Monday, June 22, 2009

Book Review on The Little Prince

Q1)New Ideas of Myself
Book Read: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
After I had read the entire book in one seating, I realized that we people are always too busy to care about others or even about ourselves. In the novel, the little prince visits six other planets and the narrow-minded world of grown-ups. On the first six planets the little prince visits, he meets a king, a vain man, a drunkard, a businessman, a lamplighter, and a geographer, all of whom live alone on their own planet and are overly consumed by their chosen occupations. Such strange behavior both amuses and perturbs the little prince. He does not understand their need to order people around, to be admired, and to own everything. With the exception of the lamplighter, whose dogged faithfulness he admires, the little prince does not think much of the adults he visits, and he does not learn anything useful. However, he learns from the geographer that flowers do not last forever, and he begins to miss the rose he has left behind.

From the book, it can be seen that people are always too busy and occupied with their own jobs and the things that they are going to do later on. We are always too overly stressed with our jobs and we do not take any time off to rest and relax or even stay at home to sleep. This accurately draws an image of what people are: Running here and there to get a business deal sealed, run to the train station to catch the train or even work overtime so that your boss will be happy.
I learnt to put my mind at ease sometimes after I had accomplished something or had done something very stressful. I will either read a book or catch the movie in the cinema. These few actions that I had just brought up are stress-relievers and I will be able to temporarily put my mind at ease and forget all my holiday homework so that I will be able to enjoy that moment.

Q2) Compare two characters in the book
Book Read : The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
The two characters in this book that I have chosen are the fox and the rose of the little prince on his planet. Although the rose appears only in a couple of chapters, she is crucial to the novel as a whole because her melodramatic, proud nature is what causes the prince to leave his planet and begin his explorations. Also, the prince’s memory of his rose is what prompts his desire to return. 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. Although the rose is, for the most part, vain and naïve, the prince still loves her deeply because of the time he has spent watering and caring for her.
Much has been written comparing the little prince’s relationship with his rose to the relationship between Antoine de Saint- Exupéry and his wife, but the rose can also be read as a symbol of universal love. In literature, the rose has long served as a symbol of the beloved, and Saint- Exupéry takes that image in good stride, giving the prince’s flower rose human characteristics, both good and bad. It is because of the rose that the prince learns that what is most essential to him is invisible, that time away from one’s beloved causes a person to better appreciate that love that was experienced between both of them, and that love engenders responsibility—all of which are broad morals that obviously extend beyond the author’s personal history.
The fox appears quite suddenly and inexplicably in Chapter XXI when the prince finds out that his rose was lying and that his rose was not the only one of its kind while the prince is mourning the ordinariness of his rose after having come across the rose garden full of grown roses together. When the fox immediately sets about establishing a friendship between himself and the prince, it seems that instruction is the fox’s sole purpose. Yet when he begs the little prince to tame him, the fox appears to be the little prince’s pupil as well as his instructor. In his lessons about taming, the fox argues for the importance of ceremonies and rituals, showing that such tools are important even outside the strict world of grown-ups.


Q3) Make a radio announcement for this book
Book Read: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint- Exupery
Sarah: Hey, what book are you reading? You look so engrossed in that book.
John:*silence*
Sarah: Are you going to answer me?
John: Yes, yes. Oh, there you are, I was just reading The Little Prince.
Sarah: Oh!From the looks of your face,it must be an intriguing book to read? Who is the author? What is the storyline?
John: Should I tell you the storyline? Buy it and read it for yourself!
John and Sarah: Buy The Little Prince today and you shall enjoy 20% discount off the actual price!

Q4) The Title
Book Read: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint- Exupery
After reading this book, I feel that the title “ The Little Prince” is a good one and it is very significant in the course of the entire story.

Just by looking at the title, you will be able to infer that The Little Prince is either very small and tiny in terms of physical size or his knowledge of the world is tiny or little. However, after finishing the book, you will be able to understand that The Little Prince comes from a very tiny planet not from Earth and thus, his knowledge and experience of Earth is still very little as on his planet, there are only a few volcanoes, a sheep and a rose. On his planet, he is the only human there and thus, he is not able to share his experiences and thoughts with anyone else. Thus, the knowledge of anything is still very little as there is no discussion between him and any one on his planet. Therefore, he comes to the planet Earth, to find people to talk to and to share his thoughts and ideas of Earth to. He also travels across different planets on his way to Earth so as to find out more about humans and what they do. He finds out that humans are very weird and they are overly stressed, such that they do not even have any time to rest. He also realizes that his beloved rose on his planet lied to him that she was the only rose in the galaxy, but after coming to Earth, he then realizes that his rose is not special and that there are many roses on Earth, thus showing that his knowledge of Earth is still very limited. He also realizes that humans make very good companions such as him and the narrator. They understand each other’s character and personality very well that the narrator does not want his friend to leave to return to his planet.

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