The Little Prince

"The grown-ups advised me to put away my drawings of boa constrictors, outside or inside, and apply myself instead to geography, history, arithmetic, and grammar. That is why I abandoned, at the age of six, a magnificent career as an artist." 

The adults' lukewarm reaction to the pilot's drawings of the boa constrictor encapsulates much of what Saint-Exupéry sees as problematic about societal values. Because they lack imagination themselves, the adults entirely miss the imaginative significance of the drawings and encourage the pilot to pursue activities they see as practical—that is, subjects that will prepare him to one day have a job and earn money. Saint-Exupéry suggests that virtually all children go through this kind of discouragement as they grow older, and that the consequences of this are severe and long-lasting: regardless of whether the pilot would have grown up to be a "magnificent" artist, imagination is necessary if he is to find meaning and enjoyment in life. 

"Grown-ups like numbers. When you tell them about a new friend, they never ask questions about what really matters. They never ask: 'What does his voice sound like?' 'What games does he like best?' 'Does he collect butterflies?' They ask: 'How old is he?' 'How many brothers does he have?' 'How much does he weigh?' 'How much money does his father make?' Only then do they think they know him.”  

Throughout The Little Prince, numbers serve as a shorthand for Saint-Exupéry's critique of society. This is partly because of their association with money, and consequently the greed and materialism that plague the modern world. In this passage, the pilot condemns man's obsession with income and wealth. Even beyond this, Saint-Exupéry suggests that the urge to count and quantify everything is inherently at odds with what makes life meaningful. Relationships transform people who were previously just one among many into unique individuals; as the prince says of the fox: "I've made him my friend, and now he's the only fox in the world" (63).