The Little Prince Theme and Summary

The Little Prince Theme and Summary
   The Little Prince is on a search, not for an easter egg basket, not for a lost wallet, but for a new house.  He has left his old home because of a rose that drove him out with her unkindness.  Along the way of looking for a new place he can call home, he meets many creatures that give him very valuable advise that changes his life forever.
   The narrator of the book, who is never given a name, has crash landed his plane in the middle of the Sahara Desert.  Stranded, the narrator of the story awakes to find a small boy over him asking for him to draw him a sheep.
   This little boy's name is The Little Prince and he shares the odd thought process of the narrator.  They both believe in innocent thinking like one of a child, a thinking that does not revolve around politics or other "grown-up activities" like most people of the narrator's age would.  Instead the narrator thinks most with his imagination more than anything.
   The Little Prince is looking for a new home.  He lives on an asteroid no bigger than a house that inhabits three volcanoes that go up to his knee that he must rake out each day and most importantly, The Little Prince's beloved rose.  This rose is the reason why he left although it is probably the thing The Little Prince loves most.  This rose is very rude and is extremely unappreciative to all the work The Little Prince does for her including watering her, feeding her, surrounding her with love, and putting glass over her in the cold night.  After all of this The Little Prince decides to abandon her and find a new home where he will be appreciated more.
  First he goes to an asteroid that inhabits a very power hungry King.  This king thinks that he is in charge of everything and in reality he does not rule anything.  From his visit with the king, he realizes that one should not be too power-hungry, because it can ruin your life.  He decides that he can not live on the asteroid because he does not like the king.
  Next he goes to an asteroid where a very conceited man lived.  The very conceited man is very lonely and craves attention.  This man hears nothing but praise.  The Little Prince does not like this man for he is much too vain and goes along his path to find a new home.
 Then, he goes to visit the next asteroid where a drunkard lives.  This person puts The Little Prince into a depression because of his story that he doesn't even know.  As their conversation goes after The Little Prince asks why he is drinking,

"So that I may forget," replied the tippler.

"Forget what?" inquired the little prince, who already was sorry for him.

"Forget that I am ashamed," the tippler confessed, hanging his head.

"Ashamed of what?" insisted the little prince, who wanted to help him.

"Ashamed of drinking!" The tipler brought his speech to an end, and shut himself up in an impregnable silence."

The Little Prince can obviously not live with a drunkard so he goes along his way to find a new home.

   The next person that The Little Prince meets is as the man puts it,"a very serious man".  He is a businessman who "owns" all of the stars.  The Little Prince probably likes this man the least because he is the a type of person who loves numbers and is a classic grow-up, while he likes the type of people who think with their imagination.  He does not like this man so he goes on his way, looking for another astroid that he can call his come.

   The Little Prince then meets the lamplighter, he is a man that is extremely commited to lighting and unlighting his lantern when day and night comes. On this small planet, the day/night cycle is only a minute long.  He has not gotten a wink of sleep for years because of this vicious cycle.  The Little Prince admires this man, and realizes that this man is probably the only man he would have liked to live with, but sadly, sense the asteriod is so small, there is no room for him.

   The next person The Little Prince meets is a geographer.  He is cowardly becuse he will not explore his own asteriod because he is so commited to only writing the maps.  He asks the Little Prince, who he refers to as an explorer, to describe his old asteriod so he can make a map of it.  When The Little Prince mentions his beloved rose, the geographer refuses to put it on the map because it is emphermal.  To this, The Little Prince becomes very worrisome to how the rose is doing.  He says he must go on with his house hunting, and the geographer recomends the planet Earth.

   He then travels to earth where he meets a fox, this fox wants despersatly to be tamed.  He does not have any friends and is very lonely.  The fox symbolizes friendship.  He then tames the fox and they share a strong bond.  When the fox speeks about friendship and taming, he talks about his flower and the fox, very unselfishly, tells The Little Prince to go back to his flower.  He has made a bond to that flower and can not break it.  The Little Prince then shares a tearful goodbye with the fox and goes on his way.

   On his way back, he runs into a railway switchman where he learns that people are never happy where they are, and one should try to be. 

  Next The Little Prince runs into a salesclerk who is trying to sell pills that stop people from feeling thirst.  He confidently states that it will save you up to 53 minutes a day.  The Little Prince does not understand this and realizes that people should not take shortcuts in life and to live live the way it's meant to be lived.

  Finally The Little Prince meets the snake.  The snake symbolizes death and sacrifise because The Little Prince took the poisonous bite from the snake in place of the narrorator and returned to his home.