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Summary: With a timeless charm it tells the story of a little boy who leaves the safety of his own tiny planet to travel the universe, learning the vagaries of adult behavior through a series of extraordinary encounters. His personal odyssey culminates in a voyage to Earth and further adventures.
Author: Antoine de Saint - Exupery
Genre: Classic Literature, Fiction, Fantasy, Childrens, French Literature, European Literature, Philosophy
Goodreads Rating: 4.5/ 5 stars
My Rating: 5/ 5 stars
Pages: 83
Publisher: Mariner Books
"How clumsy I felt! I didn't know how to reach him, where to find him... It's so mysterious, the land of tears."
Before The Little Prince, came Antoine de Saint - Exupery. Saint - Exupery was born in Lyon, France on June 29, 1900. He was born into aristocracy. Saint - Exupery's love for aviation sprouted at an early age. He flew his first plane at the age of twelve and in his adult years he went on to become a pioneering aviator. As a young man, Antoine de Saint - Exupery decided to try his hand at writing. He published a few short stories and magazine entries, but his first novel, Courrier Sud (Southern Mail) was published in 1929. His first novel, along with all of his later novels would feature flying and a love for the open sky in some way, shape or form.
Exiled from France in 1940 for his refusal to stop speaking out against Germany in the face of the stirring of Nazi Germany, after France's armistice with Germany, Saint - Exupery fled to the United States of America in hopes of convincing the U.S. government to take immediate action to snuff out the rise of Nazi Germany. He was unable to gather any real support against the rising of Nazi Germany in the U.S., but his writing career did take off. April 6, 1943 The Little Prince was published in New York. (The French edition, Le Petit Prince wouldn't be published until 1946 after both the liberation of France at the end of WWII and Saint - Exupery's own death). The Little Prince was Saint -Exupery's last publication before he went off on a reconnaissance mission for the Allies and disappeared over the Mediterranean sea. Neither Saint - Exupery or his plane were ever found, until sixty years later. What was left of the wreckage of his plane was found and identified in the Mediterranean, but the mystery of where his remains lie remains unsolved. It is unknown whether the plane crash was a result of Saint - Exupery being shot down, having a mechanical malfunction, or even suicide. Whichever the case may have been, Saint - Exupery died at the age of forty-four; leaving behind a widow and many unanswered questions. Saint - Exupery's widow, Consuelo de Saint - Exupery, a Salvadoran - French writer and artist, went on to preserve her late husband's work and image. She laid witness to the revered national French hero that her husband became known as.
French aristocrat, writer, poet, and pioneering aviator Antoine de Saint - Exupery wore many hats during his too short life, and it wasn't until after his death that his work received any real appreciation. Posthumously, Saint - Exupery was deemed a laureate of several of France's highest literary awards and the U.S. National Book Award. His reputation as a French hero was gained after his death, as well.
"But eyes are blind. You have to look with the heart."
The Little Prince is a novel that had been patiently waiting on my TBR list for quite some time, for at least over a year. Whenever I scrolled through bookstagram or Goodreads and I came across The Little Prince, I'd make a mental note to finally purchase the book and see what all of the fuss was about. I never got around to buying the novel for myself. Instead, I was lucky enough to be sent a copy from an absolutely wonderful friend, for Christmas. And yes, I'm still referring to my friend as wonderful even though she didn't prepare me in the slightest for the wild emotional ride that those eighty-three pages whisked me away on. I went into reading The Little Prince with the expectation of a cute, heart-warming read; the standard final thought that most bookstagrammers seemed to have adopted in regards to The Little Prince.
"I wonder," he said, "if the stars are lit up that each of us can find our own way."
At this point in my life, I'm convinced that a reader's perception of a novel is only as deep as the reader's own self-introspection, hence why I finished this book with a heavy heart and not even the slightest sentiment of the tale being cute or heartwarming. Without a doubt, Saint - Exupery brought to life a tale that strums on, plucks, and weighs on your heartstrings. The Little Prince is so much more than "cute" or "heartwarming"; it is an unapologetic, real, and a poignantly beautiful view of life, love, and loss. Saint - Exupery is the kind of author who intrudes on your heart and mind, simultaneously, with the sole purpose of making you stop to appreciate the smaller details in order to see and understand the bigger picture. The Little Prince offers up a telescope to see all the world through, and when you look through that lens you see the world as you'd like it be and as it should be. And you'll end up wishing that you could keep your eye glued to that lens so as to avoid the reality of the world and life, but living through a lens, no matter how ideal, defeats the purpose of living. Rather, we are meant to use such telescopes to look to the sky and find our stars; our path, our purpose, our identities.
