Planet of People summary for the reader's diary.

Year of publication of the book: 1939

Antoine Exupery's book "Planet of Humans" was first published back in 1939. In Russian, this book has another name - “Land of People”. The work is a collection of essays by the writer based on events from his life, personal impressions and reflections. Exupery’s novel “Planet of People” became so popular to read that the book was awarded a prize in the USA and France, and one of the main characters in the book became the prototype for the main character in the film “Wings of Courage” in 1995.

Books "Planet of People" summary

At the beginning of Antoine de Saint-Exupery's work "Planet of Men", the main character tells how he began to work as a pilot. In those days, planes could not withstand strong storms. Therefore, anyone who worked on airlines should have known that, as in, it is very important to know how to properly land a plane in bad weather. The main character was very worried. It seemed to him that he could not cope with such responsibility. In the evening he went to see his old friend, an experienced pilot named Guillaume. He had been working in aviation for a long time and had even flown over areas such as the Cordillera or the South Atlantic. Guillaume, after listening to the narrator’s experiences, asked him to get a map. The whole evening, friends marked on it all the dangerous places along the young pilot’s route. Guillaume talked about details that few people could know about. After this conversation, the main character felt a little better, and he realized that he could cope with his task.

At night the narrator went to work. His flight was scheduled to take place in a few hours, and he was a little uneasy. When he arrived, he heard that one of the pilots, a good friend of his, had crashed that night. The main character begins to worry. However, he understands that he has a great responsibility - he will have to deliver people and mail to Spain. He sees this as a kind of romance. He indulges in thoughts about how unhappy officials are, whose whole life revolves around money and petty worries. They will never be able to feel the emotional high that a pilot feels.

Further, the book “Planet of People” by Exupery, a brief summary tells about the friends of the main character. One of them was pilot Mermoz. He participated in the founding of the Casablanca-Dakar route. On his way there were many flights, several of them were difficult and even life-threatening. However, he managed to conquer any element and emerge victorious from any situation. It was Mermoz who at one time flew along the South American line and across the Andes. Later he gave this route to his fellow pilot Guillaume. Mermoz himself took up night flights. After working for more than twenty years, one day the pilot went on a flight across the ocean, but never returned.

However, there are also cases when those pilots who were already considered dead returned. This, for example, happened with Guillaume. Several years ago he had the opportunity to fly over the Andes. It was there that the connection between him and the dispatcher was broken. The signalmen began to worry and gave the order to form a search group. Several people tried to find Guillaume in the mountains for five days, but to no avail. As a result, it was decided to admit the death of the pilot. But after some time, to the surprise of everyone, Guillaume returned home. As the main character of the story, he managed to go through ice and snow and experience something that not every person can do. The narrator is sure that it was perseverance and a great desire to live that saved the pilot’s life where anyone else in his place would have died.

Further in the book “Planet of People,” Exupery talks about how a pilot feels when rising into the sky. After all, the view that opens before him during the flight is inaccessible to other people. All they see is a piece of land, grass, water around. However, you just have to rise up and it will all turn into a beautiful pattern created by nature. The main character regrets that people cannot live in harmony with all life on earth. He remembers one time he had to land in Argentina in the middle of an unfamiliar field. Then two young girls who looked like forest fairies came out to meet him. They knew about herbs and were friends with all living creatures that inhabited the territory. Then the narrator realized that it was this way of life that allows man to find harmony with nature. Alas, he never met these young maidens again, so he does not know what happened to them and where they are now.

Often pilots had to fly across the desert. It was a special territory with its own laws. Those who had an accident there became hostage to the sand. The Sahara was especially different. It was also scary here because of the rebels. The main character had to experience all the hardships of the desert from the first day of his work. His plane crashed near a fortress in West Africa. Then the crew met one sergeant, whose reaction amazed everyone. Seeing the pilots, the employee probably thought that God himself had sent them and began to cry.

If we download Exupery’s work “Planet of Humans,” we learn that the main character also managed to observe the reaction of the desert inhabitants who visited France for the first time. In the places where they grew up, rain was so rare that it was considered a miracle. After the rain, many Arabs left their houses and went to look for grass. And in a small French town it rained incessantly. Then some Arabs decided that the god the French worshiped was much kinder than their own. There were even cases when people changed their faith.

But there were also Arabs who did not want to submit to strangers. They believed in their power and wanted to regain power in their land. The main character says that many desert inhabitants were attracted to one French captain, who periodically attacked various tribes of nomads. His name was Bonnafus, and even then the Arabs were making up legends about him. They all dreamed of how sooner or later they would kill their enemy. However, after some time, Bonnafus had to go back to France. The nomads were upset by this news. They wanted payback, not the captain's capitulation. For many, a certain landmark in life then disappeared. But, despite the departure of Bonnafus, the Arabs believed that the day would come and their enemy would attack again. They were well prepared to repel the attack and were expecting it from day to day. The belief that a great battle lay ahead gave the nomads strength.

