The little prince: analysis and summary of the book
The little Prince is a short story by the French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, which is about the story of a little prince who departs from his asteroid on a journey through the universe, in which he discovers the strange way adults see life and understand the value of love and friendship.
The little Prince is had as one of the best books of all time and a contemporary classic of world literature.
Due to its simple and direct style it has been considered a children's book; however, its profound reflective character on life, society and love, make it a narrative of interest to all.
It was published in April 1943, in the United States, since, due to the Second World War, the work could not be printed in France.
The book has been translated into dozens of languages and adapted to various formats, such as theater, cinema, animated series, ballet and opera.
Summary of The Little Prince
The little Prince tells the story of a pilot who, while trying to repair his damaged plane in the middle of the Sahara desert, runs into a little prince from asteroid B 612, who insistently asks him to draw a lamb and never forgets a question.
The pilot will begin to discover the fascinating story of the little prince, which begins on his asteroid, where he lived with three volcanoes, one inactive, and he entertained himself by pulling weeds and watching sunsets.
One day on the ground of the asteroid of the little prince a flower grows The little prince cares and cares for it with dedication, but the flower is dramatic and capricious, and this bothers him. The little prince then decides to leave his asteroid and go on a journey through the universe in search of a friend.
On the journey, which will take the little prince to visit various asteroids until he reaches Earth, he will meet a varied group of eccentric characters that convince him of how strange the world of adults is, always so busy with serious and important matters, that they forget to enjoy the lifetime.
On Earth, the little prince will come into contact with animals, flowers and people. It will be there where, before meeting the pilot, he will meet the fox, who will reveal to him the importance of friendship and the value of the love he feels for his flower. It will be the nostalgia for her and the disappointment caused by the adult world that will motivate the little prince to return to his planet.
Analysis of The little Prince
The essential is invisible to the eyes.
This phrase is said by the fox to the little prince. It means that the true value of things escapes the eyes, but not the heart. It is a reflection on those things that, sometimes, we are not able to see, because we observe them with a superficial glance. The obvious is not always the most important thing. This is a constant in the book, which calls us to see beyond appearances.
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It was the time you spent with your rose that made it so important.
The phrase is said by the fox to the little prince. It means that relationships and affections are cultivated over time, and that it is all that time we dedicate to them that makes them valuable to us. Reflect on the importance of dedicating time to the things we want, and on the responsibility of being constant in our relationships, be they friendship or love.
If you come, for example, at four in the afternoon, from three o'clock I will begin to be happy.
This phrase is said by the fox to the little prince. It expresses the happiness that friendship produces in us and the way in which this affection is shown in the urgent need we feel to see someone we love. It also talks about the importance of meeting the expectations of the people we love and the responsibility we assume before them.
You are responsible forever for what you have tamed.
The phrase is said by the fox to the little prince. It means that when a relationship, friendship or love with another person has been cultivated, this makes us co-responsible for the progress of that relationship. It reminds us that when we have “tamed” a relationship with another person, we have become very important to each other, and we cannot abandon ourselves.
You just have to ask each one what each one can give.
This phrase is said by the king to the little prince. The king was incapable of ordering something that could not be fulfilled. He said that to be obeyed he only had to send what others were willing to do. It is a phrase that talks about the importance of goodness in power.
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Characters and elements
The little Prince
The little prince is the main character in the story. He lives on an asteroid, which he abandoned to travel the universe in search of a friend.
When he arrives on Earth he meets the pilot, to whom he tells his impressions of the adult world, always so busy with his affairs, and his inability to value the really important things in life.
The little prince represents the child that we all carry inside and the feelings of love, hope and innocence that feed our lives. His way of seeing the world motivates the pilot to write the story to reconnect with the child that he once was.
The pilot
The pilot is the narrator of the story of the little prince. He meets the little prince when he crashes his plane in the middle of the Sahara desert.
When he was a child he wanted to be a cartoonist, but adults dissuaded him from his purpose. He finds a friend in the little prince, who understands his drawings and teaches him, with his stories and his actions, the true value of things. The pilot portrays the importance of following our dreams.
