St. Exupéry, Antoine de - The Little Prince

The Little Prince Written and Illustrated by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

What is The Little Prince?

The Little Prince is a book written by the french author, journalist, and pilot, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It was written in1943, one year before his death. It is the most well-known of his novels. From the outside it appears to be a simple children's tale. The Little Prince is actually a profound and deeply moving book written in riddles and laced with philosophy and poetic metaphors. The book has been translated into many languages from the original French version. It was also made into a play and a movie, and the children's cable channel Nickelodeon in America ran a cartoon series in the mid-80s based upon the prince, his rose, and his adventures.

Saint-Exupéry: A Short Biography

Saint-Exupéry was born in Lyon in 1900. During his military service, he learned to pilot airplanes. After his military service, he presented himself to the director of an Airline company and expressed to him his desire to become a pilot.

First Saint-Exupéry worked to become a mechanic. In 1927, he was the pilot of a formation. He completed dangerous missions over the Mediterranean and over the Sahara. He had many accidents over the middle of the desert. Later, he was named the director of his own aviation company in South America. There also he accomplished many dangerous missions over the Andes.

During his missions, Saint-Exupéry thought deeply about solitude, friendship, the meaning of live the human condition, and liberty. He published his reflections. His book had immediate success.

Unfortunately, the aviation company for which Saint-Exupéry worked was having serious finacial problems. Saint-Exupéry had to quit the company. He became a journalist. He went to Spain, Russia and Germany.

In 1939, France went to war with Germany. Saint-Exupéry enlisted immediatly in the army. Saint-Exupéry didn't accept the defeat. He decided to leave France. He settled in the United States, where he continued to write. It was in New York that he published The little Prince, one of his most celebrated books.

On the 31st of July, 1944 Saint-Exupéry left for his last mission. His airplane was destroyed by German airplanes over the Mediterranean. On that day, Saint-Exupéry didn't return...in the open sky he found risk death and glory.

Main Characters:

The Little Prince: he is a child who lives in a very small world. He is very curious and never let go of a question, once he had asked it.

The rose: she is such a proud and vain flower, she doesn't show that she loves the little prince. The rose doesn't admit her mistakes and hides it through coughing.

The fox: he teaches him everything about true friendships and the secret of what is really important in life.

Antoine de Saint-Exup é ry: he had an accident with his plane in the desert of Sahara and gets to know the little prince.

Summary:

One day, the author reminisces, when his plane was forced down in the Sahara, a thousand miles from help, he encountered a most extraordinary small person. "If you please," said the stranger,"draw me a sheep." And thus begins the remarkable history of the Little Prince. It took Antoine de Saint-Exupéry a long time to learn where he came from. The Little Prince lived alone on a tiny planet no longer than a house with just a few things on it that were all very special to him. He always cleaned the one extinct and the two active volcanoes and used one to cook dinner. His planet had a nice view, you could see some stars of the neighborhood and a couple of simple flowers. But he also owned a flower, unlike any flower in all the galaxy, of great beauty and of inordinate pride. He tended the flower, so she began very quickly to torment him with her vanity, which was a little difficult to deal with . It was this pride that ruined the serenity of the Little Prince's world and he began, therefore, by visiting the asteroids in the neighborhood, in order to add his knowledge.

The first of them was inhabited by a king. For his rule was not only absolute: it was also universal. He had a magnificent air of authority. The second planet was inhabited by a conceited man. For, to conceited men, all other men are admirers. The next planet was inhabited by a tippler, who drank to forget that he was ashamed of drinking. The fourth planet belonged to a businessman. He claimed, that he owned all the stars and administered them. The Little Prince continued on his journey and landed on the smallest planet. There was just enough room on it for a street lamp and a lamplighter. But he was not so absurd as the other men. For at least his work has some meaning. When he lights his street lamp, it is as if he brought one more star to life. When he puts outv his lamp, he sends the star to sleep. What the Little Prince did not dare confess was that he was sorry most of all to leave this planet, because it was blest every day with 1440 sunsets! The sixth planet was ten times larger then the last one. It was inhabited by an old geographer, who did not leave his desk. But he received the explorers in his study.

When the Little Prince visited the earth to save his dying flower, he saw how different a grown-up's world was. The grown-ups always had to have more or bigger. They were always running around busily. They thought the more one could see, the more important they were. But when he arrived , he was very surprised not to see any people. The snake told him that it was lonely among men. Finally he learned from a fox, the secret of what is really important in life. He tamed the fox, to be unique to him in all the world. Now he looked again at the other roses and understood that his rose was unique to him in all the world. Then the fox told him his very simple secret: ,,It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." At first the little Prince felt bad about the few things he had and the tasks he set out to do. But a more indepth observation of a grown-up world revealed some disturbing traits. ,,no one is ever satisfied where he is," a switchman told him. ,,They are pursuing nothing at all." It made him appreciate his planet more. The little prince went home, leaving wisdom and thought with one adult whom he had grown to love.

As children, we grew up with simple surroundings, simole abilities and simple goals. We only had one direction to go, so we went that way and didn't think much about anything else. What was important to us was the most and only important thing in the world. But that doesn't mean that thoughts and activities of a child are less meaningful than those of an adult. Even adults divide themselfes into big people and little people.That is what Antoine de Saint-Exupéry tries to explain in this classic tale of The little Prince.

The little Prince will open your eyes to what truly matters