The main character also had encounters with slaves, of which there were a lot in the deserts. All Arabs called slaves by the name Bark. One day the narrator met a slave who claimed that his name was Mohammed. He managed to remember his previous life, in which he was engaged in driving cattle. The main character could not pass by the unfortunate man and decided to buy him out of slavery. When Mohammed received his freedom, he was even a little confused. The former slave did not know at all what to do with his new life. His mind was turned upside down by a small child who smiled at the former slave. Then he realized that he wanted to bring joy to children. With the money he had, he bought toys and gave them to all the kids he met on the street. People were surprised at this behavior, but Mohammed was truly happy at that moment.

Further in the book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry “Planet of People”, a brief summary tells that one day the main character crashed in the desert. Then he and his comrades suffered from hunger and thirst for three days. They were all sure that death was already on their heels. But even at that moment the narrator understood that he did not regret anything. He liked his life, partly because of the dangers it posed. He was happy to be here and now, in the middle of the desert in the company of his comrades. Then they met a Bedouin who gave the pilots a drink and helped them get out of captivity in the sands.

The main character claims that the main thing in the life of any person is to find what he was sent to earth for. It doesn't have to be some grand mission. After all, even a small but good deed can change the world for the better. The main thing is to find your calling in time and follow it. The narrator recalls meetings with people who influenced his worldview.

One of these was a meeting with a young man who just a few years ago worked as an ordinary accountant. But time dictates its own rules, and when the war began, the man went to the front. There he became a sergeant and sincerely believed that serving the Motherland was the main task of his life. And this brought him happiness even in the most difficult times. Another important event in the life of the main character was a meeting with Poles who were deported from France. All of them worked there illegally, and therefore were forced to go home to poverty. Their faces were gray and gloomy from the fate they had endured. And only the small child, who was sleeping peacefully on the train, reminded the main character of Mozart - his face was so fresh and calm. Then he felt sad that in each of these people there lived an unrecognized talent and genius that was killed by cruel reality.

The book “Planet of People” on the Top books website

Exupery's novel "Planet of People" is so popular to read that it ended up in ours. This interest has recently grown noticeably, as has the general interest in Exupery’s books. Therefore, we can confidently say that we will see it again and again among the ratings of our site.

You can read the book “Planet of People” by Antoine de Saint-Exupery online on the Top Books website.

Henri Guillaumet, my comrade, I dedicate this book to you

The earth helps us understand ourselves in a way that no books can help. For the earth resists us. A person learns about himself in the fight against obstacles. But for this fight he needs tools. You need a plane or plow. The peasant, cultivating his field, little by little wrests from nature the solution to some of its secrets and obtains the universal truth. Likewise, an airplane, a tool that paves air routes, introduces a person to eternal questions.

I will never forget my first night flight - it was over Argentina, the night was dark, only rare lights scattered across the plain twinkled like stars.

In this sea of ​​darkness, every light announced the miracle of the human spirit. In the light of that lamp over there, someone is reading, or deep in thought, or confiding their most secret secrets to a friend. And here, perhaps, someone is trying to cover the vastness of the Universe or struggling with calculations, measuring the Andromeda nebula. And they love it there. Lonely lights are scattered in the fields, and everyone needs food. Even the most modest ones - those that shine for a poet, a teacher, a carpenter. Living stars are burning, but how many still closed windows are there, how many extinguished stars, how many sleeping people...

Let each other know. I wish I could call you, the lights scattered in the fields - perhaps others will respond.

This was in 1926. I then became a pilot for the Latecoer airline, which, even before Aeropostal and Air France, established a connection between Toulouse and Dakar. Here I learned our craft. Like my other comrades, I underwent an internship, without which a newcomer would not be trusted with mail. Test flights, Toulouse-Perpignan flights, tedious meteorology lessons in the hangar, where no teeth were met. We were afraid of the still unknown mountains of Spain and looked at the “old people” with respect.

We met “old men” in a restaurant - they were gloomy, even, perhaps, withdrawn, and condescendingly gave us advice. It happened that one of them, returning from Casablanca or Alicante, arrived later than everyone else, in a leather jacket still wet from the rain, and one of us timidly asked how the flight was - and behind the short, stingy answers we saw an extraordinary world , where traps and snares lie in wait everywhere, where a sheer cliff suddenly rises in front of you or a whirlwind blows in, capable of uprooting mighty cedars. Black dragons block the entrance to the valleys, mountain ranges are crowned with sheaves of lightning. The “old men” skillfully kept us in awe. And then one of them did not return, and the living remained forever to honor his memory.

