Since Wind, Sand and Stars is a series of reflections upon various incidents in his flying career, Saint-Exupery does not introduce characters as one would expect in an ordinary novel. Nonetheless, his portraits emerge with accuracy and realism. The narrator himself becomes the principal character, a devoted pilot who believes that bravery without a deep consideration for one's duty and the welfare of others is hollow bravado. As a pilot in South America, he spends several years helping to open new air routes for the mail, and later for freight and passengers; he remarks that the letters he and his colleagues carry may be unimportant, but that the mail itself is sacred. To do one's duty regardless of personal safety is one of SaintExupery's imperatives, and his friends Jean Mermoz and Henri Guillaumet emerge as heroes in his book for their admirable sense of responsibility.

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