A Life Manual

Now, the cliché of a life-changing book is well-known. We have all heard of that one book which has the capability of transforming life.

I am writing this, however, to discuss one particular book which, while sharing this quality with other books described as such, is much more than a life enhancement manual. "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupery is a book about life, how people are meant to live life, and the things that make life worth living. In this short book, Saint-Exupery manages to set up the perfect equation to a perfect world, and most importantly, a perfect life.

Writing through the perspective of a child, Saint-Exupery was able to capture the view of life through the innocence of a child. This perspective is what gives the story its pure-like quality. Reading the book, you just absorb everything it says without effort.

The story takes place in the Sahara Desert. The narrator finds himself wandering in the desert after his plane breaks down and is startled to encounter a small boy wandering as well; however, the boy seems unaffected by the fact that he is thousands of miles from civilization. “If you please—” are the little prince’s first words, “draw me a sheep.” And so begins the story of the little prince. In their time together, the little prince imparts his experiences with the narrator who learns from this little prince many lessons which, though simple, most everyone seems to have forgotten.

The little prince, originally from a small planet, named Asteroid B-612, travels to many different planets before he reaches earth. At each planet, he encounters different types of people including a tippler, a businessman, a king, a conceited man, and a lamplighter. These people are representative of people here on earth. Through exchange of a couple of words with each one of these characters, the little prince reveals a profound realization of society.

The businessman in particular is reminiscent of many people today. Adding up figures all day, the businessman is hostile towards any interruptions, merely retorting, “I am concerned with matters of consequence!” If one looks around on any given day, one can find many “businessmen.” Too many people in our busy society nowadays hurry about their lives, missing the most important things in life. The little prince, in realization of this, comments, “The grown-ups are certainly very, very odd.”

Another character that represents a good portion of the population is the conceited man. On arriving to his planet, the conceited man calls out, “Ah! I am about to receive a visit from an admirer.” Concentrating only on himself, and disregarding the little prince’s questions, he instead replaces these with questions of his own: “Do you really admire me very much?” The little prince is unable to grasp the concept of admire, and replies, “I admire you…but what is there in that to interest you so much?” People work their whole lives to achieve status and recognition, yet the question that this book poses is: what is the point of it all? Will we really improve our own self and being by gaining admiration?

Aside from recognizing the major characters in our society, however, the little prince also teaches the narrator the most important lesson of all: learning to love what you have because it is yours, a lesson of which many people seem to have lost sight. It is my belief that "The Little Prince" has the ability to change one’s outlook on life, and by doing so, life itself.

This book was amazingly written. Antoine de Saint-Exupery, both the author and the illustrator, seems to have captured the true sense of life. I would recommend this book to anyone, from the happiest person on earth as a heart-warming story, to the most unfortunate one, so that they may be comforted and realize that there is life beyond routine and ordinary days.