BOOK REPORT
Title : The Little Prince
Author : Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Publisher : PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama
Year of fublication : in April 1943
Genre : Price Fantasy Fiction.
Number of pages : 118
1.1 INTRODUCTION
The story “The Little Prince” is deceptively simple and apparently a story for children, The Little Prince addresses the social concerns of Saint-Exupery’s day and of modern times. The lack of childlike simplicity in a sophisticated and materialistic civilization is portrayed from the very first page, when the author shows drawing of a boa snake that had eaten an elephant to uncomprehending adults, who believe it to be a hat. Adults, especially the materialistic generation, continue to judge by appearances; the Turkish astronomer who discovered B612, the Prince’s planet, is rejected by community until he appears in Western clothes. Adults are enamored of statistics and numbers, and prefer to know how much money a person makes rather than know the sound of his voice. Such adults are reflected in the businessman who counts stars which he claims to own, to prove his wealth. Even the problem of drug addiction and alcoholism appears in the drunkard, who drinks to forget that he is ashamed to drink. The compartmentalization of knowledge, too prevalent today’s geographer, who is not an explorer, and therefore cannot know what is really on the earth’s surface. The world of authority and power comes to life in the king who considers everyone his subject, a universal image, but only too true in occupied France in 1943.
1.2 SUMMARY
the tale with an explanation of his dislike of adults; he claims he does not enjoy them, for they are much too practical. Instead, he prefers the company of children, who are natural and curious. The narrator next tells of his plane crashed in the desert, where he met the Little Prince, a mystical creature from another planet. The narrator tells why the Prince left his planet and where he visited before coming to Earth. His adventures on six different planets are recounted, including the encounters with the king, the conceited man, the tippler, the businessman, the lamplighter, the geographer, the snake, the desert flower, the garden of roses, the railway switchman, the merchant , the fox, and the narrator. The Prince shares a rewarding relationship on the desert, and when the Little Prince departs, the narrator misses his company. He writes the novel in memory of the Little Prince. The little Prince leaves his own tiny planet in search of adventure on a visit to our world. This is a very condensed version of the classic book Le Petit Prince, just for toddler-sized attention spans. This book, with both French and English, is ideal for teaching toddlers simple French, especially identifying objects. The mood is mostly adventurous and mysterious, with a philosophical overtone. At first the Little Prince does not reveal his identity, creating an initial sense of mystery. Then as the Little Prince recounts his travels, the mood becomes adventurous. As he questions the fox and the narrator, the mood becomes philosophic. At the end, when the Prince arranges to be bitten by snake, the mood again becomes mysterious .. Although he seems to die from the snake bite, the narrator cannot find the Prince's body when he looks for it the next morning. He can only assume that the Prince successfully retums star.
Saint-Exupéry explains how all joy and pleasure must be earned, not given or received. As an example, he shows the joy that the Little Prince and the pilot feel when they taste the water from the well. Its sweetness comes from their journey under the stars and the work of the pilot's arms making the pulley sing. In the end, the Little Prince again experiences a new joy. Leaving his "shell" behind, he has gone to the most beautiful place he can imagine his star, which is his love; he has returned to his own little heaven. Saint-Exupéry scorns man's obsession with the wrong things, such as wealth, power, and technology; he uses the King, the Businessman, and the Lamplighter to highlight this theme. The king puts a great deal of importance into being obeyed, even though he orders only what would happen anyway. The businessman takes great pride in owning all the stars, but he is too busy counting them to gain any pleasure from their beauty. The Little Prince tries to teach him the pointlessness of his "property." The Little Prince also scoms the Lamplighter's fascination with science and technology. He is so caught up in the importance of lighting his lamp, that he misses what is important in life. The need to have faith is another minor theme in the book. The Little Prince arrives on the Earth during spiritually troubled phase and stays until he has resolved his confusions. During his stay, he teaches the narrator the importance of having faith and belief. Many critics have called the Little Prince a Christ-figure, for he is described as being free of sin. He also believes in a life after death. At the end of the book, he returns to his star, his heaven.
The story is not set in a particular period or in one specific place. In the first chapter the narrator writes about his childhood experiences with drawings and about his low opinion of adults. In the second chapter the narrator starts narating a particular series of incidents. He writes of the time when his plane crashed in the desert of Sahara six years ago. Most of the narrative after the second chapter is set in the desert. The other places that function as settings include the asteroid where the Little Prince has his home and the planets that the Little Prince visits, including asteroids 325, 326, 327, 328, 329, and 330. The last planet that he visits is the Earth , where he meets the narrator in the Sahara Desert.
