Little Prince stories are the topic that will always remain popular. Who little prince is the question most of the people who read more than a few books are capable of answering. The famous book by Antoine de Saint-Exupery had been translated into over 300 languages and is read in many schools across the world. But little in numbers are those aware of from where the writer extracted his inspiration. What is very interesting is that most of the characters from Little Prince were inspired by Antoine’s real-life acquaintances. Sheep, for example, was inspired by his friend’s poodle. But what about the rose?
Story of A Rose – Who Inspired the Beloved Flower?
Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s muse for the Little Prince’s rose was a woman named Consuelo Suncin de Sandoval. Consuelo was a written and an artisan as well. She was born in El Salvador(the state in Central America) on the 10th of April 1901, just one year after Exupery. Her father was a rich coffee grower and army reservist. Due to her asthma father sent her on schooling in the United States where she studied in San Francisco. Later she moved her education to Mexico and eventually to France.
Marriages of A Rose
Her first marriage was with the Mexican captain Ricardo Cardenas. She met him in the United States. Eventually, the two of them divorced. Divorced women were stigmatized at those times so Consuelo lied he was killed in the Mexican revolution. It was because being a widow produced much more empathy and respect. When she moved to French she met and married Enrique Gomez Carrillo, a Guatemalan writer, diplomat, and journalist. After his death in 1927, Consuelo moved to Buenos Aires.
In 1929 Antoine de Saint-Exupery was appointed as the director of Aeroposta Argentina airline. It is when he moved to live in Buenos Aires so he could do his job that encompassed negotiating agreements, flying airmails and participating in search missions for downed fliers.
In 1931 Consuelo met and married Antoine de Saint-Exupery. The marriage elevated her into countess as Exupery was born to an aristocratic French family whose linage could be traced several centuries earlier.
Married with Antoine
Their marriage was featured with numerous extramarital affairs from both sides. The most famous mistress Antoine had was Frenchwoman Helene de Vogue known by the nickname of Nelly. She was referred to as Madame de B. But they would eventually always return to each other. Consuelo was Exupery’s muse and it was her that inspired the story of a rose. Due to her asthma, she was fragile and by nature was also known to be very petulant.
All of those were features common with the story of a rose who often coughed and needed a screen to protect her from the winds. She was also the inspiring foundation for the fields of roses the Little Prince encountered during his voyage. Those roses represent Antoine’s philosophical struggle with his own infidelity. He wonders if the rose on his home planet and the ones he encountered on earth are same. Luckily, he encounters a fox.
And fox explains to him the secrets of taming. It tells him of the time and effort required to build deeper relationships and helps him discover that his rose is unique – one and only in the whole universe. Little Prince then goes back to the field of flowers and tells them they are shallow and empty. This symbolizes the writer’s understanding that the muse for his story of a rose Consuelo is his true love.
But her entrance into Antoine’s life did not only inspire rose. Her home country inspired volcanos on the planet of the Little Prince as well. El Salvador is known as the land of Volcanos and the volcanic range complex Cordillera de Apaneca was directly visible from Consuelo’s hometown Armenia. Tow active volcanos were inspired by the Santa-Ana volcano and the Izalco volcano while the dormant volcano was Cerro Verde.
The Tale of The Rose
After Antoine de Saint-Exupery disappeared on July 31st, 1944 during his last reconnaissance mission of collecting intelligence on German troops in the Rhone valley, with her wounds fresh, Consuelo wrote a memoir titled “The Tale of A Rose.” It was sealed in a trunk in her home and was rediscovered in the attic two decades after her death. It was published in France in 2000 on exactly one century after Antoine’s birth and had become a national sensation translated into over 16 languages.
Little Prince Chapter Eight
The flower is first closely introduced in chapter eight. When speaking of his planet little prince says there have always been many kinds of simple flowers with one ring of petals. They were taking very little space, would appear in the morning and fade away in the evening. Those flowers could symbolize Antoine’s previous loves and adventures with ladies as well. And then, all of a sudden winds brought one very special seed. The shoot was different from that of other plants. He feared it could have been a new kind of baobab.
But the plant had soon stopped growing and started developing its flower. It took quite some time for the petals to show but when it did the little prince was enchanted. And then, after lavishly introducing herself, the story of a rose started making requests. It asks for a screen and glass bell to protect her from winds and cold. It requests water to be poured into the ground around her. Brags with her little four thorns and challenges the tigers to come and try to do something to her. Says it was born with the sun.
And all these, after some time starts to agitate the Little Prince. Eventually, he decides to leave his world. But then he suffers for leaving the flower and judging her for her words rather than her deeds. Because she perfumed his whole planet with her fragrance and filled his world with the new allure of beauty Little Prince could not dream exist.
All this is a perfect example of how real love looks like. It takes time for the relationship between two people to develop. And in order for beauty to flourish care and nurturing must be involved. The path of one relationship is turbulent and full of hardships. But eventually, the reward is unmeasurable.
While many people claim the Little Prince ends with suicide we tend to believe that this is a novel about love and reunion. Once he allows the snake to bite him, not in a single moment does the little prince thinks he is going to die. All he wants is to get reunited with his beloved flower and since the road to his home planet is way too long the body is just too heavy to carry. Therefore, he allows the snake to bite him so his soul can be freed from it. The ending is also interpreted as a story of resurrection as the pilot can’t find his body the next morning.
This interpretation inclines towards the assumption that the little prince is actually Jesus Christ. One of the reasons for such an assumption is because only a child can be completely pure and innocent. And another is the Little Price’s belief in after-life. Yet the most important thing is the rose as a symbol of love. Because according to Christianity, God is love. And going back to his story of a rosemeans that Little Prince is actually reuniting with God.
