impressive
The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery is a novel about innocence, love and friendship. It portrays the experience of the little prince, the hero of the novel, who visits seven planets. It is thus a fairy tale, but it is also a novel full of obvious philosophy, impressing both children and adults.
The little prince’s experience is narrated by an aviator in the book. Under the description, the little prince has a pure conscience who comes from the Asteroid B-612 with his loving rose, three volcanoes and some baobabs. As he can't endure the flower's vanity, he decides to leave his loved rose and begins his journey.
Before he arrives in the earth, he has been to six planets where he meets six adults. And through the talks with the six men, the little prince learns that the adults are all busy for some unimportant things, like ascendance, vainglory, business and impractical thinking.
Then he gets to the earth and encounters a fox. The fox tells the little prince what friendship is, what uniqueness is and what responsibility is. He is filled with remorse for leaving his flower alone on the asteroid. Then he meets the aviator and they get along well with each other.
The novel ends with the departure of the little prince, who is bitten by the snake that can send him to his home. Though the little prince tries his best to comfort the pilot, he is still grieved to say goodbye to the little prince. And the pilot keeps their beautiful memories in mind for a few years.
In this book, Antoine gives every figure their own unique symbolization, the adults, the fox and the rose. The first thing that shocks me is the six adults. The king who is lost in the vain pursuit of power, the conceited man who asks others to clap hands, the guy that is ashamed of drinking yet goes on drinking for forgetting the shame, the merchant that is wild about counting stars, the exhausted lamplighter that stands upon his duty and the geographer who never goes out to explore, all neglect the really beautiful and valuable things. Actually, Antoine wrote this book just for the adults. He hoped we adults can maintain our innocence, sincerity, hope, curiosity and child’s intelligence, and chase for liberty and wonderful life. As a result, he successfully conveyed his ideas through the character of the little prince and the comparison between the little prince and the six adults. Many people currently are lost in the material things, going blindly for money, power or entertainment without enjoying their hobbies and the meaningful life. Just as Neil Postman says in Amusing Ourselves to Death, it is not what we hate will ruin us, but what we desire [1]. We need to learn from the little prince who always yearns for the sunrise on his little asteroid. And all of us should stop and reflect ourselves when stepping forward as well as remind ourselves of keeping unchangeable initial heart.
Moreover, he created the rose and the fox aiming at arousing our attention on cherishing love. Through the fox, the little prince understands exactly that love needs forgiveness and consideration. We should always remember that “it is only with the heart that one can see rightly” and “what is essential is invisible to the eye” [2]. Only when you are starving, can you know the preciousness of food. Only when you are losing, can you understand the real love. Maybe your parents have said something you can’t accept or maybe they are strict with you, but they still love you the same as before and you should keep it in mind so that we won’t make some irretrievable mistakes. The rose means too much to the little prince. And it’s the same as the saying of Stephen Hawking that “It would not be much of a universe if it wasn’t home to the people you love”.
As one of the readers of the Little Prince, I will practice the value I learn from the book. Furthermore, I earnestly hope that we all can cherish and enjoy the most valuable thing.
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