The Little Prince

If the saying ‘ignorance is bliss’ is indeed true then this book undoubtedly proves that ‘innocence must surely be divine’. That’s the first thought that will come to your mind when you are through with the wonderful experience that is this book. A book that touches the heart of all who read it regardless of their age. Rarely are such eternal gems produced in any literature and its brilliance can only be experienced on undergoing the wonderful journey of this timeless tale. A story that will straightaway strike a chord with the young and make the old remember what it was like to be young and innocent again, when every fantasy seemed real and the world was beneath their feet. Sir Exupery is quite renowned for this little gem and a couple of pages into the book will make it quite apparent as to why. The story begins quite innocuously with the author illustrating about his childhood and his interest in drawings. Upon hearing about boa constrictors and their ability of swallowing their prey whole the author draws a picture of a boa swallowing an elephant unfortunately everyone mistakes the drawing to be a hat, leading to another drawing showing the insides of a boa swallowing an elephant which draws lot of flak from the elders, and thus under discouragement from all adults the author is forced to give up drawing and becomes a pilot, a profession in which he is proficient although it fails to give him real pleasure. The author crashes at a deserted place but soon afterwards comes to meet the little prince. It is at this juncture that the alluring prince is introduced in the story. The prince represents the ideal child that all people always wish of being when they were young themselves. The prince is something of an enigma to the author. He is the sole inhabitant of a tiny distant planet far away from earth where the only other living creature is the pet rose of the prince. The prince asks the author to draw him a goat but the author having since forgotten the art instead draws him something else with amusing results. This heralds the start of the friendship between the author and the prince. The prince’s banter with the author is really delightful and so is the various illustrations provided in the book. The illustrations always give the impression of being the creation of a child or an inexperienced hand give lend all the more credibility to them. The story then flashes back to the princes' journey from his planet to earth as he meets various people with their idiosyncrasies which the author really uses as an allegory to describe the different stereotypes of adults and the silly actions they indulge in. The different characters in the story are both believable and incredulous simultaneously. The prince will become a dear friend to many a people before the end and rarely would a book induce as much sorrow as this one upon the completion of this book. The story never stops to pleasantly surprise the reader with its tongue in cheek humor. Kudos to Sir Exupery as his book joins the rare list of immortal books of literature. As to quote what the author memorably says near the end – “Look at the sky. Ask yourselves: Has the sheep eaten the flower, yes or no? And you will see how everything changes…”