The flower
The flower is the love object of the little prince. But her relationship with her is difficult. Although he cares and protects it with fervor, the flower is proud, melodramatic and capricious. His behavior confuses the little prince to the point that he decides to undertake a journey through the universe to separate from her.
It is the memory of him that makes the little prince return to his planet. It symbolizes love, which must be cultivated and cared for every day.
The Fox
The fox is the first friend the little prince meets on his journey. He explains to the little prince that friendship is a domestication process, in which two people enter into a unique relationship, where both need each other.
It is he who teaches the little prince the value of friendship and who leads him to reflect on the relationship he had cultivated with his flower, since he loved her.
The lamb and the box
The little prince asks the pilot to draw him a lamb, but he is not satisfied with the result. The pilot draws a box and tells the little prince that there is his lamb inside. Then the little prince admits that this was what he wanted. This drawing represents the power of imagination.
The elephant inside the boa
The narrator tells that, when he was a child, he drew an elephant inside a boa, but the adults did not understand the drawing, they barely saw a hat, so they advised him to leave the drawings and devote himself to things important. Due to this, the narrator forgets his career as a cartoonist and dedicates himself to that of a pilot.
Years later, when he meets the little prince, he shows him the drawing and he understands it instantly. This drawing symbolizes how misleading appearances can be and how misunderstanding others can motivate us to make wrong decisions.
The astronomer
A Turkish astronomer was the discoverer of the asteroid B 612, home of the little prince. However, when he presented his discovery to a large conference of astronomers, no one gave credit to his finding because of his clothing.
Years later, he returned to make the presentation elegantly dressed to the European and, this time, everyone accepted his discovery.
In this sense, it makes us reflect on the exaggerated importance that we sometimes attach to appearance of people, leading us to judge them negatively, without listening to them and without truly know them.
Baobabs
Every day, the little prince cleans the soil of his planet of herbs, preventing one of them from being a baobab.
The baobabs worry the little prince because they are trees that can grow too large, to the point of destroying his little planet.
The discipline of the little prince shows the importance of preventive thinking and tackling problems in time, before they become too big.
The snake
The serpent is the first character that the little prince talks to on Earth. He is a wise character, who speaks in an enigmatic way. In this sense, it has clear biblical resonances. He will be the one who sends the little prince back home, thanks to his poisonous bite.
The king
The king is a character who claims to reign over the entire universe. Despite his desire to command, he is a man with a good heart: he only gives orders that others can carry out.
As the king cannot get the little prince to stay on his planet to serve as his subject, he appoints him as his ambassador when the little prince leaves. He represents the absurd need for power of men.
The drunk
The drunkard is a character who drinks to forget the shame of drinking. The little prince is saddened and his attitude amazes. He represents those people who, to flee from reality, take refuge in a vice.
The businessman
The businessman is too busy a character on his account to attend to the little prince. He thinks that he is rich and that he owns all the stars in the universe. He is a symbol of adults who spend their lives enslaved by the idea of a ridiculous possession and are unable to recognize the value of the life they are wasting.
The lamplighter
The lamplighter is one of the characters that the little prince like the most, because at least he performs a useful task. His goal is to light a lantern at night that he must then turn off during the day. But his planet spins so fast that his work begins to be exhausting. He represents people who thoughtlessly indulge in their tasks, sometimes without reflecting on the meaning of their actions.
Geographer
The geographer is a man with a lot of knowledge about geography. When the little prince questions him about the geography of his own planet, he discovers that, paradoxically, he knows nothing about it.
The geographer represents the inability to see the value of what is within our reach, of our reality. It is he who reveals to the little prince the ephemeral condition of flowers, which makes him very sad.
The vain
The vain is an eccentric character, who lives alone on his planet, but who has a great need to be admired and praised by others. It is a representation of those who only care about what others think of them.
About Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of The little Prince, was born in Lyon, France, in 1900, and died on the island of Riou, France as well, in 1944. He was an aviator and writer. Part of his experience as a pilot inspired him to write The little Prince. Most of his literary production was written during his exile in the United States, the country to which he was destined. with the mission of convincing the US government to declare war on Germany during WWII world.
