The Innocent Archetype
On Childlike Wonder, Moral Responsibility, and the Stories We Live By
“All grown-ups were once children... but only few of them remember it.”
—Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
There is comfort and wisdom in remembering the truth of the famous quote from The Little Prince, that we were all children once. It invites us to look inside, beyond the adult roles and responsibilities that made us forget this truth, beyond all our defences, toward something gentler and older deep within.
The Innocent Archetype
The Innocent archetype symbolizes purity, simplicity, and childlike wonder. This archetype approaches life with openness, trust, and optimism. It believes in the inherent goodness of people and the beauty of the world, and often finds joy in the simplest of pleasures.
The Innocent is able to maintain a sense of hope and resilience in the face of adversity, and this archetype can remind us of the purity, curiosity, and wonder within each of us.
The Innocent in Fiction
There are many famous examples of The Innocent archetype in fiction:
