Ostensibly a children''s book,
it makes several profound and idealistic points about life and human
nature. In
it, Saint-Exupéry tells of his being stranded in the Sahara
Desert, thousands of kilometers away from inhabited places, where he
meets a young extra-terrestrial (though entirely human-appearing)
prince. In their conversations, the author reveals his own views about
the follies of mankind and the simple truths that people seem to forget
as they grow older. The essence of the book is contained in the famous
line uttered by the fox to the Little Prince: "On ne voit bien qu''avec le cœur, l''essentiel est invisible pour les yeux."
(It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential
is invisible to the eye). There are also two other main points in the
book, both spoken by the fox. They are: "You become responsible,
forever, for what you have tamed" and "It is the time you have spent
with your rose that makes your rose so important".
Throughout the book the children''s view on the world, on the main
points of the human life and relations between people, which is
represented by the Little Prince and
partially by the narrator, is set
off against the "grown-ups" revealed in memories of the narrator and in
the characters, met by the Little Prince on asteroids. But the author
underlines, that the "''grown-ups'' are like that. One must not hold it
against them. Children should always show great
forbearance toward
grown-up people."