I remember how Bury, an old pilot who later crashed in Corbières, returned from one such flight. He sat down at our table and ate slowly, without saying a word; the weight of the exorbitant tension still weighed on his shoulders. It was in the evening, on one of those vile days, when along the entire route, from end to end, the sky seemed rotten and the pilot seemed as if the mountain peaks were rolling in the mud - so on the old sailing ships the cannons were torn from their chains and furrowed the deck, threatening death. I looked at Bury for a long time and finally, swallowing, I dared to ask whether the flight was difficult. Buri was gloomily bending over the plate; he did not hear. In an airplane with an open cockpit, the pilot leans out from behind the windshield in bad weather in order to see better, and the air flow continues to lash his face and whistle in his ears for a long time. Finally, Bury seemed to wake up and hear me, raised his head and laughed. It was wonderful - Bury did not laugh often, this sudden laughter seemed to illuminate his fatigue. He did not talk about his victory and silently began to eat again. But in the intoxication of the restaurant, among the petty officials who were consoling themselves here after their miserable everyday troubles, in the guise of a comrade whose shoulders were weighed down by fatigue, an extraordinary nobility suddenly revealed itself to me: from the rough shell, for a moment, an angel who defeated the dragon appeared.

Finally, one evening they called me into the boss’s office. He said briefly:

You are flying tomorrow.

I stood and waited for him to let me go now. But after a pause he added:

Do you know the instructions well?

In those days, engines were unreliable, not like today. Often, for no apparent reason, they let us down: suddenly there was a deafening roar and ringing, as if dishes were breaking into pieces, and we had to go to land, and the prickly rocks of Spain grinned towards us. “In these places, if the engine is finished, it’s a lost cause - the plane is finished too!” - we said. But the plane can be replaced. The most important thing is not to crash into a rock. Therefore, under pain of the most severe punishment, we were forbidden to go above the clouds if there were mountains below. In the event of an accident, the pilot, while descending, could crash against some peak hidden under the white wool of clouds.

That is why that evening, as we were leaving, the slow voice once again insistently inspired me:

Of course, it’s not bad to walk over Spain using a compass, over a sea of ​​clouds, it’s even beautiful, but...

And even more slowly, with the arrangement:

-...but remember, under the sea of ​​clouds there is eternity...

And now the peaceful, serene expanse that opens up to the eye when you emerge from the clouds immediately appeared before me in a new light. This meek calm is a trap. I already imagined a huge white trap lurking far below. It would seem that beneath it the bustle of people, the noise, the restless life of cities is in full swing - but no, there is silence there even more complete than above, an indestructible and eternal peace. The white viscous mess became for me the boundary separating existence from non-existence, the known from the incomprehensible. Now I guessed that you comprehend the meaning of the visible world only through culture, through knowledge and your craft. The sea of ​​clouds is also familiar to mountain residents. But they do not see a mysterious veil in it.

I left the boss proud, like a boy. At dawn it will be my turn, they will entrust passengers and African mail to me. What if I'm not worth it? Am I ready to take on such responsibility? There are too few landing sites in Spain - if even a small breakdown occurs, will I find shelter, will I be able to land? I bent over the map as if over a barren desert, and could not find the answer. And so, on the eve of a decisive battle, overcome by pride and timidity, I went to Guillaume. My friend Guillaume already knew these routes. He learned all the tricks and tricks. He knows how to conquer Spain. Let him let me in on his secrets too. Guillaume greeted me with a smile.

I've already heard the news. Are you happy?

He took a bottle of port wine and glasses from the closet and, still smiling, came up to me.

Such an event must be sprinkled. You'll see, everything will be fine!

Confidence emanated from him, like light from a lamp. A few years later he, my friend Guillaume, made record mail flights over the Cordilleras and the South Atlantic. And that evening, sitting under the lamp, which illuminated his shirt, his crossed arms and a smile that immediately perked me up, he said simply:

You will have troubles - thunderstorm, fog, snow - you cannot do without it. And you think like this: others have flown, they went through it, so I can do it too.

I finally unfolded my map and asked him to review the route with me. He leaned over the illuminated map, leaned on his friend’s shoulder - and again felt calm and confident, as in his school days.

It was a strange geography lesson! Guillaume did not give me information about Spain, he gave me its friendship. He did not talk about water basins, population or livestock. He was not talking about Guadix, but about three orange trees that grow on the edge of a field not far from Guadix. “Beware, mark them on the map...” And from that hour on, three trees occupied more space on my map than the Sierra Nevada. He was not talking about Lorca, but about a small farm near Lorca. About the life of this farm. About her owner. And about the hostess. And this couple, lost in the vastness of the earth more than a thousand kilometers away from us, grew immeasurably in my eyes. Their house stood on a mountainside, their windows shone from afar like stars - like lighthouse keepers, these two were always ready to help people with their fire.

