By:

Antoine De Saint-Exupery

A Book Report
Presented to
The Faculty of Mother Goose Special School System
Incorporation

Presented by
 I. INTRODUCTION

The story “The Little Prince” is deceptively simple and apparently a story for
children, The Little Prince addresses most major social concerns of Saint-Exupery's
day and of modern times. The lack of childlike simplicity in a sophisticated and
materialistic civilization is portrayed from the very first page, when the author shows a
drawing of a boa snake that had eaten an elephant to uncomprehending adults, who
believe it to be a hat. Adults, especially the materialistic generation, continue to judge
by appearances; the Turkish astronomer who discovered B612, the Prince's planet,
is rejected by the scientific community until he appears in Western clothes.
Adults are enamored of statistics and numbers, and prefer to know how much
money a person makes rather than know the sound of his voice. Such adults are
reflected in the businessman who counts stars which he claims to own, to prove his
wealth. Even the problem of drug addiction and alcoholism appears in the drunkard,
who drinks to forget that he is ashamed to drink. The compartmentalization of
knowledge, too prevalent in today's world, is evident in the geographer, who is not an
explorer, and therefore cannot know what is really on the earth's surface. The world
of authority and power comes to life in the king who considers everyone his subject,
a universal image, but only too true in occupied France in 1943.

I. BACKGROUND OF THE AUTHOR

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is both a pioneer of aviation and a well- known
French writer. He was born in Lyon, France, in 1900. At an early age, he dreamed of
a life of adventure and wanted to become a naval officer. Unfortunately, he failed the
exam to qualify him for naval officer training school. As a result, he turned his
attention to the field of aviation. Even though flying was dangerous and risky in Saint-
Exupéry's time, he joined the military and trained to be a pilot. After his military
service, he presented himself to the director of an airline company and expressed his
desire to become a commercial pilot. The director told him he must first become an
airplane mechanic.
 Finally, in 1927, after serving as a mechanic, Saint-Exupéry became a pilot,
opening up new air routes over the Mediterranean Sea, North Africa, and the Sahara
Desert. Because of the danger of flying, he had a number of accidents, but he
escaped any major injuries. Later Saint-Exupéry became the director of his own
aviation company in South America, where he often flew dangerous routes over the
Andes Mountains.
For Saint-Exupéry, flying was not just piloting an airplane; it was a time for
meditation and reflection. While in the air, Saint- Exupéry would think deeply about
solitude, friendship, the meaning of life, the human condition, and liberty. He decided
to publish his reflections into a book, which was successful. When his aviation
company failed, Saint-Exupéry decided to pursue writing as a career. He first
became a journalist, traveling to Spain, Russia, and Germany. He also wrote two
philosophical books based on aviation: Night Flight (1932) and Wind, Sand, and
Stars (1939). Still in love with piloting an airplane, Saint-Exupéry continued to fly
whenever he had the opportunity.
In 1939, when France went to war with Germany, Saint-Exupéry immediately
enlisted in the army, hoping to become a military pilot in the war effort. France,
however, was soon defeated and occupied by Hitler's troops. Saint-Exupéry decided
to leave his homeland, settle in the United States, and pursue his writing career. It
was in New York that he published The Little Prince, his most celebrated book, in
1943. Since its first publication, more than 25 million copies have been sold in 75
different countries.
In 1942, when American troops landed in North Africa, Saint- Exupéry decided
to join the U.S. Army as a pilot. Since he was 42 years of age, he was initially
considered too old to be a pilot and was not allowed to fly; however, Saint-Exupéry
persisted and was finally given an airplane. He accomplished many missions over
occupied France. On July 31, 1944, Saint-Exupéry left for his last mission. His plane
was destroyed by the Germans over the Mediterranean.
Though it is not simply a book for young people, The Little Prince ranks
number five in the world on the list of best-selling children's books of all time. Wind,
Sand, and Stars and Night Flight also remain among the top ten best-selling French
language books of all time.
The Little Prince is a profound and deeply moving book written in riddles and
laced with philosophy and poetic metaphors. The Little Prince's philosophy, "What is
essential is invisible to the eye," is well-known throughout the world. The book is, in
part, autobiographical. Saint-Exupéry did, indeed, crash his airplane in the Sahara
Desert, and like the narrator, he knew how to repair it. More importantly, the book
gives the author's innermost thoughts on life and love.
On the more positive side, Saint Exupery shows the world of love within
people, symbolized by the special flower chosen and protected by the Prince, no
doubt also the classical symbol of feminine beauty in the form of a rose. There is the
story of friendship in the person of the fox who needs to be tamed before he can
become a friend, and who explains to his little friend the necessity of ritual in all
relationships, the importance of the invisible, and of responsibility toward those with
whom one has created a relationship, or "tamed."
The cosmos, the world of outer space, was very important to Saint Exupery,
who in all his works speaks of the splendor of the clouds, the stars, and the sky, of a
new vision of the earth. Little wonder then that his hero would come from another
world. It was to return to his unearthly world that the prince made friends with the
serpent, the eternal symbol of death.
Saint-Exupery points out the importance of the invisible, the world of the spirit
beyond this visible world, where people will live in peace and harmony. A true
humanist, his ultimate concern was with human brotherhood and happiness.

