- The Little Prince
- Pilot
- Drunkard
- Lamplighter
- Baobab
- Dealer
- Switchman
- Geographer
- Ambitious
- King
- Turkish astronomer
- Business man
- Flower with three petals
Little Prince – main character story, this is a child living on asteroid B-12 - symbolizes for the writer purity, selflessness, and a natural vision of the world.
Fox– this is very important character, it helps to reveal the very essence of the philosophy of the entire fairy tale, helps to look into the very depths of the narrative. And it guides the plot.
The tamed fox and the insidious snake are important, plot-shaping characters. of this work. Their importance in the development of the narrative cannot be overestimated.
Characteristics of the Little Prince
The Little Prince is a symbol of man - a wanderer in the universe, looking for hidden meaning things and own life. Soul The Little Prince not frozen by the ice of indifference, deadness. Therefore, a true vision of the world is revealed to him: he learns the value of true friendship, love and beauty. This is the theme of the “vigilance” of the heart, the ability to “see” with the heart, to understand without words. The little prince does not immediately comprehend this wisdom. He leaves his own planet, not knowing that what he will look for on different planets will be so close - on his home planet. The little prince is a man of few words - he says very little about himself and his planet. Only little by little, from random, casually dropped words, does the pilot learn that the baby has arrived from a distant planet, “which is the size of a house” and is called asteroid B-612.
The little prince tells the pilot about how he is fighting with the baobab trees, which take such deep and strong roots that they can tear apart his little planet. You need to weed out the first shoots, otherwise it will be too late, “this is a very boring job.” But he has a “firm rule”: “...got up in the morning, washed, put yourself in order - and immediately put your planet in order.” People must take care of the cleanliness and beauty of their planet, together protect and decorate it, and prevent all living things from perishing. The little prince from Saint-Exupery's fairy tale cannot imagine his life without the love of gentle sunsets, without the sun. “I once saw the sun set forty-three times in one day!” - he says to the pilot. And a little later he adds: “You know... when it becomes very sad, it’s good to watch the sun go down...” The child feels like a part of the natural world, and he calls on adults to unite with it. The kid is active and hardworking. Every morning he watered Rose, talked with her, cleaned the three volcanoes on his planet so that they would provide more heat, pulled out weeds... And yet he felt very lonely.
Looking for friends, hoping to find true love He sets off on his journey through alien worlds. He is looking for people in the endless desert that surrounds him, because in communication with them he hopes to understand himself and the world around him, to gain the experience that he so lacked. Visiting six planets in succession, the Little Prince on each of them encounters a certain life phenomenon embodied in the inhabitants of these planets: power, vanity, drunkenness, pseudo-learning... The images of the heroes of A. Saint-Exupery's fairy tale “The Little Prince” have their own prototypes. The image of the Little Prince is both deeply autobiographical and, as it were, removed from the adult author-pilot. He was born out of longing for little Tonio, who was dying within himself - a descendant of an impoverished noble family, who in his family was called the “Sun King” for his blond (at first) hair, and in college was nicknamed Lunatic for his habit of looking at starry sky. The phrase “The Little Prince” itself appears, as you probably noticed, in “Planet of People” (like many other images and thoughts). And in 1940, during breaks between battles with the Nazis, Exupery often drew a boy on a piece of paper - sometimes winged, sometimes riding on a cloud. Gradually, the wings will be replaced by a long scarf (which, by the way, the author himself wore), and the cloud will become asteroid B-612.
Characteristics of Rose from the fairy tale “The Little Prince”
Rose was capricious and touchy, and the baby was completely exhausted with her. But “but she was so beautiful that it was breathtaking!”, and he forgave the flower for its whims. However, the Little Prince took the empty words of the beauty to heart and began to feel very unhappy. A rose is a symbol of love, beauty, and femininity. The little prince did not immediately discern the true inner essence of beauty. But after a conversation with the Fox, the truth was revealed to him - beauty only becomes beautiful when it is filled with meaning and content. “You are beautiful, but empty,” continued the Little Prince. - You won’t want to die for your sake. Of course, a random passerby, looking at my Rose, will say that she is exactly the same as you.