Antoine De Saint-Exupéry is an outstanding French writer and professional pilot. This man miraculously combined two completely dissimilar crafts, managing to achieve significant success in both fields.

Exupery put his memories and thoughts about his favorite activity - flying - in literary form. The sky inspired the writer’s story “The Pilot”, the story “Military Pilot”, the novels “Southern Postal”, “Night Flight” and “Planet of People”.

His creations became not just informative chronicles or memoirs of a pilot, but the first works about flights from a professional pilot with deep philosophical reasoning and vivid artistic images.

The sky attracted Antoine De Saint-Exupéry from a very young age. It had some inexplicable power over him, so the boy could look at the endless expanses of heaven for a long time. For this oddity, little Antoine was nicknamed Lunatic by his peers.

Exupery made his first flight at the age of 12. Of course, he was not in charge of the car then. At the helm was the famous pilot Gabriel Wrablewski. After a kind of baptism of fire, Antoine did not take to the skies for nine whole years. Having been drafted into the army in 1921, Exupery was assigned to a fighter aviation regiment. This event played a decisive role in the further choice of profession. Antoine fell selflessly and forever in love with the sky.

He reports this in letters to his mother (“I adore this profession!”) ​​and shares it with readers on the pages of his works. It was the love of flying and devotion to professional duty that became the main reasons why, during the war, Exupery took to the skies, becoming a military pilot. Despite the persuasion of his friends, who highly valued his literary talent, he did not want to sit out in the rear and met his death at the controls of a combat aircraft.

The body of the pilot Exupery was never found. For a long time he was considered missing. Fragments of the aircraft, allegedly controlled by Saint-Exupéry, were recovered from the seabed only in 2000. But this is just a formality - the glory of literary works has long since resurrected its creator.

"Planet of People"

The novel "Planet of Men" (1939) is one of the most autobiographical. The author and the main character merge into one person. The work is a collection of memoirs, reports, philosophical reflections, and therefore lacks a traditional plot.

Talking about the events experienced during the years of his pilot’s career, Saint-Ex (Exupéry’s friendly nickname) talks about such realities as duty, responsibility, and human destiny. The author describes two worlds in which he was lucky enough to live. This is the space of heaven and the space of earth. Polarly different, they are in close interaction with each other, creating a single universe - the Planet of People.

"Line", "Comrades"

The memoirs of the author-protagonist begin in 1926, when he, a young pilot, had just joined the Latecoer company. The task of Exupery and his colleagues was to deliver mail from France to Africa. Latecoer was the first to establish connections between Toulouse and Dakar (the westernmost city in Africa), so many of the airline's pilots were pioneering reconnaissance aircraft.

The narrator talks about how difficult the work of a research pilot is, how important it is to know the route you are flying by heart, and what dangers await the person at the helm. It allows the reader to look at the world through the eyes of a pilot. So, for an airplane passenger, clouds are nothing more than a dull white mess; for a pilot, they are an important landmark, a map of the area, a rich source of information. Mountains for an ordinary person are a majestic example of beauty and inspiration, but for a pilot they are a mortal danger.

Saint-Ex remembers with reverent awe the “old men,” experienced pilots. Even though they were a little arrogant towards the youngsters, they always helped with practical advice and were treasure troves of invaluable experience, which can sometimes cost one’s life.

A young pilot talks about his comrades. He remembers the scout Mermoz, who conquered the sands and snow. He died without returning from another reconnaissance flight. He admires the feat of Guillaume, who, having suffered a shipwreck, walked through the snow for days on end, despaired a thousand times, prepared to face death, but still did not give up and survived.

This "terrible" technological progress

Technological progress has its supporters and opponents. The latter believe that machines destroy people. The author is sure that the machine itself is not terrible, it is only a means. There is nothing harmful in it if it is used to achieve a good purpose. However, people, Exupery ironically, are just “young savages” who “are not tired of marveling at new toys.”

Thus, the technical improvement of aircraft has turned into a race between companies, countries, and individual inventors. Driven by the excitement of competition, humanity has completely forgotten why the aircraft actually needs to be improved. And so that cargo is delivered to remote corners of the planet, so that there is communication between countries, so that pilots and passengers do not die.

It is this miracle machine that turns the pilot into a wanderer, into an explorer of new worlds. The most impressive discovery for the pilot Exupery was the Sahara.

"Oasis", "In the Desert", "In the Heart of the Desert"

Before describing the desert, the narrator shares his impressions of the oasis - one of the most mysterious wonders of the world. The pristine garden, surrounded by desert sands, hides more secrets than the Great Wall of China.