In the book, the fox teaches that one can see only what is important in life by looking with the heart. Because of this lesson, Saint-Exupéry leaves the desert as a different person. He has accepted the Little Prince's thought beautiful because of a flower that cannot be seen. "In essence, the fox's lesson is about how to love, a most important lesson for everybody to learn. The fox points out that it is the time that one "wastes" on someone or something that makes it important. The fox also tells the readers that love can overcome existentialism: "One only knows the things that one tames .. Men buy things already made in the stores. But as there are no stores where friends can be bought,must earn a friendship, not buy it.
The protagonist of the short novel is the Little Prince. He is a simple, yet mystical, creature from asteroid B-612. One day a seed arrives on his planet and blooms into a beautiful flower. Though lovely, it is vain and irritates the Prince. Finally he leaves his planet, to escape the flower. After visiting several asteroids, the Little Prince reaches Earth, where he meets the narrator in the Sahara Desert.
The problem, or antagonist, the Little Prince is his thirst for answers. He visits many planets and meets many people, whom he questions about life. In particular, he wants to understand the existence pastimes of adults Earth. He tries to find answers from a snake, a fox, and the narrator.
The climax of the plot occurs when the Little Prince decides to return to his planet and care for his special flower. He has learned from the fox that the important things in life cannot be seen with the eye, only felt with the heart. This lesson eventually makes the Little Prince realize that the flower from which he has fled is really very special. After meeting the narrator and explaining all that he has learned he left his planet, the Prince accepts that really flower because she is his responsibility, and he has invested time and trouble in her survival. As a result, he decides that he must go back to his star to take care of his special rose.
1. 3 CHARACTER ANALYSIS
Major Characters
The Narrator
The narrator speaks for himself. The narrator is present throughout the book to tell the story of his friendship with the Little Prince and comment on what he has learned from him. He is very to the Prince, largely because he is childlike, innocent, and pure. The narrator admits that he prefers the openness, honesty, and naiveté of children to the pretensions and blindness who cannot see beyond the surface of life. The narrator feels very close to the Little Prince because he is able to see the truth and importance of things. Even after six years, he remembers everything about this little man from another planet; as a result, he writes the book in memory of him.
The Little Prince
The Little Prince is the main character and protagonist of the novel. is the story of his search for answers about what is important in life. The novel is named after the Little Prince, who is a mystical and loveable person. He is the sole inhabitant of a small planet, which the narrator refers to as B- 612. The Prince leaves his planet to visit other places and finally lands on Earth. In the Sahara Desert, he meets the narrator and befriends him. The narrator tells of his encounter with the Prince and also relates the adventures of the Prince on the other asteroids that the latter has visited. Many critics see the Little Prince as a Christ figure. Like Jesus, the Prince descends to earth to live for a short while. Also like Christ, he is good and pure; he also has the ability to know things before they happen. During his stay, the Little Prince, like Jesus, teaches others the value of love and seeing beneath the surface to the real worth of things. In addition, the Little Prince shares a "last supper" of water with the narrator before he dies. After his death, the Little Prince's body is resurrected to ascend to his star, his own little heaven.
The Fox
The fox is another important character, for he teaches the Little Prince the most important lesson in the book. The fox meets the Prince when the latter is disappointed and lonely. He has just seen the garden of roses and realized that his flower is common, not unique and valuable he had imagined. The fox, however, teaches the Prince that one cannot judge another by seeing with the eyes; instead, one has to see and judge with the heart. As a result, the Little Prince realizes that his flower is really very special, for he has loved and cared for it.
Minor Characters
The Turkish Astronomer
The narrator mentions the Turkish astronomer in the fourth chapter. The narrator believes that the planet from which the Little Prince has come is the asteroid known as B-612. A Turkish astronomer first sees this asteroid through the telescope in 1909.
The Little Prince’s flower
On the Little Prince’s planet, the flowers are usually very simple; but one day, from a seed blown from afar, a new flower comes up that is very beautiful, but also very vain. The Prince begins to doubt the flower’s credibility and finally leaves his planet to escape the company of the flower.
The King
The king is the sole inhabitant of asteroid 325, which the Little Prince visits after leaving his own planet. The king insists upon his authority being respected and does not tolerate disobedience; however, since he is a very good man, he makes his orders reasonable. Just before the Prince leaves the king’s planet, the latter makes the former an ambassador.
