The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

When the Second World War broke out, the author of (the yet to be written) ‘The Little Prince’ was a pilot in the French Army and, when Germany beat France, he flew to North America intending to help fight the Nazis - becoming a voice for the French Resistance movement. Drawing on experience of being in the Sahara Desert which were initially outlined in his memoirs written earlier, he is thought to have conceived the idea for what would become one of the greatest children’s stories ever told.

He began writing the manuscript for ‘The Little Prince’ in the summer of 1942 and, with doing the illustrations himself, he would become renowned for his book - but also plagued by illness. He was likely unhappy in exile and saw no way he could possibly fight for his country again and was destined for depression. Today, you can still see the location on Long Island named Bevin House where some of ‘The Little Prince’ was written whilst the author was in bad health. But, published in the April of 1943, ‘The Little Prince’ became a sensation of friendship, loneliness and a masterpiece of the spirit of childhood.

Plot

A fascinating eye into the life of a child, the narrator performs a test on adults to see if they still have access to that great imagination of childhood: he draws a picture of a snake eating an elephant and asks them what it is. Many of them say it is a hat and tell him off for not doing wiser things with his time. The narrator would grow up to become a pilot - flying out to the Sahara Desert where his plane breaks down. Running out of supplies quickly, he begins fixing as quickly as he can and also encounters a child dressed as a prince.

The narrator shows the prince the picture he drew as a child when the prince asks for a drawing of a sheep. The prince recognises the drawing as a snake eating an elephant and has therefore, passed the friendship test the narrator set in his own childhood. After three failed attempts at drawing the sheep, the narrator draws a crate stating that the sheep is inside it. It is exactly what the prince wanted.

The prince goes on to tell the story of Asteroid B612, which is where the prince used to live before coming to Earth. It is the size of a house and grows large and devouring Baobab Trees. It has volcanoes and plants as well. The prince’s requirement for a sheep is to eat the plants he does not want on his planet and yet, he is worried of injuring the sheep from it accidentally eating thorny plants as well.

Explaining that there was once a rose on the asteroid, he describes the friendship between the two of them which was ultimately, toxic and unequal. The prince leaves his home planet to visit others where he might be treated better with more equal friendships - he visits six planets representing ironies of adulthood, each inhabited by an adult.

The prince then lands in the desert, meets and snake and tells the narrator that the snake claimed that he could take the prince back home. Encountering rows of rosebushes and realising his friendship was not unique is a low point in the prince’s time on earth. He then meets a fox who taught the prince to tame him. The prince goes on to meet two other people, each of which speak of adults with strange purposes that make little sense to the mind of a child, an unhappiness that straps you in for a life of mediocrity. The prince’s story ends and he longs to return home.

He finds a well for him and the narrator to drink from and the narrator explains that he once found the prince talking to a snake. The prince says goodbye to the narrator and of course, the prince allows the snake to bite him and falls to the ground. The prince’s body has disappeared by the next day and the book closes with a thought about whether anyone has seen the prince since and the urgent need to contact him if they have.

Into the Book

There are many great themes and symbols in ‘The Little Prince’ but the first one and possibly the most important one that I want to discuss is the symbolism regarding the stars. For the narrator the stars represent a key to navigation, being the one thing that people have used for navigating and mapping things for centuries by the time the book is written. It is important to him to be able to understand them and yet, according to the prince, the narrator does not quite understand the stars as well as he should. The way in which the prince sees the stars is different. To the prince they convey the immensity of what is not understood by those who refuse to see the true picture.

It highlights the prince’s home, constantly reminding him of how far away he actually is from it. The mystery of the heavens may be incomprehensible to the narrator, but to the prince it is the only thing he really knows and thus, represents the idea of perspective. The stars highlight the prince’s absence from his home and then finally, from earth itself. The finally drawing by the narrator is of a star hovering in the desert, representing the place where the prince’s body once was. The stars are a requirement for humans, but also belittle us in the universe, presenting something that we understand but also highlight everything we do not.

“You - you alone will have the stars as no one else has them...In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars were laughing, when you look at the sky at night...You - only you - will have stars that can laugh.”

- The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Another important symbol in the book is water. As water is usually known in literature and in life as the ‘life giving substance’, we can see the narrator become more frustrated with himself as the water begins to run out. Though both of them have no water, the prince does not seem as worried, showing that it is not that he doesn’t understand, but that he doesn’t have much to lose as an adult believes they do. When he and the prince find the mysterious well, the narrator recognises that the prince is talking to a snake that he had already mentioned, the scene at the well therefore ironically presents water and life to us whilst also signalling death.

When the prince encounters the man who invents a pill to save people three minutes a time on drinking water as it causes people to have no thirst, he states that he would use the three minutes to get a drink of water. Essentialism is for adults, acting on enjoyment and fulfilment is a childlike concept and therefore, the prince suggests that the joy of drinking water is not just for quenching thirst, but is the very act of drinking the water itself. It is the spirit and not the body that water feeds.

“Grown-ups love figures... When you tell them you've made a new friend they never ask you any questions about essential matters. They never say to you "What does his voice sound like? What games does he love best? Does he collect butterflies? " Instead they demand "How old is he? How much does he weigh? How much money does his father make? " Only from these figures do they think they have learned anything about him.”

- The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Another symbol that is probably lesser seen by common studies into the book is the scene with the trains. Chapter 22 of the novel looks at how trains are quintessential to understanding the things that adults lack which children have: desire for exploration, enjoyment and curiosity. Grown-ups, according to the book, use trains as an essential means - going from one way to the other and back again. This suggests that whatever the adults on the trains are doing when they are on them is therefore pointless and purposeless.

They are contradictions to life which entails them in business, disallowing them to observe or even be introspective. The children on the trains on the other hand are seeing that more important than just getting wherever they need to go to, the journey can also be a fascinating time for exploration. They press their faces against the glass windows and take in the scenery, something the adults do not do. Therefore, the train represents this key difference in the way children and adults act. Where children are curious and fascinated by the everyday, adults are blinded by it and have become accustomed to existing instead of living.

“I have lived a great deal among grown-ups. I have seen them intimately, close at hand. And that hasn’t much improved my opinion of them.”

- The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Why It’s a Masterpiece

I think I would be lying if I said that ‘The Little Prince’ was not one of the greatest stories for and about children ever written. Short and dreamy, it represents one of the greatest achievements of European literature during the Second World War. ‘The Little Prince’ is a book contradictory to its context, it represents the war almost perfectly. Adults start wars, children do not. Adults have the capacity to fight with each other instead of creating understanding through curiosity like children do. The author fuelled by his own experiences and ultimately, his bad health, is keen to teach us about what the eyes of a child see differently.

The loneliness of the world at war is explored through the readiness to consume in which we can buy things from shops but we cannot communicate as friends. This is something that is the opposite for many children. The author’s last quotation about finding the prince and urgently needing contact is not just a man needing his friend, but it is a warning about how much we all need the little prince. The loss of the prince is the loss of innocence - represented directly in the ongoing war which would feature one of the worst crimes against humanity ever witnessed.

Conclusion

‘The Little Prince’ is one of those beloved books with a main character that you ultimately end up really agreeing with though you may not practice the principles in your own life. I have had many of my students read ‘The Little Prince’ and each one has ended up so obsessed with it, they have refused to give my book back. It is a wonderful book for both children and adults and teaches us the importance of taking things in with feeling, empathy and heart.

Next Week: Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller