In his book, Wind, Sand and Stars, Antoine de Saint-Exupery expounds on design and the design process. Read the following excerpt from a chapter entitled “The Tool” and write a comment explaining what he is saying and reflecting on what stands out to you about his view.
He writes:
And now, having spoken of the men born of the pilot’s craft, I shall say something about the tool with which they work-the air-plane. Have you looked at a modern airplane? Have you followed from year to year the evolution of its lines? Have you ever thought, not only about the airplane but about whatever man builds, that all of man’s industrial efforts, all his computations and calculations, all the nights spent over working draughts and blueprints, invariably culminate in the production of a thing whose sole and guiding principle is the ultimate principle of simplicity?
It is as if there were a natural law which ordained that to achieve this end, to refine the curve of a piece of furniture, or a ship’s keel, or the fuselage of an airplane, until gradually it partakes of the elementary purity of the curve of a human breast or shoulder, there must be the experimentation of several generations of craftsmen. In anything at all, perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away, when a body has been stripped down to its nakedness.
It results from this that perfection of invention touches hands with absence of invention, as if that line which the human eye will follow with effortless delight were a line that had not been invented but simply discovered, had in the beginning been hidden by nature and in the end been found by the engineer. There is an ancient myth about the image asleep in the block of marble until it is carefully disengaged by the sculptor. The sculptor
must himself feel that he is not so much inventing or shaping the curve of breast or shoulder as delivering the image from its prison.
In this spirit do engineers, physicists concerned with thermodynamics, and the swarm of preoccupied draughtsmen tackle their work. In appearance, but only in appearance, they seem to be polishing surfaces and refining away angles, easing this joint or stabilizing that wing, rendering these parts invisible, so that in the end there is no longer a wing hooked to a framework but a form flawless in its perfection, completely disengaged from its matrix, a sort of spontaneous whole, its parts mysteriously fused together and resembling in their unity a poem.
Meanwhile, startling as it is that all visible evidence of invention should have been refined out of this instrument and that there should be delivered to us an object as natural as a pebble polished by the waves, it is equally wonderful that he who uses this instrument should be able to forget that it is a machine.
After reading this short part of the book, “Wind, Sand and Stars”, the chapter itself, “The Tool”, was a very interesting point of view from him. In my own words, I believe that it means the appreciation and the meaning in depth of the tool. For example, going back to his text, he quoted “The sculptor must himself feel that he is not so much inventing or shaping the curve of breast or shoulder as delivering the image from its prison”, meaning that the tool sculptors use are their hands. Also, reading the last paragraph hooked me right away, because finalizing this whole part of this chapter, when it comes to designing, inventing or anything, stop thinking about that is something you need to use, but instead something you create and imagine and how the results will be. Using a computer is the machine, but you thinking inside that computer, you will forget that you are using that computer, but you are inside your imagination!
Reading this short story the tool made me think that he is trying to say that not only is there things invented but can be looked more into depth and have something creative about it instead of it just being the object or subject. For example in the first paragraph when he says ” have you ever thought, not only about the airplane but about whatever mans builds” it’s like he saying it’s not only the object there but the things it can possibly do and making it creative so it won’t be something so simple.
After reading the text ” The tool”, I believe that that the author is trying to stress that the tool symbolizes the creator them self. It may also be saying that perfection comes from evolution; years of work changing parts, taking away and adding on different aspects over time. For example, he says ” Have you looked at a modern airplane? Have you followed from year to year the evolution of its lines? Have you ever thought, not only about the airplane but about whatever man builds, that all of man’s industrial efforts, all his computations and calculations, all the nights spent over working draughts and blueprints, invariably culminate in the production of a thing whose sole and guiding principle is the ultimate principle of simplicity?”. From this you can witness a perspective of the creator who must go through the process in order to reach an end result. It really goes in to depth in what it takes or the different stages that are required to reach a point of ” simplicity ” which can be defined as a quality of being plain or easy to understand.