II. SUMMARY
The narrator begins the tale with an explanation of his dislike of adults; he
claims he does not enjoy them, for they are much too practical. Instead, he prefers
the company of children, who are natural and curious. The narrator next tells of how
his plane crashed in the desert, where he met the Little Prince, a mystical creature
from another planet. The narrator tells why the Prince left his planet and where he
visited before coming to Earth. His adventures on six different planets are recounted,
including the encounters with the king, the conceited man, the tippler, the
businessman, the lamplighter, the geographer, the snake, the desert flower, the
garden of roses, the railway switchman, the merchant, the fox, and the narrator. The
narrator and the Prince share a rewarding relationship on the desert, and when the
Little Prince departs, the narrator misses his company. He writes the novel in
memory of the Little Prince. The little Prince leaves his own tiny planet in search of
adventure on a visit to our world. This is a very condensed version of the classic
book Le Petit Prince, just for toddler-sized attention spans. This book, with both
French and English, is ideal for teaching toddlers simple French, especially
identifying objects.The mood is mostly adventurous and mysterious, with a
philosophical overtone. At first the Little Prince does not reveal his identity, creating
an initial sense of mystery. Then as the Little Prince recounts his travels, the mood
becomes adventurous. As he questions the fox and the narrator, the mood becomes
philosophic. At the end, when the Prince arranges to be bitten by the snake, the
mood again becomes mysterious. Although he seems to die from the snake bite, the
narrator cannot find the Prince's body when he looks for it the next morning. He can
only assume that the Prince successfully returns to his star.
Saint-Exupéry explains how all joy and pleasure must be earned, not given or
received. As an example, he shows the joy that the Little Prince and the pilot feel
when they taste the water from the well. Its sweetness comes from their journey
under the stars and the work of the pilot's arms making the pulley sing. In the end,
the Little Prince again experiences a new joy. Leaving his "shell" behind, he has gone
to the most beautiful place he can imagine -- his star, which is his love; he has
returned to his own little heaven. Saint-Exupéry scorns man's obsession with the
wrong things, such as wealth, power, and technology; he uses the King, the
Businessman, and the Lamplighter to highlight this theme. The king puts a great deal
of importance into being obeyed, even though he orders only what would happen
anyway. The businessman takes great pride in owning all the stars, but he is too
busy counting them to gain any pleasure from their beauty. The Little Prince tries to
teach him the pointlessness of his "property." The Little Prince also scorns the
Lamplighter's fascination with science and technology. He is so caught up in the
importance of lighting his lamp, that he misses what is important in life. The need to
have faith is another minor theme in the book. The Little Prince arrives on the Earth
during a spiritually troubled phase and stays until he has resolved his confusions.
During his stay, he teaches the narrator the importance of having faith and belief.
Many critics have called the Little Prince a Christ-figure, for he is described as being
free of sin. He also believes in a life after death. At the end of the book, he returns to
his star, his heaven.
The story is not set in a particular period or in one specific place. In the first
chapter the narrator writes about his childhood experiences with drawings and about
his low opinion of adults. In the second chapter the narrator starts narrating a
particular series of incidents. He writes of the time when his plane crashed in the
desert of Sahara six years ago. Most of the narrative after the second chapter is set
in the desert. The other places that function as settings include the asteroid where
the Little Prince has his home and the planets that the Little Prince visits, including
asteroids 325, 326, 327, 328, 329, and 330. The last planet that he visits is the Earth,
where he meets the narrator in the Sahara Desert.
In the book, the fox teaches that one can see only what is important in life by
looking with the heart. Because of this lesson, Saint-Exupéry leaves the desert as a
different person. He has accepted the Little Prince's thought that "'the stars are
beautiful because of a flower that cannot be seen." In essence, the fox's lesson is
about how to love, a most important lesson for everybody to learn. The fox points out
that it is the time that one "wastes" on someone or something that makes it important.
The fox also tells the readers that love can overcome existentialism: "One only knows
the things that one tames.... Men buy things already made in the stores. But as there
are no stores where friends can be bought, men no longer have friends." A human
must earn a friendship, not buy it.
The protagonist of the short novel is the Little Prince. He is a simple, yet
mystical, creature from asteroid B-612. One day a seed arrives on his planet and
blooms into a beautiful flower. Though the flower is lovely, it is vain and irritates the
Prince. Finally he leaves his planet, to escape the flower. After visiting several
asteroids, the Little Prince reaches Earth, where he meets the narrator in the Sahara
Desert.
The problem, or antagonist, of the Little Prince is his thirst for answers. He
visits many planets and meets many people, whom he questions about life. In
particular, he wants to understand the existence and pastimes of adults on Earth. He
tries to find his answers from a snake, a fox, and the narrator.
The climax of the plot occurs when the Little Prince decides to return to his
planet and care for his special flower. He has learned from the fox that the important
things in life cannot be seen with the eye, only felt with the heart. This lesson
eventually makes the Little Prince realize that the flower from which he has fled is
really very special. After meeting the narrator and explaining all that he has learned
since he left his planet, the Prince accepts that he really loves the flower because
she is his responsibility, and he has invested time and trouble in her survival. As a
result, he decides that he must go back to his star to take care of his special rose.

