Disguised Imperfections: Human Nature in "The Little Prince," "The Mirror Maker," and "The Nose" Hermione Daguin College

Imperfection, like mortality itself, is an integrated aspect of being human. Most people, however, try to mask theirs through self-importance and ambition. Self-importance and ambition help to promote self-confidence and the illusion of perfection in an imperfect world. The three narratives--The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupéry, The Mirror Maker by Primo Levi, and The Nose by Nikolai Gogol--provide evidence to prove how imperfections are hidden by ambition and self-importance.

In The Little Prince, the narrator describes his meeting with a little prince from another planet. The little prince is a peculiar child whose non-stop talking and unique perspective of life made the reader questions grown-ups everywhere. In this book, one of the imperfections that the author focused on was vanity. One of the first examples of vanity we were presented with was the case of the discovery of Asteroid 325. The astronomer who first discovered it was dismissed because of the way he was dressed. A few years later, “the astronomer repeated his demonstration…wearing a very elegant suit. And this time everyone believed him” (Saint-Exupéry 10). Saint-Exupéry showed us that people hide behind beautiful clothing and accessories to make...