This book is about children, and this book is about grown-ups; how they relate to each other and how they view the everyday world around them.
As the author so touchingly puts it, there was a time when every grown-up was a child – this book is about the magic they have lost in the growing-up process. And, perhaps, in every grown-up there is a child (a
little prince) waiting to come out if only the grown-up will allow it. This book is about the struggle between the two of them.
Just as every grown-up was once a child, there will come a time when every child becomes a grown-up. The coming of age for the little
prince begins with his departure from the comforts of his home world, from all that is familiar and precious to him.
Told in the form of a parable, this book is also about the loss of innocence as it traces the journey of the little prince as he
comes to terms with the worlds of power (the king who is the custodian of reasonable authority), of pride (the conceited man who hears nothing but praise), of forgetfulness (the tippler who does not remember why he is drinking), of wealth (the businessman who is busy counting his wealth), of duty (the lamplighter who is just following orders) and of wisdom (the geographer who is not an explorer).
But all fail to impress him, and so he makes his way to the Earth from his heavenly abode. It is there that he makes the acquaintance of the snake. The snake tells him it is lonely in the desert, it is also lonely among men.
Unhappy and in search of a friend, he comes across the fox. The fox tells him that
friendship cannot be bought, that friendship must be fostered over time and that with friendship comes responsibility towards one’s friends.
The little prince
meets the switchman. From the switchman, the little prince learns that men are in a hurry because they are not satisfied being where they are, but they do not know what they are looking for…
Last of all he meets a doctor, a merchant who is selling pills but who cannot quench his inner thirst. The author suggests that the little prince is looking for water (spirit) to nourish his soul. The sweetness of the water (spirit) comes with being close to nature, the efforts of labor and listening to the song of life.
But this tale has a sad end to it for the child (unable to cope with the burden of life upon this earth) dies in the end. And returns to the never-never land, to the star where he was born.
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