In The Little Prince, we meet the Little Prince who leaves his small planet and his rose and two volcanoes behind in order to see the universe. Our Little Prince ends up on Earth, in the Sahara Desert to be exact. The Little Prince is perturbed by this great sadness he feels no matter whom he speaks to. Not even taming the wild fox brings lasting happiness to the Little Prince. Our narrator realizes that he is unhappy because he is neglecting his duty to his lone rose back on his home planet. But how to get back home? The Little Prince stumbles upon a small snake that promises that he can send the Little Prince home, with a quick bite and almost no pain. To go home means to die a physical death. So as the Little Prince attempts to come to terms with this knowledge he finds the stranded Pilot, whose plane is down and in need of repairs. Together the two make a wonderful pairing and become fast friends. They brave the desert together in search of water and truth. But their most daunting trial is facing loss and the ache of losing the physical presence of a loved one. More than just a children's story, The Little Prince is a deeply emotional account of life and finding the beauty in mystery and sadness... I cannot recommend this novel enough.
Recurring Main Characters:
The Little Prince
The Pilot
The Snake
The Rose
Primary Setting: The Sahara Desert
Major Themes:
The snake
The danger of narrow - mindedness
The Little Prince represents a child's open - mindedness, as well as the wanderer who is decidedly eternally inquisitive. To Saint - Exupery, inquisitiveness represented the key to true understanding and happiness.
Enlightenment
To become enlightened we must explore
Adventure; explore the outside world
Introspection; explore within yourself
Saint - Exupery believed that spiritual growth could only be done properly through active exploration
We come to better understand our natures and our purposes in this world through exploring the world and our own feelings
Responsibility
The belief that relationships teach responsibility, and that responsibility is required for lasting healthy relationships
Relationships give us a better understanding and appreciation of our individual responsibilities to the world
True meanings are hidden
Taming
The desert = a hostile place; the narrator's mind
The drinking of the water = symbolizes spiritual fulfillment
The train rides = the rushed voyages we take in life that never result in happiness. We tend to never be happy where we are because we don't live in the present, we live for the future. The symbolization of the trains rushing at one another from opposite directions hints at how contradictory and purposeless our efforts at life as adults, truly are. But it is the children with hungry eyes glued to the windows that grasp the truth: that the journey is more important than the destination.
" People start out in express trains, but they no longer know what they're looking for."
**Spoiler Alert**
By far my favorite analysis of this short tale is the relationship drawn between the final scene of The Little Prince and the childhood death of Antoine de Saint - Exupery's younger brother, Francois de Saint - Exupery. At the age of fifteen, Francois died of rheumatic fever. He was Antoine's closest confidant and his memory would go on to serve as the inspiration for both the tale of The Little Prince and the character of the Little Prince, himself. Francois was the ever inquisitive, blond haired, Little Prince and Antoine was the pilot who couldn't hold on tight enough to the Little Prince, so he was left with the stars as an ever present and ever lasting memory of both his brother, his friend, and the need to make life meaningful. Francois' death is best witnessed in the final dramatic and heart wrenching scene of The Little Prince. Antoine's reflection:
“…remained
motionless for an instant. He did not cry out. He fell as gently as a [young]
tree falls”
of his younger brother's death is woven into the ending.
"You understand. It's too far. I can't take this body with me. It's too heavy."
I said nothing.
"But it'll be like an old abandoned shell. There's nothing sad about an old shell..."
I said nothing.
He was a little disheartened now. But made one more effort.
"It'll be nice, you know. I'll be looking at the stars, too. All the stars will be wells with a rusty pulley. All the stars will pour out water for me to drink..."
I said nothing.
Each and every single one of us have been given the chance to live this life and to bring meaning to our own lives and to the lives of those around us. Our lives are journeys. And sometimes we go on a journey for the truth, or to find someone, or to find ourselves, or to find fulfillment. But wherever we go, wherever we end up, we are to know that our stars will never leave us or lead us astray. The stars will be our forever companions in this lifetime, constantly overhead; in our hearts and in our minds, just as all of our loved ones who have passed or who have drifted away, will be. What is written on your heart can never be erased, so no matter where you fly to, who you meet, or where you end up, never forget to look to the stars...
"It's all a great mystery."
Until next time! Thank you for stopping by! And if you have yet to do so, follow me here on my blog via email subscription to be able to stay informed on when new posts are uploaded.
- Anisa
