The little prince- chapter 2

The little prince- chapter 2
The second chapter of the book, ‘little prince’ interests me greatly as it introduces us to a very unique and fascinating character, the little prince. This chapter tells us a lot about life, adults and how we only look at things and don’t see them. Seeing things and looking at them are two very different things. Though hard to believe, it is true that seeing something is not the same as looking at it. The latter is much easier and is what we always do. We only look at things around us but never bother to see the. To see those means to observe and understand the things while looking is merely glancing and not really understanding what the thing is. Chapter two of the book proves this. It also tells us how blind adults actually are and they force children to be blind like them. The knowledge issue of the article is that it is the way you look at things that makes all the difference. It is the way we perceive things that matters and not the way we look at things. Each ones perception are different as each person had different belief’s. this can be seen with an example of the revolt of 1857. An Indian person will perceive this in a very different way then a British person as their beliefs are different. An Indian historian perceives or looks at the revolt as a revolt for freedom while a British historian will look at it as a mutiny by an inferior Indian army. This is because the british believe Indians to be inferior then them.
The chapter starts with the author telling us about how he had an accident while flying a plane and was stranded on the Sahara desert six years ago. At the time his reason told him that it was a life or death situation but his emotions told him that he would be saved. In this case his emotions were also rational as there were chances of his survival. Emotions and thoughts are indeed inter-related and they both are dependent on each other. This can be seen here as it was his emotions that gave rise to his thoughts. His hope for survival and his fear of death is what gave rise to the thought of life or death in his head.
On reading this chapter I also realized how important the sense of sight is in our lives as without that we won’t be able to actually understand anything. When the author tells us about an extraordinary small person that he saw, a vague picture forms in our mind but it is only when we see the picture that he drawn that we begin to clearly picture and understand how this person really looks. This little man asks the author to draw a sheep. The author is amazed by this request and he observes the little man with astonishment. We also realize how the little man’s body language coneys a lot about him to the author. Without communication in words the author is able to gather that the little man isn’t a child lost in the desert as he doesn’t show any signs of fatigue, hunger, thirst or fear. The author then out of curiosity asked the little man what he was doing out there but the liitle man’s only reply was to draw him a sheep. The importance of language is apparent here as all the liitle man conveys in words is to draw him a sheep. He isn’t specific and it is this mystery and ambiguity that causes the author to take out of his pocket a paper and a fountain pen. The author tells the little man that he doesn’t know how to draw a sheep but the little man says that it doesn’t matter and that he should just draw a sheep. The little man’s behavior seems irrational as they are in the middle of a desert and all he can think of is a drawing of a sheep. The next part of the chapter involves perception and it is from here that we gather how it is perception that makes all the difference. First the author draws what he has drawn most often, a picture of a boa constrictor. The little man immediately guesses what the picture is and says that he doesn’t want an elephant in a boa constrictor but wants a sheep. The drawing that many adults had failed to understand in the past was understood and recognized by the little man. This was because the little man unlike all the other adults knew how to actually look at things and not only see them. People usually only glance at things but never really see them. It is only when we observe things that we realize what they truly are. The author then drew a picture of what he perceived to be a sheep but the little mans belief’s were different form that of the author. he said that the drawing wasn’t of a sheep but of a ram as it had horns. That is the way the little man perceived the drawing of the sheep, which was evidently quite different from the authors perception of the drawing. After many trials and errors the author was exhausted and so he randomly drew a box. He then explained that the sheep was inside the box. If you just look at the box, it will be only a box for you but when you see it you will realize that there is a possibility that there is something inside the box. The author was surprised to see that the little man was actually pleased to see the drawing. The little man then asked if the sheep will have to have a great deal of grass as where he lives everything is very small. The author then promptly answers that the sheep that he is giving him is very small. Thus it is the way in which the author and the little man perceived the box and the sheep that matters. If one believes something to be there, it is there, just like the author believed the sheep to be in the box and so it was there for him. One’s perceptions are based on one’s belief’s which in turn shapes ones truth. the author believed that there was a sheep in the box and so he perceived the box to have a sheep in it and that became his truth. even the little man’s belief and perception led him to believe that there was a sheep in the box.