The author recalls one of his stops. This happened near Concordia. He became a guest of a secluded house in which one family led their quiet life. In the middle of a desert area, the stone structure seemed like a real fortress, and inside it was a new earthly paradise. The hospitable owner invites the guest into the house. The rooms smell of old books, and this aroma permeates all objects, like church incense.

The pilot meets two beautiful inhabitants of the “fortress” - the daughters of the owner. Young girls are afraid of the stranger. Their spontaneity, modesty, and virginal beauty delight the pilot Exupery. He calls the girls fairies of the oasis and sadly imagines how they will grow up and “some idiot will take them into slavery.”

The oasis is behind. Acquaintance with the desert begins. Due to his duty, Exupery spent three long years in the Sahara. During this time, he learned to read the desert, feel its mood, recognize sand signals of danger. He knew the painful taste of thirst and believed in water as in God.

Sahara is conducive to philosophy. The narrator talks about loneliness and the transience of time. Usually people don't notice how time passes. They squander its precious grains on trifles, while the best earthly gifts slip through their fingers. Being in the Sahara, far from the bustle of the world, Exupery thinks with horror about how quickly life goes by. The scary thing is not that youth is fading, but that there, far away, the whole world is aging.

Fascinating but dangerous

Sahara is not only bliss and tranquility. Its sands are fraught with many dangers. The pilots have to deal more than once with rebels from unconquered tribes who are in the habit of executing captured Europeans. Fortunately, for Exupery and his comrades, the meetings with the savages were quite peaceful and even educational.

And one day the desert almost destroyed Saint-Ex. Having crashed, Exupery and the mechanic Prevost found themselves captive in sand hundreds of kilometers from civilization. For several days they suffered from thirst and went crazy from mirages. And when the sticky breath of death was already constricting the throat, the unfortunate ones were saved by a local Bedouin.

Find out more about the main characters of the famous fairy tale by the French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupery “The Little Prince” in our new article.

If you want to find out what kind of amazing person is behind all these works, we recommend reading the biography of Antoine De Saint-Exupéry. Amazing facts from the life of the great writer.

"People"

In the last part of the novel, Saint-Ex talks about two types of people: those who live by calling, and those who exist in sleepy oblivion. From the outside, the life of the latter may seem quite successful, but in fact it is empty, because it has no worthwhile goal.

Such thoughts come to the narrator when he is traveling on a train and watching the empty faces of his fellow passengers. Perhaps in one of them a great poet or artist is languishing under the weight of everyday conventions. Only one face inspires hope in Exupery - the face of a sleeping boy nestled between his parents. This is a real little prince. If it were not for the dull environment in which he would have to grow and vegetate, a second Mozart could emerge from him. But, alas, Mozart is doomed.

“Only the Spirit,” Exupery concludes aphoristically, “touches the clay and creates Man from it.”

The book is written in the first person. Exupery dedicated it to one of his fellow pilots, Henri Guillaumet.

A person reveals himself in the fight against obstacles. The pilot is like a peasant who cultivates the land and thereby wrests from nature some of its secrets. The work of a pilot is just as fruitful. The first flight over Argentina was unforgettable: lights flickered below, and each of them spoke about the miracle of human consciousness - about dreams, hopes, love.

Exupery began working on the Toulouse-Dakar line in 1926. Experienced pilots behaved somewhat aloof, but in their abrupt stories a fairy-tale world of mountain ranges with traps, failures and whirlwinds arose. The “old men” skillfully maintained their admiration, which only increased when one of them did not return from the flight. And then it was Exupery’s turn: at night he went to the airfield in an old bus and, like many of his comrades, felt how a ruler was born within him - the man responsible for the Spanish and African mail. The officials sitting nearby talked about illness, money, small household chores - these people voluntarily imprisoned themselves in the prison of philistine prosperity, and a musician, poet or astronomer would never awaken in their callous souls. It’s a different matter for a pilot who has to enter into an argument with a thunderstorm, mountains and the ocean - no one regretted his choice, although for many this bus became the last earthly refuge.

Of his comrades, Exupery primarily singles out Mermoz, one of the founders of the French Casablanca-Dakar airline and the discoverer of the South American line. Mermoz “conducted reconnaissance” for others and, having mastered the Andes, handed over this area to Guillaume, and he himself set about taming the night. He conquered sands, mountains and the sea, which, in turn, swallowed him up more than once - but he always got out of captivity. And now, after twelve years of work, during the next flight across the South Atlantic, he briefly announced that he was turning off the right rear engine. All radio stations from Paris to Buenos Aires went on dreary watch, but there was no more news from Mermoz. Having rested at the bottom of the ocean, he completed his life's work.