After reading the excerpt, “The Tool”, I had a little hard time in understanding what he was saying at first but after rereading it, it came clear to me to what I think he’s saying. That things has more importance to the inventor than those who see it by the human eye.
I would say that the things that are created from man’s hand, have more meaning to what’s it’s used for. As explained in the last paragraph, he states “the tools” shouldn’t be seen as just an object but something perfect and wonderful towards the artist/engineer that it’s more than an object.
Whatever invention the engineer creates by hand, was simply something to use but to view significant way it was made by man.
After reading the excerpt from “The Tool”, the quote “The sculptor
must himself feel that he is not so much inventing or shaping the curve of breast or shoulder as delivering the image from its prison.” is what actually helped my fully understand what the text was saying. For the artist (whatever craft it is) creation is done before they even begin. They are already skilled enough to see their work in their materials. It’s almost as if it’s a puzzle and they already know what the image is, but they still have to ‘sort’ the puzzle out which becomes their invention.
After reading this excerpt by Antoine de Saint-Exupery , the aspect that stood out to me most is when he stated “as if the line which the human eye will follow with effortless delight were a line that had not been invented but simply discovered”. In my own words this stood out most to me because I believe what he is actually stating is that every artist , no matter what kind of an artist you are, your real tool is your mind. Everything seems from your ideas and as you are creating your piece each line is significant in more ways than one.
In Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s excerpt “The Tool” proving people shouldn’t be limited by the instrument. In other ways of saying it, people’s imagination should be combined with the instrument to create a unique invention. “A line that had not been invented but simply discovered, had in the beginning been hidden by nature and in the end been found by the engineer” proving a designer can develop unlimited possibility on everything they had seen. Instrument can combine with imagination instead imagination limited by instrument. In the last line of the excerpt, “it is equally wonderful that he who uses this instrument should be able to forget that it is a machine” thinking the instrument as part of the human body, and combine with people’s imagination can liberate every possibility in the nature.
After reading this excerpt from “The Tool” the part that stood out to me was “as if that line which the human eye will follow with effortless delight were a line that had not been invented but simply discovered, had in the beginning been hidden by nature and in the end been found by the engineer”. To me this means that as an artist is making something, they’re discovering not inventing. Everything has already been made and is out there somewhere, it’s our job to discover those things and revise them to what suits our perfection. It also gives the meaning that anything you discover has more than one use to it. We just have to figure out what those uses are. It takes a lot of hard work for a piece to work out.
As he said in the first paragraph “all his computations and calculations, all the nights spent over working draughts” he’s basically saying an invention/creation can take days to years of hard work in order for it to achieve it’s purpose. An artist can take a very long time but eventually, their piece will be complete because of all the hard work and thought put into it over time.
After reading the excerpt ”The Tool” I began to think that this guy has an interesting point of view. For example the part that says ”a thing whose sole and guiding principle is the ultimate principle of simplicity” means that whatever man creates will always retain a simple feature. He also says ” true perfection is not obtained by not being able to add in things but when there is no longer anything to take away”. This means that perfection is made by stripping away unnecessary things until you have the basic necessity or its simple form. This quote shows what this man is like as an artist. The part that really struck me was when he says” The sculptor must himself feel that he is not so much inventing or shaping the curve of breast or shoulder as delivering the image from its prison”. He means to say that you aren’t simply making something but you are portraying it as if it were already there.
From reading this excerpt from “The Tool” from the novel, “Wind, Sand and Stars” by Antoine de Saint, Saint shows readers exactly what this tool can achieve among inventors and artists of all time lines. going back to the second paragraph of the excerpt, Saint describes to the readers that an inventor or artist only knows when they are done when they are able to take away piece by piece of their work, until its back to the shape or form it was from the beginning. He says this to show readers exactly how the brain (“The Tool”) is able to analyze every space of a piece of work, and is also able to separate the aspects of what made the piece as a whole. Through this excerpt, Saint is able to show readers how a human mind is used as major tool for inventing and crafting such pieces or work, and being able to know when it is complete or if it still needs more editing or adjustments.
