We explain what The Little Prince is, what its characters are and the plot of this novel. Also, its general characteristics and moral.
The Little Prince is a work read worldwide and translated into more than 250 languages.
What is The little Prince?
The little Prince is a short novel written by the French aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944), probably the most famous work of this author. Its title in the original language is The Little Prince (“The Little Prince”) and was published in both French and English in 1943.
Is a work read worldwide and translated into more than 250 languages, including Braille, and is among the best-selling books in history (140 million copies in total, almost one million sales per year). It is also the best-known work of French literature of all time.
The novel tells the story, illustrated with watercolors by Saint-Exupéry himselfthe fictional encounter between a war pilot—lost in the Sahara Desert, where his plane crashed in the middle of World War II—and a little prince from another planet.
Said meeting will allow us to delve into the history of the Little Prince’s travels and his poetic and philosophical gaze, which seeks to see what is essential invisible to the eyes.
See also: Picaresque novel
Main characters of The little Prince
The Little Prince presents characters as animals and inanimate objects.
Apart from the aviator, who also acts as narratorvarious characters from The little Prince decorate their unusual and fantastic world.
These are animals like fox or snake and inanimate objects such as the flower, with which the Little Prince seems to communicate better than with adults (often represented by their jobs: the accountant, the lamplighter, the king, the geographer, etc.).
Environment of The little Prince
The story is told in various settings, among which are the home planet of the Little Prince (the asteroid B612), the six planets close to his own and the planet Earth, mainly the desert, where he meets the narrator.
Plot of The little Prince
The Little Prince believed that the rose was taking advantage of his care without giving it love.
The story of the Little Prince It is told by him to the aviator (and the reader) while trying to repair his plane’s engine to return home.
This story It begins on his planet, where the Little Prince took care of his three volcanoes and his rose.until one day he realized that she could be taking advantage of his care without professing any love for him.
So decided to visit nearby planetswhere he met the first older adults in the story and one of them – the geographer – recommended that he visit Earth.
Over there Meet the Aviator, the Fox and other creaturesamong them the yellow snake that has the power to “return people to the place where they came from.”
Moral of The little Prince
The main teaching of The Little Prince is told by the fox.
The most common reading of the novel is that of a children’s book, because of the way it is written and the teachings in the form of a moral that the story presents.
Many of them, however, They constitute central truths of life and human relationships. Everything is offered to the reader metaphorically, with parables similar to those used in biblical language.
The most central of these teachings is put by the author in the mouth of the fox, one of the most important characters in the story: “You can only see clearly with your heart. What is essential is invisible to the eyes.”.
Author of The little Prince
The work is said to be inspired by the life of its author, Saint-Exupéry.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was an aviator and writerwinner of numerous literary awards in France, although he could not see published during his lifetime The little Prince.
His performance as a military pilot in World War II led him to to go into exile in the United Stateswhere he wrote and illustrated the novel along with other well-known autobiographical stories.
Finally, In the spring of 1944, he disappeared aboard a mission to photograph Corsicaas part of the planning of an Allied landing in fascist Italy. His remains and those of his plane were recovered in 2000.
Inspiration of The little Prince
Many theories They attribute the inspiration for the writing of The little Prince to the author’s own life: his experiences as a pilot in the Sahara and his humanistic perspectives on life, also collected in works such as War writings and Land of menand his own childhood – his friends nicknamed him le Roi-Soileil (“the Sun King”) due to his golden curls. However, as is often the case, it is difficult to establish the creative coordinates of an artistic work.
Adaptations of The little Prince
The Little Prince has been adapted to formats such as theatre, opera and film.
The immense reception of the work throughout the world led not only to its translation into more than 250 languages but also its conversion to other formats such as theaterthe opera, the (animated) film and numerous illustrated versions.
Some even They proposed updating it according to the sensitivities of the children of the 21st century. Companies such as Toshiba or Veolia Environment have taken the character as an emblem of their environmental protection and anti-tobacco campaigns respectively.
Unpublished material from The little Prince
Recently (in 2012) Two unpublished pages from the original manuscript of the novel were foundpractically illegible and placed between 1940 and 1941 by experts.
The first contains variants of chapters 17 and 19, while the other introduces a character later discarded from the novel: a man on earth who is looking for a six-letter word that means “gargle.” The answer to the riddle is not found in the novel.
Relevance of The little Prince
The Little Prince has a valuable lesson in managing emotions.
He little Prince It is valued worldwide as a literary work both in children and adults.
This is due not only to the beauty of its history, full of poetic places and philosophical reflections, but to its value as an initiatory work and its teaching in the management of emotions and romantic relationships.
Other works by the author
Some well-known publications by Saint-Exupéry are: The Aviator (1926), Southern Mail (1928), Night flight (1931), land of men (1939), war pilot (1942) and eight others that were published posthumously.