No one can replace those who died. And pilots experience the greatest happiness when suddenly someone who has already been mentally buried is resurrected. This is what happened to Guillaume, who disappeared during a flight over the Andes. For five days his comrades searched for him unsuccessfully, and there was no longer any doubt that he had died - either in a fall or from the cold. But Guillaume performed a miracle of his own salvation, passing through the snow and ice. He later said that he endured something that no animal could endure - there is nothing nobler than these words, showing the measure of the greatness of man, defining his true place in nature.

The pilot thinks in terms of the universe and rereads history in a new way. Civilization is but fragile gilding. People forget that there is no deep layer of earth under their feet. The insignificant pond, surrounded by houses and trees, is subject to the ebb and flow of the tides. Under a thin layer of grass and flowers, amazing transformations take place - only thanks to an airplane can they sometimes be seen. Another magical quality of the airplane is that it transports the pilot into the heart of the miraculous. This happened to Exupery in Argentina. He landed on some field, not suspecting that he would end up in a fairy-tale house and meet two young fairies who were friends with wild herbs and snakes. These savage princesses lived in harmony with the Universe. What happened to them? The transition from girlhood to the state of a married woman is fraught with fatal mistakes - perhaps some fool has already taken the princess into slavery.

In the desert such meetings are impossible - here pilots become prisoners of the sands. The presence of the rebels made the Sahara even more hostile. Exupery learned the hardships of the desert from his very first voyage; When his plane crashed near a small fort in West Africa, the old sergeant received the pilots as messengers from heaven - he cried when he heard their voices.

But the rebellious Arabs of the desert were just as shocked when they visited France, which was unfamiliar to them. If rain suddenly falls in the Sahara, a great migration begins - entire tribes go three hundred leagues in search of grass. And in Savoy, precious moisture gushed out as if from a leaky tank. And the old leaders later said that the French god was much more generous to the French than the god of the Arabs was to the Arabs. Many barbarians have wavered in their faith and almost submitted to strangers, but among them there are still those who suddenly rebel to restore their former greatness - the fallen warrior turned shepherd cannot forget how his heart beat by the night fire. Exupery recalls a conversation with one of these nomads - this man defended not freedom (everyone is free in the desert) and not wealth (there is none in the desert), but his secret world. The Arabs themselves were admired by the French captain Bonnafus, who carried out bold raids on nomadic camps. His existence graced the sands, for there is no greater joy than the slaying of such a magnificent enemy. When Bonnafous left for France, the desert seemed to have lost one of its poles. But the Arabs continued to believe that he would return for the lost sense of valor - if this happened, the rebellious tribes would receive the news on the very first night. Then the warriors will silently lead the camels to the well, prepare a supply of barley and check the shutters, and then set out on a campaign, driven by a strange feeling of hate-love.

Even a slave can gain a sense of dignity if he has not lost his memory. The Arabs gave all their slaves the name Bark, but one of them remembered that his name was Mohammed and he was a cattle driver in Marrakech. In the end, Exupery managed to buy him back. At first, Bark didn't know what to do with his newfound freedom. The old black man was awakened by the child’s smile - he felt his importance on earth, having spent almost all his money on gifts for children. His guide decided that he had gone mad with joy. And he was simply possessed by the need to become a man among people.

Now there are no more rebellious tribes left. The sands have lost their secret. But the experience will never be forgotten. Once, Exupery managed to approach the very heart of the desert - this happened in 1935, when his plane crashed into the ground near the borders of Libya. Together with the mechanic Prevost, he spent three endless days among the sands. The Sahara almost killed them: they suffered from thirst and loneliness, their minds were exhausted under the weight of mirages. The almost half-dead pilot told himself that he did not regret anything: he got the best share, for he left the city with its accountants and returned to the peasant truth. It was not dangers that attracted him - he loved and loves life.

The pilots were saved by a Bedouin, who seemed to them an omnipotent deity. But the truth is difficult to understand, even when you come into contact with it. At the moment of supreme despair, a person finds peace of mind - probably, Bonnafous and Guillaume knew it. Anyone can wake up from mental slumber - this requires an opportunity, favorable soil or the powerful command of religion. On the Madrid front, Exupery met a sergeant who had once been a small accountant in Barcelona - time called him, and he joined the army, feeling his calling in this. There is truth in hating war, but do not be so quick to judge those who fight, for the truth of a man is what makes him a man. In a world that has become a desert, a person longs to find comrades - those with whom he shares a common goal. You can become happy only by realizing your even modest role. In third-class carriages, Exupery had a chance to see Polish workers being evicted from France. The whole people returned to their sorrows and poverty. These people looked like ugly lumps of clay - their life was so compressed. But the face of the sleeping child was beautiful: he looked like a fairy-tale prince, like a baby Mozart, doomed to follow his parents through the same stamping press. These people did not suffer at all: Exupery suffered for them, realizing that Mozart may have been killed in each of them. Only the Spirit turns clay into man.