But to me she is dearer than all of you...” Telling this story about Rose, the little hero admits that he didn’t understand anything then. “We were to be judged not by words, but by deeds. She gave me her scent and illuminated my life. I shouldn't have run. Behind these pitiful tricks and tricks one had to guess the tenderness. The flowers are so inconsistent! But I was too young and didn’t know how to love yet!” The prototype of the capricious and touching Rose is also well known; this is, of course, Exupery’s wife Consuelo - an impulsive Latina, whom her friends nicknamed “the little Salvadoran volcano.” By the way, in the original the author always writes not “Rose”, but “la Aeig” - flower. But in French this is a feminine word. Therefore, in the Russian translation, Nora Gal replaced the flower with a Rose (especially since in the picture it is really a Rose). But in the Ukrainian version there was no need to replace anything - “la fleur” easily became “kvggka”.
Characteristics of the Fox from the fairy tale “The Little Prince”
Since ancient times in fairy tales, the Fox (not a fox!) has been a symbol of wisdom and knowledge of life. The Little Prince's conversations with this wise animal become a kind of culmination in the story, for in them the hero finally finds what he was looking for. The clarity and purity of consciousness that had been lost returns to him. The fox reveals to the baby the life of the human heart, teaches the rituals of love and friendship, which people have long forgotten and therefore lost friends and lost the ability to love.
No wonder the flower says ABOUT PEOPLE: “They are carried by the wind.” And the switchman is in a conversation with the main character, answering the question: where are people rushing? notes: “Even the driver himself doesn’t know this.” This allegory can be interpreted as follows. People have forgotten how to look at the stars at night, admire the beauty of sunsets, and enjoy the fragrance of the Rose. They submitted to the vanity of earthly life, forgetting about the “simple truths”: the joy of communication, friendship, love and human happiness: “If you love a flower - the only one that is no longer on any of the many million-dollar stars - that’s enough: you look at the sky and you feel happy."
And it is very sad for the author to say that people do not see this and turn their lives into a meaningless existence. The fox says that for him the prince is only one of thousands of other little boys, just as he is for the prince only an ordinary fox, of which there are hundreds of thousands. “But if you tame me, we will need each other. You will be the only one for me in the whole world. And I will be alone for you in the whole world... if you tame me, my life will seem to be illuminated by the sun. I will begin to distinguish your steps among thousands of others...” The fox reveals to the Little Prince the secret of taming: to tame means to create bonds of love, unity of souls. Regarding Fox, there were many disputes about prototypes and translation options. This is what translator Nora Gal writes in the article “Under the Star of Saint-Ex”: “When “The Little Prince” was published with us for the first time, there was a heated debate in the editorial office: the Fox in the fairy tale or the Fox - again feminine or male?
Some people believed that the fox in the fairy tale was Rose’s rival. Here the dispute is no longer about one word, not about a phrase, but about the understanding of the entire image. Even more, to a certain extent, about understanding the entire fairy tale: its intonation, coloring, deep inner meaning - everything changed from this “little thing”. But I am convinced: a biographical note about the role of women in the life of Saint-Exupéry does not help to understand the fairy tale and is not relevant. Not to mention the fact that in French it is 1e hepags! masculine. The main thing is that in the fairy tale the Fox is, first of all, a friend. Rose is love, Fox is friendship, and the faithful friend Fox teaches the Little Prince fidelity, teaches him to always feel responsible for his beloved and for all his loved ones.” We can add one more observation. The unusually large ears of the Fox in Exupery's drawing are most likely inspired by the small desert fennec fox, one of the many creatures tamed by the writer while serving in Morocco.
In Saint-Exupéry's fairy tale “The Little Prince,” the hero is a golden-haired boy who studies the world of people, looking for meaning in their activities, actions and outlook on life. The story of the author-pilot is not at all children's work: thoughts-truths put into the mouth little hero, only an adult can understand correctly. This does not detract from the value of the fairy tale for young readers; at every age, Exupery’s books are perceived differently. In the work “The Little Prince,” the main character symbolizes childish purity and spontaneity, naivety, kindness and sincerity.