II. CHARACTER ANALYSIS

Major Characters
The Narrator
The narrator speaks for himself. The narrator is present throughout the book
to tell the story of his friendship with the Little Prince and comment on what he has
learned from him. He is very attracted to the Prince, largely because he is childlike,
innocent, and pure. The narrator admits that he prefers the openness, honesty, and
naiveté of children to the pretensions and blindness of adults, who cannot see
beyond the surface of life. The narrator feels very close to the Little Prince because
he is able to see the truth and importance of things. Even after six years, he
remembers everything about this little man from another planet; as a result, he writes
the book in memory of him.
The Little Prince
The Little Prince is the main character and protagonist of the novel. The book
is the story of his search for answers about what is important in life.
 The novel is named after the Little Prince, who is a mystical and loveable
person. He is the sole inhabitant of a small planet, which the narrator refers to as B-
612. The Prince leaves his planet to visit other places and finally lands on Earth. In
the Sahara Desert, he meets the narrator and befriends him. The narrator tells of his
encounter with the Prince and also relates the adventures of the Prince on the other
asteroids that the latter has visited.
Many critics see the Little Prince as a Christ figure. Like Jesus, the Prince
descends to earth to live for a short while. Also like Christ, he is good and pure; he
also has the ability to know things before they happen. During his stay, the Little
Prince, like Jesus, teaches others the value of love and seeing beneath the surface
to the real worth of things. In addition, the Little Prince shares a "last supper" of water
with the narrator before he dies. After his death, the Little Prince's body is resurrected
to ascend to his star, his own little heaven.
The Fox
The fox is another important character, for he teaches the Little Prince the
most important lesson in the book. The fox meets the Prince when the latter is
disappointed and lonely. He has just seen the garden of roses and realized that his
flower is common, not unique and valuable as he had imagined. The fox, however,
teaches the Prince that one cannot judge another by seeing with the eyes; instead,
one has to see and judge with the heart. As a result, the Little Prince realizes that his
flower is really very special, for he has loved and cared for it.

Minor Characters
The Turkish Astronomer
The narrator mentions the Turkish astronomer in the fourth chapter. The
narrator believes that the planet from which the Little Prince has come is the asteroid
known as B-612. A Turkish astronomer first sees this asteroid through the telescope
in 1909.
The Little Prince's flower
On the Little Prince's planet, the flowers are usually very simple; but one day,
from a seed blown from afar, a new flower comes up that is very beautiful, but also
very vain. The Prince begins to doubt the flower's credibility and finally leaves his
planet to escape the company of the flower.
The King
The king is the sole inhabitant of asteroid 325, which the Little Prince visits
after leaving his own planet. The king insists upon his authority being respected and
does not tolerate disobedience; however, since he is a very good man, he makes his
orders reasonable. Just before the Prince leaves the king's planet, the latter makes
the former an ambassador.
The Conceited Man
He is the inhabitant of asteroid 326. Totally conceited, he insists that everyone
else admire him. He does not listen to anything but praise and expects the Little
Prince to praise and admire him.