The Conceited Man
He is the inhabitant of asteroid 326. Totally conceited, he insists that everyone else admire him. He does not listen to anything but praise and expects the Little Prince to praise and admire him.
The Tippler
The tippler lives on asteroid 327. When the Prince asks him what he is doing, he is drinking to forget that he is ashamed of drinking.
The Businessman
The businessman sits and counts stars on asteroid 328. He thinks that he the stars, making him rich. The Little Prince explains to the businessman that he is of no use at all to the stars that he owns.
The Lamplighter
The lamplighter lives on asteroid 329 and does the job of lighting and then putting out the lamplight. The lamplighter thinks that his is a terrible profession, because once every minute he has to light the lamp, for his planet makes a complete turn every sixty seconds. The Prince feels that the lamplighter is the only one who could have been hiş friend.
The Geographer
The geographer lives on planet larger than the lamplighter’s planet. He explains that he is a scholar who knows the location of all the seas, rivers, towns, mountains, and deserts. He is the one who advises the Prince to visit the planet Earth, as it has a good reputation.
The Snake
The first living thing that the Prince encounters on the planet Earth is a snake. The snake tells him that it gets a little lonely among men. The Prince thinks that the snake is very weak, but the snake tells him that he can kill a person. The snake also says that he can solve all kinds of riddles.
The Desert Flower
The Prince meets a flower in the desert. It tells him that there are only six or seven men in existence and that one never knows where to find them. According to the flower, the wind blows the men away.
Garden of Roses
The Prince meets a garden of roses on the planet Earth. He is overcome with sadness on seeing them because there are five thousand of them in a single garden. His flower has told him that when he realizes that his flower has lied to him.
Railway Switchman
The Prince meets the railway switchman on Earth. The switchman tells the Prince he sorts out travele f the trains that carry them. The switchman also says that no one is ever satisfied with his position. During his conversation with the switchman, the Prince tells him that only the children know what they are looking for.
Merchant
The Prince asks the merchant why he sells pills that quench thirst. The merchant answers that he sells them because they save a lot of time. The Prince feels that he would rather use that time to walk at leisure toward a spring of fresh water.
Since the story of The Little Prince is written in the form of a fable, or allegory, the characters do not have names, but are rather “ I “and” he. “ Others are generic: astronomer, the geographer, the king, the businessman, the lamplighter, and so on. As in allegory, they represent one phase of human life. The king is authority; the lamplighter, devotion to duty; the businessman, greed. The flower is a coquettish woman, nevertheless beloved by the Prince; the serpent is death; the fox, true his literary image, representing ruse. Most of the secondary characters are. Simplicity and immediacy endear this short story to all readers. There is a great deal of dialogue, with many repetitions, especially on the part of the Prince, who as a true child never lets go of an idea once he has hold of it. His words child who has the wisdom of unaffected simplicity. The various scenes in which animals, flowers, and people interact with him are brief and to the point. Often satiric of abuses in society, the passages stand on their own, without any need of explanation.
1.4 SETTINGS
The story is not set in a particular period or in one specific place. In the first chapter the narrator writes about his childhood experiences with drawings and about his low opinion of adults. In the second chapter the narrator starts narating a particular series of incidents. He writes of the time when his plane crashed in the desert of Sahara six years ago. Most of the narrative after the second chapter is set in the desert. The other places that function as settings include the asteroid where the Little Prince has his home and the planets that the Little Prince visits, including asteroids 325, 326, 327, 328, 329, and 330. The last planet that he visits is the Earth , where he meets the narrator in the Sahara Desert.
1.5 PLOT ANALYSIS
Other than the first and last chapters, which serve as an introduction and epilogue, the plot of The Little Prince is unified mainly by character and theme. The novel begins with an introduction to the main idea of the book. The narrator explains the drawings of boa constrictors that he made as a young boy. None of the adults who viewed the pictures were able to see the meaning of the drawings. As a result, at an early age, the narrator discovered that most people do not look beneath the surface to see the real message, beauty, or importance of a thing. This becomes the central theme of the entire book.
The plot of the book really begins in the second chapter when the narrator meets the Little Prince. The airplane of the narrator crashes in the desert. As he works on repairing it, the Prince approaches him, seemingly out of nowhere, and asks him to draw a picture of sheep. He also asks the narrator to draw a picture of a muzzie for the sheep. The Little Prince goes on to explain that he is worried that the sheep on his planet will eat his special flower, which he judges to be unique and beautiful.
