The Little Prince

Le Petit Prince
Antoine de Saint-Exupry

Aiman B. Arabain 2nd Year- Earth December 16, 2012

Title: The Little Prince or Le Petit Prince Author: Antoine de Saint-Exupry Publisher: Reynal & Hitchcock (USA), Gallimard (France) Publication Date: 1945 Number of Pages: 91

Summary of Little Prince The book starts with the narrator, who is an airplane pilot, recollecting his favorite picture when he was a six-year-old boy. The picture was of a boa constrictor eating a large animal. He recalls how a boa constrictor cannot move after swallowing its prey, and must hibernate for the six months until its food has been digested. Fascinated by this story, he had drawn his first drawing, Drawing Number One, which showed a boa constrictor devouring an elephant. When he showed his picture to the elders he was surprised to see that they couldn't make out what it was and were not frightened of it either as he had hoped they would be. They couldn't understand why anyone would be frightened of a hat, which is what they interpreted the drawing to be. But his picture was not a hat but rather, a boa constrictor digesting an elephant. He then drew the inside of the boa constrictor in another picture, Drawing Number Two, where the elephant could be seen clearly. But the grown-ups advised the narrator to give up drawing and pursue geography, arithmetic and grammar. Disheartened by his failure to become a painter, he realizes how difficult it is for children to always be explaining something to grown-ups. So the narrator learned to be a pilot, noting that the geography he learned did prove to be useful but that his opinion of adults did not improve: whenever one would see Drawing Number One, they would think it was a hat. Consequently, he could no longer talk about boa constrictors or stars with anybody. This continued until six years earlier when his plane had crashed in the Sahara desert. He was thousand miles from home and faced with a life or death situation. The narrator was shocked to hear an odd little voice asking him to draw a sheep. He turns to see the little prince, who is examining the narrator, looking nothing like a child lost in the middle of the desert. The narrator doesn't know how to draw a sheep so he shows Drawing Number One to the little prince instead. The little prince examines the drawing and says that he doesn't want a picture of an elephant inside a boa constrictor. Finally after a couple of attempts he is able to draw a box with a sheep inside it, and the little prince is very happy. The narrator and the little prince become friends and he tries to find out where the little prince comes from, but the little prince is more concerned with the pilot's plane, laughing at its broken parts. The little prince is comforted by the fact that the narrator also comes from the sky, asking him what planet he comes from. The pilot is surprised at this question and in turn tries to find out what planet the little prince comes from. The little prince ignores the question and admires the pilot's drawing of the sheep in a box. The pilot offers to draw a string to tie to the sheep so he won't get lost, but the little prince laughs. The sheep will not get lost he says, because on the planet where he lives everything is very small.

The narrator is surprised to discover that the planet the little prince comes from is very small and only the size of a house. In fact, it is an Asteroid called B-612, which is only visible through a telescope. The narrator claims that a Turkish astronomer had sighted the little prince's asteroid in 1909, but that no one would seriously believe anybody wearing traditional Turkish clothes. After a Turkish dictator ordered all his subjects to change to European clothing, the astronomer successfully presented his report again in 1920.

The narrator insists that these details are not a concession to his grown-up readers. He says that grown-ups can only understand facts and figures, without ever wondering about other essential qualities, such as beauty and love. Instead they only care about how old someone is or how much a house costs in order to decide what is beautiful. For example, he notes that a child would accept the little prince's existence based solely on the fact that he wanted a sheep, while an adult would care only that the little prince came from Asteroid B-612.

