Imperfection, like mortality itself, is an integrated aspect of being human. However, most people try to mask theirs with self-importance and ambition. Complacency and ambition help promote self-confidence and the illusion of perfection in an imperfect world. The three stories – Antoine De Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince, Primo Levi's The Mirror Maker, and Nikolai Gogol's The Nose – provide evidence demonstrating how imperfections are hidden by ambition and self-sufficiency. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"?Get the original essayIn The Little Prince, the narrator describes his encounter with a little prince from another planet. The Little Prince is a special child whose incessant words and unique perspective on life have the reader questioning adults around the world. In this book, one of the imperfections that the author focused on was vanity. One of the first examples of vanity presented to us was the case of the discovery of asteroid 325. The astronomer who first discovered it was fired because of the way he was dressed. A few years later, “the astronomer repeated his demonstration… dressed in a very elegant suit. And this time everyone believed him” (Saint-Exupéry 10). Saint-Exupéry showed us that people hide behind beautiful clothes and accessories to feel more important. The astronomer's findings have not changed over the years. Only his clothes changed, and somehow that gave the others plenty of evidence to back up his claims. The first item of clothing seemed too ridiculous to them and so, if they had accepted his findings, they would have been called ridiculous as well. People are vain but they prefer to talk about protocol to add a little confidence and power to their choices. This is still conceit as the author presented it, but most people will never see it as such. Instead, they would agree that they are making the world a better place by enforcing dress codes and protocols. In reality, they just want to feel more powerful and more perfect. Another imperfection we could find in the story was laziness. The lamplighter and the geographer that the Little Prince visited can be placed in this category. They both stayed in the same place their whole lives but tried to hide it with ambition. They both believed that they were doing important work and that if they continued, they would eventually have better lives and make the world a better place. As the little prince pointed out, they also didn't need the willpower to move and do something else with their lives. They were stuck in this place and decided to beautify it by increasing their self-esteem. Similarly, Primo Levi's The Mirror Maker exposed people's imperfections beneath their masks. Timoteo is a mirror maker who loved creating new types of mirrors. He invented one that could deform the human body. He gave one to his fiancée, but it didn't give him the feeling he was looking for. It was history's first approach to human perception of one's own imperfection. After Timoteo gave the mirror to his fiancée, “Agathe saw herself transformed into a stork-woman, with shoulders, chest and stomach compressed into a package balanced on two extremely long, stick-like legs; …The story ended badly. Agathe broke the mirror and the engagement” (214). Even though Agatha knew that the reflection she was looking at was not really hers but a versiondistorted, she refused to accept it. She didn't want to have something that would give even the slightest hint that she might not be perfect. Then came Timoteo's most controversial mirror. He invented a metaphysics that could circumvent the rules of physics. It was meant to show the viewer how the other person saw them. This mirror was not well received by the population. Timoteo first tested it on his family and friends. When he tried it with Agatha, "the image of himself he saw, as if on a small video screen, was not very flattering" (215). He immediately left it because he suddenly realized that he no longer had feelings for her Yet, when he presented the mirror to Emma, ​​he “saw a wonderful Timoteo” (215). awareness of his deep love for her Timoteo's feelings changed from case to case, not because the women were doing great acts, but because he was able to see their perception of him. Agatha's spirit, he was not flattering while he was the most beautiful in Emma's It was his pride that ultimately decided who he loved. He found someone who considered him perfection. rather than as an imperfect man. She boosted his ego. Eventually, Timoteo opened his invention to the rest of the world. However, he did not receive the attention he hoped to receive. sellers agree that there are too few customers satisfied with their image reflected on the faces of their friends or relations” (216). This statement provides yet another example of people unable to accept their imperfections. Most other people around a person, such as friends and family, will undoubtedly see the person's imperfections. They will never see the person as perfect. The only person who can fool themselves into believing they are perfect is the person themselves. Others will see what he lacks or what he has in excess. It was a fact that people couldn't handle. They refused to accept the imperfections their own friends and family saw and so blamed the mirror. Finally, there is The Nose by Nikolai Gogol. The main character of this short story was Kovalev, who was the epitome of vanity and egocentrism. Gogol emphasized Kovalev's traits by writing almost a page description of his rank and importance at the beginning of his story. As soon as Kovalev noticed the missing nose, his mind immediately turned to his academic colleagues and high-level contacts. He was absorbed by the ranks of the class and the place he occupied there. He wanted to elevate himself so that “to give himself greater nobility and weight, he never qualified himself as a collegial assessor, but always as an adult” (305). The title revitalized his self-esteem, which was the main reason he worked hard and worried so much about the missing nose. Therefore, Kovalev's most significant imperfection was his exaggerated self-importance in society. As expected, Gogol's character illustrated the disgusting part of society that he hid behind beautiful words and ambition. Overall, Kovalev looked like a hard-working young man who deserved to have his best wishes granted. Yet the degree of obsession he revealed throughout the story showed that the ambition was mostly just a facade to undermine his sense of superiority. The social rank that society had established gave more room for the battle of superiority versus inferiority between people. When Kovalev met her nose, he was never nervous about approaching her because of the status quo that separated them. He asked himself: "How should I.