THE LITTLE PRINCE NOVEL REVIEW
“You become responsible, forever, for what you’ve tamed.”
Title: The Little
Prince
Category: Novels
Author and
Illustration: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Publisher: Wordsworth
Editions Ltd
Number of Pages:
118
Subtitles: Katherine
Woods (English)
The
book The Little Prince was written by a French pilot, Antoine-Marie-Roger de
Saint-Exupéry, during World War II between 1941 and 1943 in exile in America.
Due to the strong characteristics of the book, this classic children's fable
has been successfully translated into many countries and has become the most
translated French book.
From that opening alone Saint-Exupéry has clearly attempted to convey an important topic in this story, namely “how incomprehensible adult thoughts”.
The
next part continues with the story of the pilot who has grown into a man and
has a profession, when he was flying, his plane crashed right in the middle of
the Sahara Desert alone, without any friends, he finally decided to spend the
night there. The next morning, in the morning, he who was sleeping on the sand
woke up to hear someone talking to him.
The
man—in his innocent voice—asked the pilot to describe him as a sheep. The pilot
who was dumbfounded and surprised by the sudden and strange request looked at
the person before him, a boy, dressed like a prince, with golden yellow hair,
and didn't look at all like he was lost in the desert or frightened. After
being asked several times, the pilot granted his request. That was the
beginning of his first meeting with The Little Prince.
Days
went by, the pilot spent his 'stranded' time with the little prince, of course
while still trying to justify his plane. They talk to each other and tell
stories. From there the pilot learned the story and origins of the Little
Prince.
The
Little Prince was not a human on earth, he came from a planet in the form of an
asteroid, the size of the planet was very small, so small that he could see the
sun setting forty-three times just by shifting his sitting position. On his
planet there are the seeds of the Baobab tree which he always pulls out every
day, there are also several small volcanoes and some that are still active,
besides all that, something very special also grows on it, namely a rose, which
there's only one on the planet.
From
the beginning of his meeting with roses, the Little Prince was already
interested. He always praises the beauty of the flower, he always fulfills the
request of the flower, he does anything for the flower even though the flower
has an extraordinary arrogant nature. Without realizing it, there was a feeling
of love that arose between them even though at that time they were still so
young. However, the little prince's love was filled with fatigue because the
flower was so arrogant in judging himself, in the end, he decided to leave his
planet and the adventure began.
Little
Prince's journey is a summary of a small number of human characters on this
earth. Next is the character of a king who controls a small asteroid, so small
that the entire surface of the asteroid is covered by his beautiful cloak. Not
because of his large robe but indeed because his territory is so narrow. He
felt so powerful that all his orders had to be obeyed, even by his first
people. So that the Little Prince would not go, the King appointed him a
minister although if no one was to be judged he could try himself. This command
made the Little Prince grumble again, "Grownups are so weird."
The
king, who considers everyone to be his people, reflects the character of an
arrogant person who considers everyone to be his admirer. He didn't hear the
little prince's question because all he heard was praise. According to him,
admiration is an acknowledgment of his superiority over others when he is alone
on his planet. Again, the oddity of adults.
No
less strange is the character of the entrepreneur. He was serious about
counting stars and then he claimed his own. He bought the stars to then put in
the bank, and he was written as the owner of many stars in the sky. that's all
the goal is to count the number of stars.
The
next planet contains a lantern igniter, he obeys the rules when the sun goes
down he turns on the lantern as if giving light at night and when the sun rises
he extinguishes it. And so on until the sun rotates once a minute. He remained
obedient even though he did not have time to rest. It doesn't make sense but
it's better than the previous characters.
The
next planet contains a scientist who records earth science and he advises the
Little Prince to visit earth because of its good name. “Earth, has hundreds of
characters as above, 111 kings, 900 thousand businessmen, 7.5 million
drunkards, you can imagine how vast and diverse the earth is. And hundreds of
roses and mountains so pointed and towering."
One day on Earth, the little prince found a garden full of roses. A flower similar to the flower in his planet. However, even though the two flowers are physically the same, according to the little prince they are completely different. The flower he has tamed. A single flower on his planet is much more valuable than thousands of flowers on Earth, because he has guarded that flower for a long time. From the story about the flowers, there is a meaning, said by the fox to the little prince, “This is my secret. It's very simple: only through the heart can we see well. The most important thing is not visible to the eye." (page 88). What is not visible in the eyes, namely love and attachment relationships.
Strengths
With
a simple language style, this book is able to teach us how to judge everything
not only by looking at the 'cover', but also by judging from our hearts and
feelings when we are with it. In short, this book invites us to see things as a
child sees the world. Plain, beautiful, and what it is. That way we will
actually be very close to true maturity.
This
story also teaches us that the smallest things we can get with effort, will be
far more valuable than similar things in large quantities but we never try and
sacrifice for something.
This
fairy tale by Saint-Exupéry will make many adults who read it feel sarcastic
and reflect a little with stories of love, sacrifice, and the value of life.
Therefore, Le Petit Prince is one of the most important fairy tales for all
adults to read.
This
novel has the advantage of not only presenting writing but also having
illustrations in it which of course can increase the imagination of the readers
in reading this novel and also make the readers not bored because they are
treated to colorful illustrations.
Weakness
For
ordinary readers, it is difficult to understand the meaning of the story, which
is implied.
For
people who like thick novels and have complex problems, maybe this book is too
short to read.
