Annotated Bibliography Assignment

Bibliography by Joanna Macapagal

By Joanna Macapagal, member of The Little Prince Project Team

 1. Cowles, Janelle. "Lessons from The Little Prince: Therapeutic Relationships with Children." Professional School Counseling 1.1 (Oct. 1997): 57-60. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Davidson Library, Santa Barbara, CA. 18 Feb. 2009 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=26566662&site=ehost-live>. 

          The powerful metaphors found in the book The Little Prince and its relevance to relationships between counselors and child clients is the main focus of this article.  The author, Janelle Cowles, believes that metaphors have the potential to “impact how counselors are in their relationships with clients.”  In this article, she utilizes the metaphors found in the relationship that develops between the Little Prince and the fox in order to illustrate her point.  Her main focus for this article is how these metaphors can offer a positive model for a counselor and child client relationship.  Cowles asserts that “De Saint-Exupery captures an essential feature of the counseling relationship as he describes the necessity of first going through the process of being tamed, [and] of establishing ties with another.”  Furthermore, she says that “stories are a special form of metaphor” and that they “can motivate us, cause us to recall, ponder, and embrace new ideas." 

                        Cowles parallels the character of the Little Prince to counselors who are eager to accomplish their given task to “fix” a child.  Given time constraints, counselors are inclined to skip “the process of building a relationship with the child client” which is an essential part of the counseling process.  Sadly, counselors have the tendency to simply assume that one automatically develops.  But just as the fox needed to be “tamed” by the Little Prince, Cowles stresses that children clients must also be “tamed.”  Taming or establishing ties with their child client requires the counselor to become familiar with the individual nature of the child by establishing meaningful connections.  Doing so gives the child the opportunity to stand “apart from all the rest.”   Once the child feels that the counselor has established a connection with him or her, the fox “suggests that the counselor and the child will begin to need each other.”  Cowles puts great emphasis on the importance of a genuine relationship between a counselor and their child client. 

            Using the interaction between the Little Prince and the fox, Janelle Cowles effectively created an exemplary paradigm for counseling children.  She productively paralleled the Little Prince to counselors and the fox to their child clients.  The power that she was able to illustrate from this metaphor shows that scrutiny and close study of these characters can bring to fruition practical models for psychological practices.  The team member who is responsible for analyzing the fox will particularly benefit enormously from this source.  However, the team as a whole can benefit from it as well because of the fact that a couple of the characters were able to be used to create a psychological model. 

The analysis offered in this article clearly show how Janelle Cowles came to her psychological model using the dialogue exchanged between the Little Prince and the fox.  In fact, she states the following:

“The little prince's encounter with the fox is a metaphor rich with implications for the counselor who works with children. There is little in the way of technique building in the story. What is offered is a way of being with children. Counselors who understand this way of being with children will have truly mastered the art of the counseling process.”

Stating that The Little Prince and its metaphors can assist counselors to become masters of the art of counseling is a significant claim to make considering that the counseling of children is something that most people want to see done correctly.  Nonetheless, it is a claim Cowles was able to substantiate in this article by analyzing the dialogue. 

2. Drewermann, Eugen. Discovering the Royal Child Within: A Spiritual Psychology of The Little

Prince.  New York: Crossroad Publishing Company, 1993.

Eugen Drewermann is a German psychologist, a celebrated peace activist and a controversial church critic.  His motives for writing this book are thoroughly explained in great detail on his official website: www.drewermann.info.  In essence, "Drewermann's aim is not simply to produce a work of literary analysis [...] he [also] wants to describe the reality that the story portrays in his own words and to explore its psychological and existential truth." 

In Drewermann's opinion, as well as the members of The Little Prince Project, the various characters whom the Little Prince encounters on his personal journey to find the answers to his questions "invite psychological analysis."  For each character, Drewermann offers a thorough psychological analysis coupled with the profound symbolism concerning their character.  The Little Prince Project team has similar psychological goals to the goals Drewermann had when he wrote this book with regard to character analysis. One of the project team’s plans on taking a psychological approach is to diagnose each character with a fitting mental ailment.  Given Drewermann’s educational background and experience in psychology, his book could potentially be of great assistance to achieving some of the goals of the project team.

The Royal Child of Drewermann's book is the Little Prince of Antoine de Saint-Exupery.  There are many cultures and religions from all over the world who share the common story of a prince or a type of perfect stranger who visits their people.  This mysterious and alluring visitor is able to see the truths about them and how they live their lives through virgin and unadulterated eyes.  Drewermann opens his book by delving into the concepts of this motif and its relevance to religion.  He parallels the Little Prince to other significant religious figures.  For example, analogous with Jesus Christ of the Christian tradition, the Little Prince was a mysterious visitor who offered words of hope to those who would listen.  This religious approach is not relevant to the project team’s current plans.  Nonetheless, the psychological study which Drewermann has employed in this source may greatly aid the team in their research.

3. McGee, Ryan. "Lost: Previewing 'The Little Prince.'" Zap 2 It 3 February 2009.  5 February

2009 <http://blog.zap2it.com/lost/2009/02/lost-previewing-the-little-prince.html>.

