THE LITTLE PRINCE NOVEL REVIEW

 

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.