The Tippler
The tippler lives on asteroid 327. When the Prince asks him what he is doing,
the tippler replies that he is drinking to forget that he is ashamed of drinking.
The Businessman
The businessman sits and counts stars on asteroid 328. He thinks that he
owns the stars, making him rich. The Little Prince explains to the businessman that
he is of no use at all to the stars that he owns.
The Lamplighter
The lamplighter lives on asteroid 329 and does the job of lighting and then
putting out the lamplight. The lamplighter thinks that his is a terrible profession,
because once every minute he has to light the lamp, for his planet makes a complete
turn every sixty seconds. The Prince feels that the lamplighter is the only one who
could have been his friend.
The Geographer
The geographer lives on a planet that is ten times larger than the lamplighter's
planet. He explains that he is a scholar who knows the location of all the seas, rivers,
towns, mountains, and deserts. He is the one who advises the Prince to visit the
planet Earth, as it has a good reputation.
The Snake
The first living thing that the Prince encounters on the planet Earth is a snake.
The snake tells him that it gets a little lonely among men. The Prince thinks that the
snake is very weak, but the snake tells him that he can kill a person. The snake also
says that he can solve all kinds of riddles.
The Desert Flower
The Prince meets a flower in the desert. It tells him that there are only six or
seven men in existence and that one never knows where to find them. According to
the flower, the wind blows the men away.
Garden of Roses
The Prince meets a garden of roses on the planet Earth. He is overcome with
sadness on seeing them because there are five thousand of them in a single garden.
His flower has told him that it was the only one of its kind in the universe. He cries
when he realizes that his flower has lied to him.
Railway Switchman
The Prince meets the railway switchman on Earth. The switchman tells the
Prince that he sorts out travelers and sends off the trains that carry them. The
switchman also says that no one is ever satisfied with his position. During his
conversation with the switchman, the Prince tells him that only the children know
what they are looking for.
Merchant
The Prince asks the merchant why he sells pills that quench thirst. The
merchant answers that he sells them because they save a lot of time. The Prince
feels that he would rather use that time to walk at leisure toward a spring of fresh
water.
Since the story of The Little Prince is written in the form of a fable, or allegory,
the characters do not have names, but are rather "I" and "he." Others are generic: the
astronomer, the geographer, the king, the businessman, the lamplighter, and so on.
As in allegory, they represent one phase of human life. The king is authority; the
lamplighter, devotion to duty; the businessman, greed. The flower is a coquettish
woman, nevertheless beloved by the Prince; the serpent is death; the fox, true to his
literary image, represents ruse. Most of the secondary characters are. Simplicity and
immediacy are the characteristics that endear this short story to all readers. There is
a great deal of dialogue, with many repetitions, especially on the part of the Prince,
who as a true child never lets go of an idea once he has taken hold of it. His words
reveal him to be a child, yet a child who has the wisdom of unaffected simplicity. The
various scenes in which animals, flowers, and people interact with him are brief and
to the point. Often satiric of abuses in society, the passages stand on their own,
without any need of explanation.

