The Little Prince

[Val]

Viewpoint

Ostensibly a children's book, it makes several profound and idealistic points about life and human nature. In it, Saint-Exupéry tells of his being stranded in the Sahara Desert, thousands of kilometers away from inhabited places, where he meets a young extra-terrestrial (though entirely human-appearing) prince. In their conversations, the author reveals his own views about the follies of mankind and the simple truths that people seem to forget as they grow older. The essence of the book is contained in the famous line uttered by the fox to the Little Prince: "On ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur, l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux." (It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye). There are also two other main points in the book, both spoken by the fox. They are: "You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed" and "It is the time you have spent with your rose that makes your rose so important".

Throughout the book the children's view on the world, on the main points of the human life and relations between people, which is represented by the Little Prince and partially by the narrator, is set off against the "grown-ups" revealed in memories of the narrator and in the characters, met by the Little Prince on asteroids. But the author underlines, that the "'grown-ups' are like that. One must not hold it against them. Children should always show great forbearance toward grown-up people."

The visit to Earth (My preferred part!)



Chapter 16 begins "So then the seventh planet was the Earth." On the Earth, he starts out in the desert and meets a snake that claims to have the power to return him to his home planet (A clever way to say that he can kill people, thus "Sending anyone he wishes back to the land from whence he came.") The prince meets a desert-flower and climbs a mountain. The Prince sees a whole row of rosebushes, and is downcast because he thought that his was the only one in the whole universe. Chapter 21 is the author's statement about human love in that the prince then meets and tames a fox, who explains to the Prince that his rose is unique and special, because it is the one that he loves. The Prince then meets a railway switchman and a merchant who are as self-aware and philosophical as the other adults encountered earlier.

In Chapter 24, the narration's point of view changes again from third person to first person, and the narrator is dying of thirst, but then they find a well. After some thought, the Prince bids an emotional farewell to the narrator, explaining to him that while it will look as though he has died, he has not, but rather that his body is too heavy to take with him to his planet. He tells the narrator that it was wrong of the narrator to come and watch, as it will make him sad. He then allows the snake to bite him. The next morning when the narrator looks for the Prince, he finds his body has disappeared. The story ends with a portrait of the landscape where the meeting of the Prince and the narrator took place with a plea for anyone encountering a strange child in that area who refuses to explain himself to contact the narrator immediately.

The little Prince is represented as having been on Earth for one year, and the narrator ends the story seven years after he is rescued from the desert.



"Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves,
and it is exhausting for children to have
to provide explanations over and over again."
—from The Little Prince

[aloha]

I read this book in french at school once, but though I am not good at french, I haven´t understood much of what´s going one there

[Moshe..]

WOw this is one of my favourites from childhood (you read it in french though! it's only a kids book afterall!). I used to be so obsessed and take it everywhere, i lost so many copies. It's not great literature, but somehow has very strange depth and wisdom. My favourite chapter is always 21. The prince is best friends with a rose on his star and he thinks she's the only flower in the galaxy and it's meaningfulness and specialness of life. THen when he visits earth he sees thousands and thousands of other roses which are all exactly the same. He realises his rose is not unique and it's just another flower, something very common, and suddenly all the colour fades from his life. THen luckily chapter 21 he meets a fox. They make friends and the fox teaches him that it is not what the other person has to offer you, but the time and effort that you spend on them, or on each other, which creates all colour and meaning in the world. THe relatedness itself is what conjures value out of nothing. Fox says: "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly - what is essential is invisible to the eye". "It is the time you spent with your rose, and the responsibility you have for each other, which makes you both unique in the universe".

BUt somehow it all goes wrong. So weird how in the end the prince commits suicide. And saint-exupery killer himself a few years later.

[MissyO]

D'ya know, I've owned this book for years and yet never got around to reading it.
I'll have to give it a bash after I finish what I'm reading now. Thanks for the suggestion Val.

[Ophelia]

I love it! Haven't read it in a while.

[Val]

Originally Posted by MissyO

Thanks for the suggestion Val.

I'll post more preferred books soon.