Setting: Sahara Desert Asteroids 325, 326, 327, 328, 329, and 330 Earth Characters: The little prince - he is the main character in the story. The little prince comes from asteroid B612, a tiny planet in space. He leaves his planet in search of knowledge and wisdom, and also to get away from his flower. He travels to 7 planets, and on the last planet, the earth, he learns the secret of life from the fox and teaches the narrator that one must be responsible for the things that you tame. Narrator - the narrator loves to draw, but he abandoned drawing at the age of 6 because nobody understood his drawings. Hence, he decided to become a pilot. One day, he flew his air plane over the Sahara Desert, but suddenly his engine broke, and he landed in the desert. Here, he meets the little prince and he learns from the prince the secret of life. The narrator shows the prince his drawings, but is surprised that the little prince knows what each drawing represents. From the experience with the little prince, the narrator sees the difference between children and adults, and he finds in himself, the children within. The Flower - the flower lives on the planet of the little prince. She is a conceited and arrogant flower that seems to think that the world revolves around her. She also nags the little prince all the time and asks him to take very good care of her. However, inside, she deeply loves the little prince and despite her arrogance, she realizes that she was the one that caused the little prince to leave the planet. Fox - The fox in "le petit prince" is depicted as a very wise creature. He knows the secret of life, which he gives to the little prince as a present: "the essential is invisible to the eye, one can only see clearly with the heart." When he first meets the little prince, he's shy and timid, but then he's willing to sacrifice his

freedom for the little prince to tame him. The fox feels that when the little prince tames him, he will be happy because he will no longer be like the one million other foxes that the little prince will see; he will be unique to the little prince. Businessman - The businessman is also known as "Mr. Cramoisi" or "Mr. Red" because according to the little prince, he's too serious. The businessman works all the time keeping track of how many stars he has in his possession. He hates distractions and the little prince would be his third distraction. King - The king lives on a tiny planet that is almost completely covered by his magnificent long flowing robe. The little prince visits him, but he automatically labels the prince as his subject and gives him ridiculous orders like, "do not yawn" or "be a minister". He is very arrogant and believes that he rules over the universe including the stars and the planets. Of course, the little prince thinks he is very foolish because no one can rule the whole universe. Drunkard - The drunkard is a sad and lonesome soul that lives on a tiny planet by himself. He drinks to forget that he's ashamed of drinking. It's like a vicious cycle. Clown - the clown wants attention all the time and he asks the little prince to clap for him whenever he salutes by taking his hat off. He says that he's the most wonderful, funny, and admired person in the world and he also loves compliments. The Street Lighter - the street lighter turns on and off the street light that he has on his planet. Whenever he turns the light on, a new life is born, and the sun rises. Whenever he turns off the light, someone dies, and the sun sets. Geographer - the geographer draws maps in his atlas. He asks the little prince to describe his planet to him so he can draw it, but when the little prince tells him about his flower, he tells the little prince that he cannot draw it because flowers are "ephemeral", meaning, they don't last forever. The little prince is

saddened by this because he did not know that his flower could die. Merchant - the merchant sells pills that would replace water. If you're thirsty, then all you have to do is take a pill and you will not need to drink water. He says by doing this, you will save 53 minutes every year from drinking water. The little prince thinks this is ridiculous and he thinks if he had 53 minutes, he would walk to a fresh water fountain. Train person - this person sends trains off in different directions. He says that children are lucky because they know what they are looking for, unlike adults, who travel from place to place looking for things. Plot: Based on the story by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, this magical musical fable begins as a pilot makes a forced landing on the barren Sahara Desert. He is befriended by a "little" prince from the planet Asteroid B-612. In the days that follow, the pilot learns of the small boy's history and planet-hopping journeys in which he met a King, a businessman, an historian, and a general. It isn't until he comes to Earth that the Little Prince learns the secrets of the importance of life from a Fox, a Snake, and the pilot.

Theme: While seeming to speak to children, the author of The Little Prince addresses us all and the text can be read at many different and surprising levels of meaning, from fairy tale to philosophical treatise. For me, I would say the different themes in the little is Understanding the Little Prince; Spirit; Tame, Love and Bid Goodbye; Grown-ups; Invitation. Conclusion: I really like this book. I think this book is the most romantic ever made. Even more romantic than Romeo and Juliet. It may have a simple story but, it has deep meanings on it. The Fox let us realize that we have the responsibility with everything we tame. When we can tame, it means we love them and they love us. This book, is not only about romantic. Right? But also in life. From this book, we can learn that visible things are only shells that the real are hidden inside. Matters, money, position, power that can make men forgot the meaning of life using their heart. I can say that, I would like to recommend this book to everyone. Because this book can remind them that if we have problem, it caused by complicated mind. We just no need to simplify it, use our heart and more enjoy life. Lets enjoy the book. That would be all. And God Bless You.