The Importance Of Friendship In The Little Prince

The Little Prince is a novel written by Antoine de Saint Exupery. It is about a “grown up” discovering his inner child. The manifestation of his inner child is the Little Prince himself. The novel includes several drawings which represent the author’s criticisms of the adult world. De Saint-Exupery also explores the meaning of life, death, time, friendships, and love. The Little Prince meets many characters who explore some of these questions with him. In the beginning of the novel, the Little Prince is stuck with the pilot and wants to return home. The Little Prince wants to return home, despite his friendship with the pilot, because he has learned he has a responsibility to his rose. He is also afraid for his rose. The rose expresses vanity

Essentially, the word “tame” means to care for and know. The fox wanted the Little Prince to know him and care for him, and that is something the fox could not do on his own. He cannot be his own friend, for that would be lonely. The fox both taught the Little Prince the importance of his rose and the importance of friendship. The fox even goes as far to say, “words are the source of misunderstanding” (de Saint-Exupery). This resonated with the Little Prince because the rose lied and her vanity made her rude; however, now the Little Prince knows that words cause misunderstandings. The rose did love him, and now the Little Prince must go back to love and care for her. Along with the importance of the characters present in the novel, de Saint-Exupery also includes several themes, symbols, and metaphors. The themes present about time and death help the Little Prince learn to better appreciate the time he has with his loved ones better because, as the fox mentioned, “it is the time you have wasted on your rose that makes your rose so important.” This applies not only to the rose, but to all loved ones. The time spent with loved ones is irreplaceable, and is what makes “the heart see rightly.” It creates lasting