From the chapter second onward, the book focuses on the Little Prince and his search for answers about life. Although the story is told chronologically, it is repeatedly interrupted by flashbacks as the Prince tells of his adventures after leaving his star. He visits five planets, and on each he learns something new about life. He shares these visits and lessons with the narrator. Even though much of the rising action of the novel jumps back and forth between past and present, the plot of the story is easy to follow, for the focus is always upon the Little Prince.
Once he lands on Earth, the Prince meets two important creatures: the snake and fox. The snake assures him that whenever the Little Prince is ready to return to his star, he can be of assistance. At the end of the novel, the Prince seeks out the help of the snake, drawing the end of the novel to the beginning into a tight unity. After meeting the snake, the Prince encounters the fox, who teaches him a most important lesson. Just when the Prince has realized that his special flower is really a common one, and therefore not of great value, the fox explains that a person must look beyond the surface to see the real value of a thing. If one looks with one's heart, not just with one's eyes, a person can see the hidden beauty of an object. He convinces the Prince that his flower is, indeed, very valuable, because it has been loved and tamed by the Little Prince.
By the time the Little Prince meets the narrator, he has learned the important lessons about life; but it is in telling the narrator about them that the lessons take on a real meaning for the Little Prince. After reviewing all that he has learmed, the Prince accepts that he must return to his star in order to take care of his special rose; his acceptance of responsibility is the climax as the plot.
At the end of the book, the Little Prince goes to find the snake, which can bite him and return him to his planet. Before he makes the journey home, the Little Prince lets the narrator know he is departing. He tells him to look up at the stars and think of them as laughing. The Little Prince knows that when he looks at the stars, the narrator will also think about him. In truth, the narrator has grown very fond of the Prince and hates to see him go. When he is bitten by the snake and dies, the narrator is grieved to have lost a friend; but he feels certain that the Little Prince has returned home to his own little heaven. The end of the novel, therefore, helps to unify the plot, which has come full circle. The Little Prince has accepted responsibility and retumed to his star to care for the flower, which had originally driven him away.
In the last chapter, serving as the conclusion and epilogue, the narrator explains how he looked for the body of the Little Prince on the next morning; however, it was no where to be found. In this brief falling action, the narrator Convinces himself and the reader that the Prince has returned to his star. The narrator also explains that he has written the story of the Little Prince six years after he met him. Even though it has been a long time since the Prince's departure, the narrator's friendship with the mystical man from another planet has had a profound affect on him; therefore, he finally decides to write the novel in memory of and as a tribute to the Little Prince.
2.1 CONCLUSION
The story ends in comedy. The Little Prince finds the answers to his questions about what is important in life. When he realizes his love for the flower, he accepts that he must return to his star to care for the rose. He makes arrangements with the poisonous snake to bite him, which will insure his safe passage back home. Before he departs, the Little Prince makes a profound impression on the narrator. One must turn to the Bible and medieval sources to find the direct precedents of The Little Prince. As a parable, the story recalls Biblical style and imagery. The serpent is the symbol of death. The pilot, like the Israelites of old, is lost in the desert. The memory of the Prince will be for the fox like golden wheat fields. About to die, the pilot and Prince seek for water, and find a well, a true fountain of living water. Trees, such as those in the Garden of Paradise, are found throughout the book. The Prince will return home by the light of his star.
2.2 REACTION
It's nice to have a book with like this, the structure and presentation offer parents an opportunity to take a classic story like this. Language absorption is perfect with story-telling, particularly for books that get read over and over again. I learned that what is essential is invisible to the eye. This book is, in part, autobiographical. Saint-Exupéry did, indeed, crash his airplane in the Sahara Desert, and like the narrator, he knew how to repair it. More importantly, the book gives the author's innermost thoughts on life and love. And at one level, the novel is really a children’s book, its language and style are simple. Because the plot and dialogue are easy to follow, a young person will find the book easy to understand, A child can also hear or read about the adventures of the blond-haired Little Prince and enjoy its meaning at an uncomplicated level. Beneath the simplicity, however, there is a sophisticated tale that deals with the important lessons of life. Just as the Little Prince finds answers to his questions, the reader like me also learns the answers to what is most important in everyday existence.
Komentar
Posting Komentar