THE LITTLE PRINCE
CRITICAL ANALYSIS BASED
ON READER RESPONSE
THEORY
• THE LITTLE PRINCE IS BASICALLY A TRAGEDY. IT IS A TALE POPULATED WITH VERY LONELY
CHARACTERS AND IT ENDS WITH A VIOLENT DEATH. THE BOOK IMMEDIATELY STARTS ON A SAD
NOTE, WITH OUR NARRATOR, THE PILOT, OPINING THAT THE DRAWINGS HE HAS GIVEN TO US IN
THE BOOK PERHAPS COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER, BUT WHEN HE WAS A CHILD THE GROWN-UPS IN
HIS LIFE DISCOURAGED HIM FROM HIS DRAWINGS AND INSTEAD ENCOURAGED HIM TO STUDY
THINGS LIKE MATH AND GEOGRAPHY. THIS WEIGHS DOWN THE BOOK WITH A HEAVY-HANGING
REGRET.
• THE NARRATOR IS OBVIOUSLY SAD THAT INSTEAD OF ENCOURAGING HIS CREATIVITY, THE
GROWN-UPS DISHEARTENED HIM CONCERNING HIS ART. IN FACT, I FELT ONE OF THE REASONS HE
IS TELLING THIS TALE IS TO ENCOURAGE CHILDREN NOT TO LET GO OF THEIR CREATIVITY AND
INNATE CURIOSITY, IN SPITE OF WHAT THE GROWN-UPS CONSIDER, IN THEIR STRANGE WAY,
‘IMPORTANT’. GROWN-UPS SEEM TO THINK THAT IF YOU CAN’T PILE IT UP AND COUNT IT, THEN IT
IS NOT IMPORTANT. HOWEVER, IT TURNS OUT THAT, AT LEAST ACCORDING TO OUR LITTLE
PRINCE, NO MATTER WHAT THE GROWN-UPS SAY OR EVEN ACTUALLY BELIEVE, THAT THE TRULY
IMPORTANT THINGS IN LIFE ARE INVISIBLE – THINGS LIKE FRIENDSHIP OR FAITH IN ONE’S SELF.
• LOVE AND COMPASSION ARE CONCEPTS EXPLORED WITHIN THE LITTLE PRINCE, THE FAMOUS
NOVEL BY FRENCH PHILOSOPHER AND WRITER ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPERY. THE LITTLE PRINCE
PROBES THE DEEPEST MEANING OF LOVE AND LIFE, SOMETIMES OBVIOUSLY, SOMETIMES
SUBTLY. IT IS THESE BRILLIANT PINPRICKS OF LIGHT THAT EXIST AS COUNTERPOINTS TO THE
FALL FROM IMAGINATION MOST ADULTS EVENTUALLY SUFFER.
• MOST OF US KNOW THE STORY OF THE LITTLE PRINCE WHO CAME TO EARTH AND FINDS, IN A
STRANDED AVIATOR, AN ODD FRIEND. WITHIN THE LITTLE PRINCE, THE READER IS EXPOSED TO
PHILOSOPHICAL CONCEPTS THAT REMAIN AS PAINFULLY IMPORTANT IN THESE TROUBLED TIMES
AS THEY WERE DURING THE TIME OF SAINT-EXUPERY’S SECOND WOLRD WAR, THE GLOBAL
CONSCIOUSNESS WAS FRAUGHT WITH DIVISION, EXPLOITATION, AND EVER-PRESENT FEARS
REGARDING THE FUTURE CIVILIZATION AS IT HAD BEEN KNOWN. THIS IS UNFORTUNATELY, A
CYCLE OF FEAR WHICH HAS REPEATED AND CONTINUES TO OPERATE IN THE ABSENCE OF ANY
SENSE OF UNIFIED OPTIMISM AND SOCIETY-WIDE [RACTICE OF COMPASSION. WE LIVE IN A
WORLD OF NUMBERS, AND THE ECONOMIC OF MODERN LIFE PRECLUDE THE EXPLORATION OF
IMAGINATION, OF LAUGHTER AND FRIENDSHIP AND LOVE. I READ THIS TALE, WONDERING
WHERE THE HUMAN SPECIES KEEPS GOING WRONG. WHERE IS OUR SENSE OF GREATER
RESPONSIBILITY TOWARD ONE ANOTHER, AND OUR PLANET?
• THE STORY OF THE LITTLE PRINCE IS A VERY UNUSUAL CHILDREN’S BOOK FOR
PROBABLY SEVERAL REASOSN. HOWEVER, I THINK HIGHEST ON THAT LIST OF
ECCENTRICITIES WOULD BE THE FACT THAT OUR BELOVED LITTLE PRINCE –
APPARENTLY A CHILD – DIES FROM A SNAKE-BITE AT THE END. AND NOT ONLY DOES
HE BUT IT IS BASICALLY A SUICIDE. I CALL IT SUICIDE BECAUSE THE LITTLE PRINCE
INVITED THE SNAKE – VERY VENOMOUS – TO BITE HIM, WHICH THE SNAKE – FOR
UNELUCIDATED REASONS OF HIS OWN – AGRESS TO DO AT THE TIME AND PLACE POF
THE LITTLE PRINCE’S CHOOSING.
• THE LITTLE PRINCE HIMSELF BELIEVED THAT BY ALLOWING THE SNAKE TO BITE HIM,
HE COULD BE FREED OF THE WEIGHT OF HIS BODY AND RETURN OT HIS OWN
ASTEROID AND AGAIN BE WITH HIS ROSE. THE PILOT IN THE LITTLE PRINCE WHO HAS
JUST GOTTEN HIS AEROPLANE WORKING AGAIN, IS HEARTBROKEN AT THE LOSS OF
HIS NEW FRIEND, THE LITTLE PRINCE. BEFORE LEAVING, THE LITTLE PRINCE HAD
OFFERED THE STARS AS CONSOLATION. HE SAID THAT THE PILOT WOULD ALWAYS
HAVE THE STARS TO REMEMBER THE PRINCE.
• AT THE VERY END OF THE STORY, THE PILOT BEGS THE READER PATHETICALLY THAT – IF
WE, THE READERS, EVER RUN INTO SOMEONE MEETING THE LITTLE PRINCE’S
DESCRIPTION: ‘PLEASE DON’T ALLOW ME TO GO ON SO SAD. SEND WORD IMMEDIATELY
THAT HE’S COME BACK.’ THOSE FINAL LINES ARE SO BRIMMING WITH PATHOS THAT I’M
NEARLY TEARFUL MERELY RECOLLECTING THEM, FOR THEY CAUSE ME TO CONTEMPLATE A
FEELING OF A LOVE SO DEEP – A CONNECTION SO REAL – THAT THE MERE PRESENCE OF
THE OTHER PERSON FILLS US WITH JOY AND THEIR ABSENCE LEAVES US WITH A HOLE IN
OUR HEART.
• PERHAPS, IF WE GAZE UP AT THE STARS ON A QUIET NIGHT WITH OUR HEARTS OPEN, WE
MIGHT HEAR THE LITTLE PRINCE SPEAKING TO US FROM HIS TINY-HOME PLANET WHERE
HE SITS WITH HIS LOVELY ROSE, ‘MAKE FRIENDS’, HE MAY SAGELY ADVISE. ‘BRAVELY AND
NAIVELY EXPLORE THE UNIVERSE. BE CURIOUS, ASK QUESTIONS. RELEASE THE POWER OF
YOUR CREATIVITY AND DON’T BE DISCOURAGED BY THE CRITICS OR THE GROWN-UPS.’
