My father gave me Little Prince when I was 5 years old. I have read this book at least twenty times from then on. I grow up with it, knowing more and more about love and having benefited from it a lot.
Little Prince was written by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, whose life was a legend. The fairy tale begins with a crash in the Desert of Sahara. The narrator, who was the pilot, made the acquaintance of the little prince. The little prince looked at the world in the view of a child. He couldn’t understand a lot of things in the adults’ world. All of those interested the pilot. Because the little prince’s experience reminded the pilot of his own childhood. He used to draw a picture like this(a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant)
after he read about how a boa constrictor swallowed its prey whole, without chewing it. But all the grown-ups couldn’t understand it. They said that obviously it was a hat. From then
on, the pilot was so disappointed that he didn’t create something interesting any more. He decided to bring himself down to the adults’ level.
The pilot was curious about where the little prince came from. So he asked a lot of questions. From the answers, the pilot knew the secret of the little prince’s life. The little prince lived on a small planet. There was only a rose and three volcanoes on it. He quarreled with the rose who in fact loved him deep and decided to leave his planet.
He visited some planets and met plenty of people and animals including king, conceited man, tippler, businessman, lamplighter, geographer, snake, a garden of roses, fox and railway switchman. The writer is good at symbolist writing. The whole fairy tale is full of philosophical connotations. Each man represents one kind of people, so do the animals For example, the fox is the avatar of solomon, He helped the little prince realize that his rose was unique even there were quantities of roses in the world. The fox raised the concept tame. The fox said to the little prince” If you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. Look: you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not eat bread. Wheat is of no use to me. The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the color of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat..."
At last, the little prince wanted to return to his planet. He asked snake to bite himself. The prison took effect quickly. Although the pilot was very sad, he knew it was necessary for the little prince to go . Because for him, the earth was not the suitable place for him. At the same time, he missed his rose. He understood to judge one by his deeds and not by his words.
The little prince represents the loneliness of human being. The universe is so big, where is the really home for human? Anyway, it is a sad story. It has moved so many people, teaching people how to love. I’d like to be the fox waiting for love. Please, tame me.
I can still remember the time I first read Little Prince, I was in a bookstore. I scanned the thin book quickly, I couldn’t memorize every detail, but I sensed something dolorous around, I was moved. At that time I considered this book was beautiful.
ReplyDeleteNow I am reading your blog, that feeling came back, about the little prince, the adorable child. It is a feeling mixed with sad, pity, and love. The world belongs to him is too pure to exist. It is a Eutopia. Society is cruel, but Antoine wrote that like a poem. In Little Prince, every deed has a reason. Like rose and prince, they love, they hurt. Maybe sometimes only harm can prove how deep the love is.
All in all, this is a beautiful book, and thanks for your wonderful introduction.
Sometimes, in life, you cannot wait for things to happen. You need to make things happen. Follow your heart!
ReplyDeleteI remember struggling with the book several times and finally giving up. It was just so many impossible ideas for me to make sense of and frankly, it was emotionally exhausting. I have since came to the conclusion that this book was not written to be read. Instead, it was a book to remind us about just how difficult it is to live the life of thought. By comparison, it became more meaningful to live a life of action, interacting with people who matter to us. Now that you've opened up this subject which I've buried in my mind for a long time, I will return to the book to see if I can get more out of it than before.
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