III. PLOT ANALYSIS

Other than the first and last chapters, which serve as an introduction and
epilogue, the plot of The Little Prince is unified mainly by character and theme. The
novel begins with an introduction to the main idea of the book. The narrator explains
the drawings of boa constrictors that he made as a young boy. None of the adults
who viewed the pictures were able to see the meaning of the drawings. As a result,
at an early age, the narrator discovered that most people do not look beneath the
surface to see the real message, beauty, or importance of a thing. This becomes the
central theme of the entire book.
The plot of the book really begins in the second chapter when the narrator
meets the Little Prince. The airplane of the narrator crashes in the desert. As he
works on repairing it, the Prince approaches him, seemingly out of nowhere, and
asks him to draw a picture of sheep. He also asks the narrator to draw a picture of a
muzzle for the sheep. The Little Prince goes on to explain that he is worried that the
sheep on his planet will eat his special flower, which he judges to be unique and
beautiful.
From the second chapter onward, the book focuses on the Little Prince and
his search for answers about life. Although the story is told chronologically, it is
repeatedly interrupted by flashbacks as the Prince tells of his adventures after
leaving his star. He visits five planets, and on each he learns something new about
life. He shares these visits and lessons with the narrator. Even though much of the
rising action of the novel jumps back and forth between past and present, the plot of
the story is easy to follow, for the focus is always upon the Little Prince.
Once he lands on Earth, the Prince meets two important creatures: the snake
and fox. The snake assures him that whenever the Little Prince is ready to return to
his star, he can be of assistance. At the end of the novel, the Prince seeks out the
help of the snake, drawing the end of the novel to the beginning into a tight unity.
After meeting the snake, the Prince encounters the fox, who teaches him a most
important lesson. Just when the Prince has realized that his special flower is really a
common one, and therefore not of great value, the fox explains that a person must
look beyond the surface to see the real value of a thing. If one looks with one's heart,
not just with one's eyes, a person can see the hidden beauty of an object. He
convinces the Prince that his flower is, indeed, very valuable, because it has been
loved and tamed by the Little Prince.
By the time the Little Prince meets the narrator, he has learned the important
lessons about life; but it is in telling the narrator about them that the lessons take on
a real meaning for the Little Prince. After reviewing all that he has learned, the Prince
accepts that he must return to his star in order to take care of his special rose; his
acceptance of responsibility is the climax as the plot.
At the end of the book, the Little Prince goes to find the snake, which can bite
him and return him to his planet. Before he makes the journey home, the Little Prince
lets the narrator know he is departing. He tells him to look up at the stars and think of
them as laughing. The Little Prince knows that when he looks at the stars, the
narrator will also think about him. In truth, the narrator has grown very fond of the
Prince and hates to see him go. When he is bitten by the snake and dies, the
narrator is grieved to have lost a friend; but he feels certain that the Little Prince has
returned home to his own little heaven. The end of the novel, therefore, helps to unify
the plot, which has come full circle. The Little Prince has accepted responsibility and
returned to his star to care for the flower, which had originally driven him away.
In the last chapter, serving as the conclusion and epilogue, the narrator
explains how he looked for the body of the Little Prince on the next morning;
however, it was no where to be found. In this brief falling action, the narrator
convinces himself and the reader that the Prince has returned to his star. The
narrator also explains that he has written the story of the Little Prince six years after
he met him. Even though it has been a long time since the Prince's departure, the
narrator's friendship with the mystical man from another planet has had a profound
affect on him; therefore, he finally decides to write the novel in memory of and as a
tribute to the Little Prince.

IV. CONCLUSION

The story ends in comedy. The Little Prince finds the answers to his questions
about what is important in life. When he realizes his love for the flower, he accepts
that he must return to his star to care for the rose. He makes arrangements with the
poisonous snake to bite him, which will insure his safe passage back home. Before
he departs, the Little Prince makes a profound impression on the narrator. One must
turn to the Bible and medieval sources to find the direct precedents of The Little
Prince. As a parable, the story recalls Biblical style and imagery. The serpent is the
symbol of death. The pilot, like the Israelites of old, is lost in the desert. The memory
of the Prince will be for the fox like golden wheat fields. About to die, the pilot and
Prince seek for water, and find a well, a true fountain of living water. Trees, such as
those in the Garden of Paradise, are found throughout the book. The Prince will
return home by the light of his star.

V. REACTION

It's nice to have a book with like this, the structure and presentation offer
parents an opportunity to take a classic story like this. Language absorption is perfect
with story-telling, particularly for books that get read over and over again. I learned
that what is essential is invisible to the eye. This book is, in part, autobiographical.
Saint-Exupéry did, indeed, crash his airplane in the Sahara Desert, and like the
narrator, he knew how to repair it. More importantly, the book gives the author's
innermost thoughts on life and love. And at one level, the novel is really a children's
book, its language and style are simple. Because the plot and dialogue are easy to
follow, a young person will find the book easy to understand. A child can also hear or
read about the adventures of the blond-haired Little Prince and enjoy its meaning at
an uncomplicated level. Beneath the simplicity, however, there is a sophisticated tale
that deals with the important lessons of life. Just as the Little Prince finds answers to
his questions, the reader like me also learns the answers to what is most important in
everyday existence.