Option 2

The narration in the novel “Planet of People” is told in the first person, Exupery talks about his pilot friends, about their flights and research. This novel is dedicated to Henri Guillaumet. When Exupery began working as a pilot, experienced pilots kept to themselves, not letting anyone into their world, into the world of mountain ranges with gaps, whirlwinds and traps. The newcomers admired the experienced pilots, and they skillfully maintained this admiration; it increased greatly when one of the “old men” did not return from the flight.

Exupery singled out his comrade Mermoza, who was one of the founders of the French airline Dakar - Casablanca and the pioneer of the South American line.

When Mermoz mastered the Andes, he handed them over to Guillaume, and he himself began mastering night flights. He was always the first, as if he was a scout for the others. Mermoz conquered the sands, sea and mountains, they swallowed him up, but he always got out of their captivity. After working for twelve fruitful years, one day during a voyage across the South Atlantic, Mermoz briefly radioed that the rear engine had turned off. All the radio stations hearing this message were sadly waiting for at least some signal from him, but none came. Thus Mermoz rested at the bottom of the ocean, having completed his life’s work.

No one will ever replace the fallen comrades. And pilots experience great happiness when a comrade they have already mentally buried is resurrected. This is exactly what happened with Guillaume. He disappeared while flying over the Andes. His comrades tirelessly searched for him for five days, but to no avail. Everyone already believed in his death either from a fall or from the cold. But Guillaume survived by walking through the snow and ice. He later said that he suffered something that no animal could endure. With these words he showed the noble greatness of man; these words determined the real place of man in nature.

In Argentina, Exupery landed on some field and not suspecting that he would meet two little fairies there who were friends with herbs and snakes. The girls lived in peace with the entire Universe. But in the desert such meetings are impossible. In the desert, pilots always became prisoners of the sand. Exupery learned about the hardships of the desert already on his first flight, his plane crashed near a small fort in West Africa. There the old sergeant mistook them for messengers of the Lord, he cried when he heard their voices.

Just like the old sergeant, the Arabs of the desert were shocked when they visited France. After all, if it rains in the Sahara, the tribes move in search of grass, sometimes leaving up to 300 leagues from their previous place of residence. And in Savoy, moisture so precious to the Arabs, gushed as if from a pipe. Subsequently, the leaders said that the French god was very generous to the French than their Arab god was to the Arabs.

On the Madrid front, Exupery met a sergeant who had served as an accountant before the war, but the war called him, and he accepted service in it as his destiny. And there is no need to rush to condemn those who go into battle, since the truth of a person is what makes him human. And no matter what the world is, a person is always looking for comrades, people with whom he is connected by a common cause and goal. And happiness can be found when you realize your role in this world, no matter how tiny it may be.

Essay on literature on the topic: Summary of the Planet of People by Saint-Exupéry

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The book is written in the first person. Exupery dedicated it to one of his fellow pilots, Henri Guillaumet.

A person reveals himself in the fight against obstacles. The pilot is like a peasant who cultivates the land and thereby wrests from nature some of its secrets. The work of a pilot is just as fruitful. The first flight over Argentina was unforgettable: lights flickered below, and each of them spoke about the miracle of human consciousness - about dreams, hopes, love.

Exupery began working on the Toulouse-Dakar line in 1926. Experienced pilots behaved somewhat aloof, but in their abrupt stories a fairy-tale world of mountain ranges with traps, failures and whirlwinds arose. The “old men” skillfully maintained their admiration, which only increased when one of them did not return from the flight. And then it was Exupery’s turn: at night he went to the airfield in an old bus and, like many of his comrades, felt how a ruler was born within him - the man responsible for the Spanish and African mail. The officials sitting nearby talked about illness, money, small household chores - these people voluntarily imprisoned themselves in the prison of philistine prosperity, and a musician, poet or astronomer would never awaken in their callous souls. It’s a different matter for a pilot who has to enter into an argument with a thunderstorm, mountains and the ocean - no one regretted his choice, although for many this bus became the last earthly refuge.

Of his comrades, Exupery primarily singles out Mermoz, one of the founders of the French Casablanca-Dakar airline and the discoverer of the South American line. Mermoz “conducted reconnaissance” for others and, having mastered the Andes, handed over this area to Guillaume, and he himself set about taming the night. He conquered sands, mountains and the sea, which, in turn, swallowed him up more than once - but he always got out of captivity. And now, after twelve years of work, during the next flight across the South Atlantic, he briefly announced that he was turning off the right rear engine. All radio stations from Paris to Buenos Aires went on dreary watch, but there was no more news from Mermoz. Having rested at the bottom of the ocean, he completed his life's work.