In this online article, Ryan McGee discusses an upcoming episode of the popular television show called Lost.  His job gives him the privilege to screen future episodes and in this particular article he addresses the episode titled "The Little Prince."  McGee's curiosity prompted him to read The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.  Upon reading the story, he was able to make many connections between its characters and the show Lost.  McGee notes that he is not an expert on Saint-Exupery’s book.  Nonetheless, a few things that “really, really jumped out at” him were worth illustrating in this article.  Because of his lack of expertise on the book, this source may not be academically useful.  However, this article’s relevancy lies in the modern connections that the popular show Lost has made with the classic story of The Little Prince.  One of the goals of The Little Prince Project team is to study and compare how the characters created by Saint de Exupery are perceived by modern readers to Exupery’s initial motives for creating each character during the time he wrote the book in 1943. 

One of the first things McGee makes evident in his article are the “familiar archetypes” in the book that can be easily connected to the characters on the television show.  For example, McGee equates the Drunkard and the Businessman to the Lost characters of Christian and Widmore.  McGee makes several other connections between the show and the book, such as the presence of volcanos and time being relevant.  However, for The Little Prince Project team's purposes, the most important thing that can be taken from this source is the fact that it makes evident how a largely popular modern television show is inspired by the characters of The Little Prince.

4.  (Unknown), Nathan.  "Shine a Light: Analysis of the Lamplighter." NBK 24/7 18 August 2008.  6 February 2009 <http://nathanblogskanye.wordpress.com/2008/08/18/ shine-a-light-analysis-of-the-lamplighterplanet-5-in-the-little-prince/>. 

          The main point or thesis that the above source supposes is that in order to truly catch a glimpse of personal flaws, r an “innocent and free thinking mind” is required.  The article begins by briefly discussing the plot of The Little Prince.  The author explains how the Little Prince encounters six different characters on six different planets who each are a representative of a particular personality.  Some of these characters are “[the] King that doesn’t rule over much of anything, a man who only cares about being complimented, a businessman who thinks he owns the stars, a lamplighter who takes no time for himself, and a geographer who refuses to leave his desk.”

The Little Prince’s encounters with these characters, the author argues, is what illuminates the flaws in each of them, thereby making evident the faults of adult life in general.  Such faults are especially obvious to the childlike mind of the Little Prince, but are insistently overlooked by the adult-minded and busy characters he comes across.  Through the dialogue between the Prince and the characters, the absurdity of their lives becomes clear.  So clear in fact that adult readers of this classic “children’s book” start to realize their own behaviors that closely mimic these faulty characters and thus begin “to feel stupid for not realizing how ridiculous [they] can be.”  These reflections are applicable to The Little Prince Project team’s goals of studying each character psychologically and the profundity of their modern relevance.

The character of the Lamplighter is more meticulously discussed in this article.  In essence, the author considers this character to be “the most interesting out of all [the] characters.”  He claims that the Lamplighter is the only character whom the Little Prince showed any sympathy for due to the fact that his job or obsession had purpose and was actually useful, thereby making this character “the least ridiculous.” The author also equates the Lamplighter to the “average working man” who blindly obeys “orders” without giving them any true consideration and thought. Thus, the Lamplighter spends the precious hours of his life unhappily seeking “rest.” 

The article concludes with the author persuading his readers to “take some time for [them]selves” and to start questioning the “orders” given to them.  He mentions again that the Little Prince tried to convince the Lamplighter to do the same thing, but ultimately he failed and the Lamplighter “remains unchanged.”  The author is trying to be like the Little Prince by trying to encourage his readers to consider some introspection.

5. Yang, Shanel. "Lessons on Men From 'The Little Prince': The Lamplighter." Easy Steps to

Success 5 November 2008.  5 February 2009 < http://shanelyang.com/2008/11/05/lessons

-on-men-from-the-little-prince-the-lamplighter/>.

This page is a personal reflection by Shanel Yang on the Lamplighter character found in chapter five of The Little Prince. Her site also includes analyses of several other characters from the story on separate pages.

  As noted on her Home page, Yang is an immigrant from South Korea who, inspired by the life lessons she learned from her many experiences, created a website that "provides free and easy lessons on how to succeed with people, work and money." While the author's goals are commendable, the personal nature of her site assumes a tone and language that is less professional than what may be found on a more scholarly site. However, one of the goals of The Little Prince Project team is to study the characters of The Little Prince and their power to touch and influence the lives of modern people.

Her lesson (article) begins with a synopsis of the book. She clarifies her motivation for analyzing this particular book when she states that "'The Little Prince' is the classic children’s book that has many lessons to teach all of us, including adults, about the wonders of being alive, love, and friendship—and about the folly of most adults who fail to appreciate all these things." Following the synopsis, Yang inserts the dialogue between the Lamplighter and The Little Prince. Doing so allows unfamiliar readers to be engaged by her subsequent reflections and conclusions on the Lamplighter's character.

In sum, Yang considers the Lamplighter to be "an honest but hardworking man" who does nothing but "follow orders, no matter how unreasonable." However, she does not deem his character to be one worthy of emulation. She says to her readers, "If you don’t want to end up like him, listen when people suggest ways to make your work easier." Much of Yang’s personal reflections have the potential to aid the project team’s goals in their close-analysis of the Lamplighter.