The Little Prince - Review, Quotes and Related Products

The Little Prince is one of the books that reaches across generations. It is ostensibly a children's book, but in reality is a philosophical discussion of some of the basic lessons in life. The book is about a little prince, tiny actually, from an asteroid. It is a tale of his adventures across the galaxies and his travels through Earth. It is a inspired story with a lot of insights into life and love.

Although this book puts itself out as a children's book, the main characters of the story are given complex and sometimes contradictory characteristics as only adults can understand. The Little Prince is first seen as one who looks beneath the surface when he first meets the narrator when he immediately recognizes the drawing for what it really is. But as the story progresses, he reveals his shallow nature when he becomes sad that his flower is not ordinary when he sees gardens of roses. He is only consoled when the fox tells him that his flower is unique because he loves it. This shallowness strikes close to home. Most, if not all of us, will recall a time when we judged a book by its cover, or in this instance, a flower by its looks.

The character of the Rose is depicted as vain and naive. But it is the Rose that drives home one of the more important life lessons: that love and responsibility are intertwined. The little prince came to love the rose because of the time he spent caring for it. This life lesson delivered by a fox has so many complications that will surely raise the eyebrows of liberals. "Is love therefore a burden" debate will surely be sparked by this lesson.

My favorite character is the wise and all-knowing fox. Foxes are usually portrayed as sly, but it is the fox that jolts the little prince into some of his realizations. Despite his wisdom, he shows his vulnerable side by asking the little prince to tame him. He shows that even the most jaded character wants to belong. 

Much like the Harry Potter books, The Little Prince is a brilliant book about the lessons in life, how children understand life better while adults make it their business to complicate it. Like the little prince, we are travelers in this world as we search for the meaning of life. But like the businessman who owned all the stars (because no one claimed them), we are too obsessed with acquiring material things rather than seeking the meaning of life. We put a lot of importance on wealth. We keep counting our money and putting them in a bank because, as the businessman said, it is "of consequence." This character is one that resonates to most people. Since time immemorial we work from sunup to sundown to acquire and acquire, and eventually become rich. So we should ponder the question raised by the little prince to the businessman: "what good does it do you to be rich?"

The Little Prince tells us that it is important to see life from the point of view of a child. It is a child who sees the meaning of Drawing Number 1, a snake with an elephant inside, and not the adults who think and insist that it is a hat. The Little Prince simply points out that it is in innocence that we understand the meaning of life. As adults we have to learn to see the picture for what it really is and not what it seems.

The Little Prince is a philosophical discourse of life and love from a child's point of view. I do understand the general lessons delivered in such a quaint and extra-terrestrial way, but as an adult who has gone through a few scrapes, the Little Prince can be too simplistic. The little prince's question as to what good it is to be rich is insightful, but just because the businessman cannot answer, it does not mean that there is indeed no good to being rich. I believe that the more important question is not whether there is any value to being rich, but whether you are doing something to enhance the meaning of life with your riches.

Nonetheless, I have always loved the Little Prince from the time I first read it. It is a book that conjures the imagination of the child but at the same time, provokes further contemplation from an adult. It never ceases to amaze how there are so many little lessons hidden from this short story. It is a story that will keep the reader thinking long after he has put down the book.

• "One sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eye."
  
  
• "The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart."
  
  
• "All grown-ups were once children...but only few of them remember it."