Characteristics of the characters “The Little Prince”
Main characters
The Little Prince |
A small golden-haired boy, the owner of a small planet on which there is 1 rose and three volcanoes. A smart, thinking kid like an adult. He's lonely. Travels around planets and is surprised by the “strangeities” of adults. To return to his planet, he asks the snake to bite him, this is a forced step. A symbol of fidelity, wisdom, purity, eternal childhood. |
Author |
A pilot forced to land in the desert to fix plane problems. He meets the little prince and becomes attached to him. Together they find water and escape thirst. |
Fox |
An animal that wants to be tamed. He made friends with the boy, taught him how to tame and revealed the main secret. |
Rose |
Proud, touchy, capricious. Her seed brought the little prince to the planet by accident, she “preened” for a long time before opening up. Rose has a difficult character, she loves herself and expects care and compliments. He asks for help to protect himself from the wind, he is afraid of insects and animals (which are not on the planet). He flirts and behaves a lot. When he realizes that the little prince is leaving the planet, he confesses his love to him, wishes him happiness, and does not blame him for anything. She asks to leave, not wanting him to see her tears. |
Minor characters
Mr. with a purple face |
Lives on a separate small planet. All his life he adds up numbers, repeating that he is a serious person. He didn’t love anyone, didn’t rejoice at flowers, didn’t notice the stars. |
King |
He lives alone on a small planet, his mantle covers it completely. Proud but kind. He has no subjects, only an old rat. The king thinks logically, but believes that all heavenly bodies obey him. He invites the little prince to stay with him, become a minister and judge himself (after all, this is the most difficult thing). |
| The monarch proposes to try the rat, sentence him to death penalty, and then - have mercy. After all, there is only one rat, you need to take care of it. | |
Ambitious |
He lives alone on a small planet, he meets the prince with joy, he is glad that someone will worship him. He explains what ambition is and asks to applaud many times in a row. |
Drunkard |
The little guest visited his planet after an ambitious man. There was nothing on it but empty and full bottles. The drunkard said that he drinks because he is ashamed of his drinking... The boy left this planet faster than everyone else. |
Business man |
He's always counting the stars, he's very busy. He has lived on the planet for 54 years, he has no time to get sick, and no time to rest. Over all these years, he was distracted from work 2 times: a cockchafer accidentally flew to him, and an attack of rheumatism. The importance of the work of a serious person lies in the fact that he counts the stars, writes down their number and owns them, locking them in a safe with a key. The little prince sees in him a resemblance to a drunkard. |
Lamplighter |
Lights and extinguishes the lantern every minute according to agreement. |
Geographer |
An old geographer who knows nothing about his planet, since he does not travel on it. Writes down the data of the Little Prince's planet and advises him to visit Earth. |
Snake |
The first person the boy met on Earth. She doesn't bite him, but suggests that he turn to her when he gets tired of everything. The baby turns to her “services” to return to his planet. |
For reader's diary It will be useful to familiarize yourself with the description of the main and minor characters fairy tales This list includes heroes living on all the planets visited by the Little Prince, as well as those whom he met and tamed on Earth.
