About the product
The story "Planet of Men" by de Saint-Exupéry was written in 1939. The book is a collection of reports, each chapter is a complete, complete narrative. The author dedicated the autobiographical story, written in the first person, to his colleague, pilot Henri Guillaume.
We recommend reading online a summary of “Planet of Humans” chapter by chapter; this will be useful for your reading diary and preparation for a literature lesson.
The material was prepared jointly with a teacher of the highest category, Kuchmina Nadezhda Vladimirovna.
Experience as a teacher of Russian language and literature - 27 years.
Summary
Chapter 1. Line
In 1926, the young Exupéry got a job as an “airline pilot”, which established a connection between Toulouse and Dakar. Like many newcomers, he underwent an internship, without which no aspiring pilot would be entrusted with mail.
Experienced pilots were gloomy and withdrawn. With a fair amount of condescension, they told the newcomers amazing stories from their flying practice.
Finally, it was Exupery’s turn to go on an independent flight. He was entrusted with “passengers and African mail,” but on the last night before departure, the young pilot began to be tormented by doubts: whether he would be able to pilot the plane along dangerous air routes. Exupery’s self-doubt in his own abilities quickly dissipated after communicating with his friend Guillaume, who once again studied the upcoming route with him.
Exupery listened to the conversation of his passengers - they “talked about illnesses, about money, and confided boring household chores to each other.” The young man could not understand why people voluntarily imprisoned themselves in this sad prison.
At that time, Exupery had to withstand a serious test in heavy fog. The fuel was rapidly decreasing, and the hope for rescue was fading just as quickly, but at the last moment the pilot managed to land the plane safely.
Chapter 2. Comrades
1
Among Exupery's comrades, the pilot Jean Mermoz, one of the founders of the Casablanca-Dakar airline, especially stood out. He had to experience many difficult moments thanks to his profession: captivity among the Moors, a forced landing on a sheer cliff, dangerous flights over the desert. For twelve years he worked hard, conquering new air routes, until he found his final refuge at the bottom of the ocean.
2
Having thoroughly scouted the road over the Andes, Mermoz “entrusted this section of the route to his comrade Guillaume.” One day, during one of the flights, Guillaume disappeared, and there was no news from him for seven days: most likely, he died in a fall or from extreme cold. His shoes “no longer fit his frostbitten, swollen feet,” but he persistently walked through the snowy desert because he knew that they were waiting for him.
Chapter 3. Airplane
“An airplane is not a goal, it is just a tool,” with the help of which a person was able to fully enjoy the beauty of the planet. Mechanisms brought to perfection allow you to think about lofty things, and not think about “what’s rotating in the motor.”
Chapter 4. The plane and the planet
1–4
The invention of the airplane gave humanity a chance to see the “true face of the Earth,” get rid of age-old misconceptions and boldly face the truth.
Our Earth is a wandering planet, and thanks to the airplane we can learn something new about its past. Volcanic eruptions frozen in stone, sands with a thousand-year history, but “among the eternal strata of dead matter, human thought” is the most important miracle.
Chapter 5. Oasis
Another wonderful thing about the airplane is that “it instantly transports you into the heart of the unknown.” Once Exupery made a forced stop in Argentina, in the middle of a field. He was sheltered by a married couple who were raising two daughters. The girls grew up as savages and were more like fairies who lived in complete harmony with the surrounding nature. Their hearts are a real “wild garden”, although people prefer “clipped lawns”. What happened to them now, how do they live?
Chapter 6. In the desert
1–4
In the desert you won’t find such “oases: gardens, young girls - it’s just a fairy tale!” During three years of flights over the Sahara, Exupery tasted loneliness. It seemed to him that among the stones and sand not only his youth was extinguishing, but “there, in the distance, the whole world was growing old.”
The Sahara became even more hostile with the rise of the rebels. When one day Exupéry, Guillaume and Riegel suffered an accident near a military post in Mauritania, the old sergeant began to cry when he met them. The pilots turned out to be dear guests, with whom the old warrior was able to speak his native language for the first time in six months.
In the Sahara, the pilots “faced unruly tribes,” whose representatives they tried to tame at least a little. Sometimes the pilots “took some influential leader into the air and showed him the world from the plane.”
5–7
Exupery knew many black slaves who served their Moorish masters. One of them made a particularly strong impression on Exupery, and with the help of his friends from France, he managed to ransom him and give him freedom.
Chapter 7. In the heart of the desert
1–3
Once Exupery managed to look into the very heart of the desert. In 1935, he flew to Indochina, but got stuck “in the sand, like in tar, and waited for death.” Together with his assistant, mechanic Prevost, Exupery was flying over the silent night desert when the plane unexpectedly crashed.
It was only by miracle that the comrades managed to survive, but they had no idea where they were, and they had less than a liter of water left. They can be found “in a week at best, and that’s already too late.”
4–7
As morning approached, Exupéry and Prevost decided to “move straight east, contrary to all logic.” They had already walked for five hours, but the landscape around them had not changed. It was decided to return to the plane. By that time they had already run out of water.
At dawn, the comrades “used a rag to collect some dew mixed with paint and oil from the surviving wing” and drank. The day before they had placed snares near the holes, but they were empty. Exupery decided to go on reconnaissance alone. His thirsty consciousness showed him mirages one after another. At night, when Prevost lit a fire, Exupery returned to the crashed plane.
The comrades set off again, and soon salvation awaited them in the person of a Bedouin.
Chapter 8. People
1–2
It seemed to Exupery that in the desert he was on the verge of death. But it was then, “having abandoned all hope,” that he found peace of mind and inner freedom.
Exupery remembered how he once visited the front near Madrid as a journalist. He met a sergeant who, in civilian life, was a humble accountant. He volunteered to go to war and in battle, standing shoulder to shoulder with his comrades, he felt like a man who had found the purpose of his life.
3–4
Exupery also recalled his railway journey, when in third-class carriages he saw “hundreds of Polish workers” returning to their homeland. “The whole people, immersed in a heavy sleep, returned to bitter poverty,” having lost their human appearance. And in the midst of this shapeless mass, more like lumps of clay, Exupery saw a sleeping baby. He was “just like the little prince from a fairy tale.” This little Mozart could live up to great expectations, but he, like hundreds of other children, was doomed to go through the merciless stamping press and turn into an ordinary adult enjoying the "vile music of low-grade taverns" ...
"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.
Young pilot Exupery
"Line", "Comrades"
The memoirs of the author-protagonist begin in 1926, when he, a young pilot, had just entered the. 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
"Airplane", "Plane and Planet"
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.
The airplane, the author summarizes, is the most beautiful of human inventions. This is an instrument of knowledge. It opened up new horizons for people that had been hidden by roads for a long time.
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.
Three years of 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.
The 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.
