The Little Prince: Philosophy in Life

A thin book, ostensibly a children's book merely a short read but then again, in its simplicity, The Little Prince teaches a philosophy on life reminding us what humanity is all about or rather what living is. The Little Prince teaches us about a life in the forms of the Prince, Narrator, Fox, Rose, and Snake.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry regard himself as a pilot above all else. It was his take off point in his discourse for the search of wisdom and the meaning of life. As we grow older, we become entrapped in the our worlds like that of the geographer, king, businessman , drunkard, lamplighter and the conceited man. The Little Prince was his plea on a decaying humanity centralized on materials that mattered so little.

He wrote, “For centuries, humanity has been descending an immense staircase whose top is hidden in the clouds and whose lowest steps are lost in a dark abyss. We could have ascended the staircase; instead we chose to descend it. Spiritual decay is terrible. . . . There is one problem and only one in the world: to revive in people some sense of spiritual meaning. . . .”

The Little Prince is a knit of philosophical insights. Each of the character is a representation of a universal ideal, a philosophy, of wisdom which few pursue.

Close-up of the Characters

The Little Prince

He is the pure and innocent traveler from outer space. Before he came to Earth, he met different characters from each planet. Each planet, he meets an adult that shows a certain weakness. Once he got to earth, The Little Prince starts his journey as a student and teacher. From his encounter with the fox, he shares with the narrator his learning on love. Although, he is an individual of high caliber as compared to the others characters in the story, he was susceptible to pain as symbolized by the snakebite. But what to learn from the Little Prince, is his constant questioning indicating that sometimes the search fort answers is a more fruitful experience that knowing the answers.

Narrator

As he continues to be the confidant of the Little Prince, the narrator himself is transformed. A pilot, he claimes he has been rejuvenated when his plane crashed in the dessert. When he was a child, he used to be imaginative but all these faded when he pursued a life of being a pilot. He learned from the Little Prince what the fox has shared to him, and as such he begun to search for a well symbolizing the need for exploration to understand the truth about what purpose lie on life.

Rose

This charter though only appears in a couple of chapters is significant to that it was what caused the Little Prince to set forth to an exploration. It was her pride that pushed the Little Prince, and it is her memory which prompted the Prince to go back to his asteroid. “As a character who gains significance because of how much time and effort the prince has invested in caring for her, the rose embodies the fox’s statement that love comes from investing in other people.”

Fox

When the Little Prince was crying over the ordinariness of his rose, the fox came along establishing a friendship with the Little Prince. The fox asked the Little Prince to tame him and in doing so he became the student as well the former's instructor. In his last meeting with the Little Prince, he told him the why the rose was important to him.

We often are focused on the material gains, on our careers leaving behind what is essential. These views have narrowed our world to ourselves and to our work. We no longer look up and explore. We fail to learn. We complain. We see what's in front of us that is tangible but not what lies in the heart for as the fox said to the Little Prince “Here is my secret. It’s quite simple: One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes. .”