No one can replace those who died. And pilots experience the greatest happiness when suddenly someone who has already been mentally buried is resurrected. This is what happened to Guillaume, who disappeared during a flight over the Andes. For five days his comrades searched for him unsuccessfully, and there was no longer any doubt that he had died - either in a fall or from the cold. But Guillaume performed a miracle of his own salvation, passing through the snow and ice. He later said that he endured something that no animal could endure - there is nothing nobler than these words, showing the measure of the greatness of man, defining his true place in nature.

The pilot thinks in terms of the universe and rereads history in a new way. Civilization is but fragile gilding. People forget that there is no deep layer of earth under their feet. The insignificant pond, surrounded by houses and trees, is subject to the ebb and flow of the tides. Under a thin layer of grass and flowers, amazing transformations take place - only thanks to an airplane can they sometimes be seen. Another magical property of the airplane is that it transports the pilot to the heart of the miraculous. This happened to Exupery in Argentina. He landed on some field, not suspecting that he would end up in a fairy-tale house and meet two young fairies who were friends with wild herbs and snakes. These savage princesses lived in harmony with the Universe. What happened to them? The transition from girlhood to the state of a married woman is fraught with fatal mistakes - perhaps some fool has already taken the princess into slavery.

In the desert such meetings are impossible - here pilots become prisoners of the sands. The presence of the rebels made the Sahara even more hostile. Exupery learned the hardships of the desert from his very first voyage; When his plane crashed near a small fort in West Africa, the old sergeant received the pilots as messengers from heaven - he cried when he heard their voices.

But the rebellious Arabs of the desert were just as shocked when they visited France, which was unfamiliar to them. If rain suddenly falls in the Sahara, a great migration begins - entire tribes go three hundred leagues in search of grass. And in Savoy, precious moisture gushed out as if from a leaky tank. And the old leaders later said that the French god was much more generous to the French than the god of the Arabs was to the Arabs. Many barbarians have wavered in their faith and almost submitted to strangers, but among them there are still those who suddenly rebel to restore their former greatness - the fallen warrior turned shepherd cannot forget how his heart beat by the night fire. Exupery recalls a conversation with one of these nomads - this man defended not freedom (everyone is free in the desert) and not wealth (there is none in the desert), but his secret world. The Arabs themselves were admired by the French captain Bonnafus, who carried out bold raids on nomadic camps. His existence graced the sands, for there is no greater joy than the slaying of such a magnificent enemy. When Bonnafous left for France, the desert seemed to have lost one of its poles. But the Arabs continued to believe that he would return for the lost sense of valor - if this happened, the rebellious tribes would receive the news on the very first night. Then the warriors will silently lead the camels to the well, prepare a supply of barley and check the shutters, and then set out on a campaign, driven by a strange feeling of hate-love.

Even a slave can gain a sense of dignity if he has not lost his memory. The Arabs gave all their slaves the name Bark, but one of them remembered that his name was Mohammed and he was a cattle driver in Marrakech. In the end, Exupery managed to buy him back. At first, Bark didn't know what to do with his newfound freedom. The old black man was awakened by the child’s smile - he felt his importance on earth, having spent almost all his money on gifts for children. His guide decided that he had gone mad with joy. And he was simply possessed by the need to become a man among people.

Now there are no more rebellious tribes left. The sands have lost their secret. But the experience will never be forgotten. Once, Exupery managed to approach the very heart of the desert - this happened in 1935, when his plane crashed into the ground near the borders of Libya. Together with the mechanic Prevost, he spent three endless days among the sands. The Sahara almost killed them: they suffered from thirst and loneliness, their minds were exhausted under the weight of mirages. The almost half-dead pilot told himself that he did not regret anything: he got the best share, for he left the city with its accountants and returned to the peasant truth. It was not dangers that attracted him - he loved and loves life.

The pilots were saved by a Bedouin, who seemed to them an omnipotent deity. But the truth is difficult to understand, even when you come into contact with it. At the moment of supreme despair, a person finds peace of mind - probably, Bonnafous and Guillaume knew it. Anyone can wake up from mental slumber - this requires an opportunity, favorable soil or the powerful command of religion. On the Madrid front, Exupery met a sergeant who had once been a small accountant in Barcelona - time called him, and he joined the army, feeling his calling in this. There is truth in hating war, but do not be so quick to judge those who fight, for the truth of a man is what makes him a man. In a world that has become a desert, a person longs to find comrades - those with whom he shares a common goal. You can become happy only by realizing your even modest role. In third-class carriages, Exupery had a chance to see Polish workers being evicted from France. The whole people returned to their sorrows and poverty. These people looked like ugly lumps of clay - their life was so compressed. But the face of the sleeping child was beautiful: he looked like a fairy-tale prince, like a baby Mozart, doomed to follow his parents through the same stamping press. These people did not suffer at all: Exupery suffered for them, realizing that Mozart may have been killed in each of them. Only the Spirit turns clay into man.