelaide, Digital file. Secondary texts: Ahmed, Sarah. Multiculturalism and the Promise of Happiness. New Formations; Winter 2007/2008; 63; ProQuest Direct Complete pg Andrade, Ricardo Alberto. About Reality and Lies: A principle of The Little Prince. Revista Electrónica de Psicología Social «Poiésis» ISSN No 19 Junio de 2010 Berlant, Lauren. Cruel Optimism. Durham: Duke UP, Chazal, Axelle. Translation and Readership: Readers Opinions and Preferences in Two Translations of The Little Prince. Thesis: Mc Quaire University, March PDF file. Killen, Jarlath. The Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde. Burlington: Ashgate Publishing company, Kraut, Richard, "Aristotle's Ethics", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = Nettle, Daniel. Happiness: The Science Behind Your Smile. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Rousseau, Jean Jacques. Emile. Trans. Allan Bloom. New York: Basic Books, PDF file. Zipes, Jack. Fairytales and the Act of Subversion. London: Routledge, Zabelina, D., & Robinson, M. (2010). Child s play: Facilitating the originality of creative output by a priming manipulation. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 4 (1), DOI: /a