Work test
The Little Prince is the main character of the fairy tale, who flew from his small planet to Earth. Before that, he made a long journey through a variety of planets that were inhabited by “strange adults.” The Little Prince has his own world, so a collision with the world of adults gives him a lot of questions and bewilderments. The pilot who suffered the accident is busy troubleshooting the plane. At dawn, the dozing pilot hears the thin voice of a child: “Please... draw me a lamb!” This is how the narrator introduces the reader to the Little Prince, who so miraculously appeared among the sands of the Sahara. The journey of the Little Prince, which he undertook after quarreling with his rose, meeting with the king, an ambitious drunkard, business person, a geographer - the only inhabitants of small planets - allowed the author to conclude: “Yes, these adults are strange people! Trifles seem important to them, but they do not see the main thing. Instead of decorating their home, cultivating their garden, their planet, they wage wars, tyrannize other people, and dry out their brains with stupid numbers, and amuse themselves with pathetic tinsel, and with their vanity and greed insult the beauty of sunsets and sunrises, fields and sands. No, that’s not how you should live!” The little prince did not meet anyone on the planets who could be his friend. Only the image of a lamplighter differs favorably from other images in that he is faithful to his duty. And this loyalty, although meaningless, is reliable. The little prince meets the Fox on Earth and, at his request, gradually tames him. They become friends, but break up. The words of the Fox sound like a wise commandment: “...you are forever responsible for everyone you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose." The most precious things in this life for the Little Prince are the Fox and the rose he left behind, because they are the only ones in the world. The appearance of the Little Prince in the desert, his appearance to the pilot who suffered an accident, is a symbolic reminder to an adult of his “inner homeland,” and his “death,” disappearance and the grief caused by this is the tragedy of an adult, in whose soul a child dies. It is the child who embodies all that is good, pure, and beautiful. Therefore, the writer says with bitterness that adults, parting with childhood, often forget about eternal, imperishable values; they are preoccupied with important, in their opinion, things and lead a boring, dull existence. But people should live differently, they need clean water deep wells, we need the bells of stars in the night sky. And because Saint-Exupery is not sure whether he will be able to inspire people with his own - their own! - the truth is, the fairy tale is so sad, so sad.
Speaking about such a deep and truly complex work as “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, you need to know about the very personality of its author. This would be the same difficult person with a completely unique outlook on life.
Surprisingly, without having children himself, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry managed to preserve the child within himself, and not at all as deeply as many adults. Therefore, he saw the world through the eyes of a growing person, he understood and accepted the child’s worldview. This is the success of his work “The Little Prince”.
So we come close to this amazing, living and such a magical creation French writer, whose main occupation was a military pilot.
Reading The Little Prince, it’s hard to believe that it was written by a man of such a harsh profession: it is such a deep, tender and extraordinary work. But his heroes are especially interesting and unusual. We will talk about them.
Human heroes: one layer of storytelling
"The Little Prince" is a fairy tale, and it becomes so partly because the main characters there are not only people in it. Here the reader will meet a wise tamed fox, an insidious snake, and even a capricious rose. But still there are more human characters.
The first and, of course, the main thing is, of course, the Little Prince himself. And here the first riddle awaits us: since this is the son of rulers, it means that there must be both a king and a queen in the fairy tale. After all, without them there can be no prince. However, nowhere in the story is there any mention of the Little Prince's parents.
We see his portrait: indeed, there is a crown and a cloak, but then what does he rule over? Or what do his mom and dad rule? There is no answer to this question, and no answer is expected. We perceive the world through the prism of the worldview of a small child, and at this age the status of parents is not important to anyone. All children take each other for granted. And even the Little Prince for them is just a child, and no one is interested in his origins. This is a statement of fact.
However, this baby is already responsible and wise even more than any adult. He takes care of his planet, every day, without forgetting about it for a moment, he takes care of the capricious rose, saving it from all possible adversity. He loves his friends and is sincerely attached to them. But, like any child, the Little Prince is curious and imprudent. Having quarreled with a rose and become bored, he, without thinking twice, leaves his home planet and goes on a long journey to see how others live? This is so childish! Well, who didn’t want to run away from home at least once?
Adult child
True, this child is also an adult at the same time. He has no parents, and he builds his own life. There is nowhere to wait for help, and it is not expected. Therefore, the Little Prince is wise beyond his years, although he allows himself simple childish pranks.
So, having been torn away from his tiny home planet, this child sets off on a journey to other worlds. Until he ends up on our mortal Earth, he will meet other planets on his way, and there will be no less amazing characters on them. Each of them is the personification of some passions. Everyone is busy with one thing and cannot tear themselves away from their work, even though, in fact, no one needs it. This already represents the structure of our adult world: many people do what no one needs, wasting their lives on nothing.