From what I understood after reading an excerpt of “The Tool” from Antoine de Saint-Exupery is that man does not invent anything rather that man discovers things that are hidden away by nature and that man’s job is to free it from it’s prison. Antoine states that something is truly perfect once it has been modified to the point in which one can no longer take away from it and is perfected over many generations. What stood out to me is the myth of the image that sleeps waiting for it to be discovered by an inventor so that it may be refined to become perfect in the eye of the beholder.
After reading the excerpt from “The Tool”, I believe Antoine de Saint-Exupery was trying to describe inspiration and motivation. How we shouldn’t just look at any objects that surround us so blankly but acknowledge it’s art work. In every work there is a deeper meaning, we might just see it and think we understand but we have to feel what the inventor was thinking in order to fully apprehend and begin. An example “It results from this that perfection of invention touches hands with absence of invention, as if that line which the human eye will follow with effortless delight were a line that had not been invented but simply discovered, had in the beginning been hidden by nature and in the end been found by the engineer…” Therefore, meaning that as the years go by there will be newer inventions however it will be a reflection of an object that once motivate and inspired to become this way. In order to be acknowledge we create objects that won’t be simple but that its understood. We begin with something new that is created by ourself in order to improve.
After reading “The Tool”, my head was filled with an idea that the excerpt radiated with. This idea was one of simplicity over complexity. That in simplicity, would you only find perfection. I believe that Antoine de Saint-Exupery is saying that we – as living, thinking, human beings – are the tools that will unlock, and not discover, what this world has in store for us. I think he’s representing the generations of workers working to improve and perfect as a collective conscious, all “one mind” capable of learning and improving in itself.
Having read “The Tool”, this is my interpretation of what the author is trying to say. It is not how or what the outcome looks like that holds the value, but the process behind it.
I got this idea from this excerpt from “The Tool”-
“Have you ever thought, not only about the airplane but about whatever man builds, that all of man’s industrial efforts, all his computations and calculations, all the nights spent over working draughts and blueprints, invariably culminate in the production of a thing whose sole and guiding principle is the ultimate principle of simplicity?”
Its not the looks that matter, because it changes as the process happens. But the effort put in to bring forth the best work possible.
After reading “The Tool”, I can interpret that the author is trying to get us to think about how we as a species have created many different things such as airplanes. The “tool” in question could be the desire to create something but this is just my opinion. It was a nice read.
After reading the excerpt from “The Tool”, my interpretation of what Antoine de Saint-Exupery is stating, is that people of different professions attempt to find perfection in their works by taking away and cutting down what they have created. From what I was able to understand, people are constantly experimenting to see what is necessary in what they’ve created, and what’s not needed. They do this by removing pieces in what they’ve made. What stood out to me about what was said is how the author said that once perfection was obtained, it becomes a discovery rather than an invention, and that it can be seen as an instrument as well. What stood out to me however was when the author said, “and that there should be delivered to us an object as natural as a pebble polished by the waves” It makes me wonder if these inventions should be seen as natural and a part of our daily lives.
After reading this excerpt from “The Tool”. The writer write that’ In anything at all, perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away, when a body has been stripped down to its nakedness.” In my opinion he meant was that noting is perfect, only by constantly improve, there will be new inventions to replace or even abandoned. Just like in the zoo to see the horse, it was once the best tool of transportation, but since someone invented the car ,people would continue improve car and riding become the people of entertainment.
After reading the excerpt, “The Tool” I had quite the difficult time keeping up with the pace on where the author was going with, but at the same time I knew what he had in mind. I believe the message being shown to us is that when making something we have to realize that adding more is complicating it. Therefore it will be too complicated to obtain the original goal but if we build it and then take it apart we will slowly see another form that can show us a different way or a simple way to go about in what we are creating. The point I am trying to make is that you must go through trial and error to achieve a creation and it ties with the saying ” less is more “