So is the king, who alone rules on a planet where there are no other people. All his passion is power, completely empty and unnecessary. So is the lamplighter, who every day turns on and off the only lamp on the planet where there are no other people. On the one hand, it’s like a responsibility, but on the other, it’s a waste of one’s own life. So is the drunkard who drinks all day long, and the accountant who cannot see beyond his numbers.
Disappointed in his neighbors, the little Prince flies further and finally ends up on our planet, where he meets the author-narrator. And surprisingly, for some reason these two people, big and small, find common language and understand each other. Maybe this happens because the image of the Little Prince is the author’s longing for a bygone childhood, this is the same small child, living not very deep in the soul of Anutan de Saint-Exupéry.
However, the image is not autobiographical. There are echoes of little Tonio in it, but the fact that the author speaks on his own behalf does not allow us to identify the little prince with himself. This different people. And the child is just a projection, a certain collective image, echoes of childhood memories, but not Antoine de Saint-Exupéry himself.
There are other heroes in the book, but they are not people. However, they play a very important role in revealing both the whole meaning of the work and its details.
Animal Heroes: Very Significant Characters to the Story
The Little Prince is a child, and first of all he remains one. Therefore, for him, as for any child, animals are of great importance. Everyone knows how little children love their kittens and puppies, and so does the main character of this amazing fairy tale needs a four-legged friend. And he manages to tame the Fox.
The fox is a very important character, he helps to reveal the very essence of the philosophy of the entire fairy tale, helps to look into the very depths of the story. And it guides the plot.
So, gradually the Fox is tamed, and, in the end, becomes dependent on the boy. And it is to him that the immortal words belong: “We are responsible for those we have tamed.” This is the first lesson of love, devotion, trust. And the Little Prince gratefully accepts it and assimilates it with his whole being. And it is then that the longing for the rose appears: after all, she is there alone, among the baobabs that are tearing apart the planet, scared and so defenseless. And tamed. And he, the little Prince, is responsible for those he tamed. So it's time to go home.
And here the Snake appears. This image is easy to read and is recognizable from the biblical canons. The tempting serpent that was there continues to perform the same function in almost all literary works. And then, as soon as the boy’s desire to return home appears, this same tempter appears, offering his help. In the Bible it was an apple, and in the work of a French writer it was a bite.
The snake says that he can send the child home, that she has a magic remedy and, of course, it is poison. IN biblical story After communicating with a snake, people ended up on Earth, but in Exupery’s fairy tale everything happens the other way around - the boy disappears. Where, there is not a word about this in the work, but the snake promises to return him to his home planet. And since there is no body, the reader can only hope that this is what happens. Or does the Little Prince go to where Adam came from - to heaven?
The tamed fox and the insidious snake are important, plot-shaping heroes of this work. Their importance in the development of the narrative cannot be overestimated.
Capricious rose: beauty that has thorns
If the Fox is the personification of devotion and trust, the Snake is deceit and temptation, then the Rose is love and inconsistency. The prototype of this hero was the author’s wife Consuelo, a very capricious, hot-tempered and, naturally, capricious person. However loving. And the Little Prince says about her that his Rose is capricious, sometimes unbearable, but all this is protection, just like thorns. But in fact, she has a very soft and kind heart.
Longing for the flower, the boy agrees to the snake's offer. For the sake of love, people are capable of much. And even die, only to be reborn again somewhere beyond the stars, somewhere on a completely different planet, tiny, but in an embrace with a beautiful rose.
Snakes have always had a special gift of instantly transporting people to a completely different world. And, who knows, maybe everything was as that snake promised the Little Prince, and he really ended up on his planet with his flower.
The fairy tale does not provide an answer. But since this is a fairy tale, we can all hope for a happy ending!
The main characters of Exupery's The Little Prince
3.7 (74.74%) 19 votesTitle of the work: The Little Prince
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Year of writing: 1942
Genre of the work: story - fairy tale
Main characters: The Little Prince- an alien who arrived from a planet called asteroid B-612, Narrator- a pilot who fell into the Sahara and dreamed of becoming an artist.