Little Prince Satire

How is it going? Today I wanted to let you know what is going on in English class. Right now we are reading the book, The Little Prince. There are multiple different concepts to apply to The Little Prince, but the concepts that I felt were most important to the story, were allegory, and the use of satirical characters.

The book, The Little Prince, is an allegory and has two different meanings. On the surface level, the story is about a Pilot that crash lands in the middle of Sahara Dessert, where he meets the Little Prince. The Little Prince tells the Pilot about his planet, and about his life. The Little Prince tells the Pilot the planets he traveled to, and tells about satirical characters that he meets on each planet. The satirical characters

are extremely important in the story, and make fun of adults.

Not only are the satirical characters extremely important symbols in the story, but also make the story more interesting. There are six satirical characters in the story. The king, the very vain man, the businessman, the lamplighter, the drunkard, and the geographer. On the first planet the Little Prince goes to, he meets the king. The king wants to enforce impossible rules for the Little Prince to follow, because he thinks he has the power to do so. "It is a violation of etiquette to yawn in a king's presence," the monarch told him. "I forbid you to do so." (Antoine De Saint-Euxpery 29) I thought the author used the King to make fun of the way adults enforce unreasonable rules, just because they have the power to do so. On the next planet, the Little prince meets the very vain man.

The very vain man thinks the world is centered around himself, and wants all the praise he can get. "Ah! A visit from an admirer!' he exclaimed when he caught sight of the little prince, still at some distance." (Antoine De Saint-Euxpery 33) I thought the author used the very vain man to make fun of the way adults think that kids are here to serve them, and think that they are more important than kids. On the third planet, the little prince meets a drunkard. The drunkard is gloomy and drinks because he is ashamed of drinking. "To forget that I'm ashamed,' confessed the drunkard, hanging his head." (Antoine De Saint-Euxpery 35) I thought the author used the drunkard to make fun of the way adults drink because they are ashamed of something that they can control. On the fourth planet, the Little Prince meets the businessman. The businessman owns the stars, and has time for nothing, except work. "I haven't time to take strolls. I'm a serious person." Antoine De Saint-Euxpery 37) I thought the author used the businessman to make fun of the way adults are to busy to actually have fun like a kid. On the fourth planet, the Little Prince meets the lamplighter. The lamplighter goes around faster and

faster each day, lighting the street lamps, without a purpose in life. "Which means that now that the planet revolves once a minute, I don't have an instant's rest. I light my lamp and turn it out once every minute!" (Antoine De Saint-Euxpery 42) I thought the author used the lamplighter to make fun of the way how adults go throughout life, without any purpose and without any fun, they just listen and do what they are told to do. On the sixth planet, the Little Prince meets the geographer. The geographer studies the world, but never actually explores the world. "That's right,' said the geographer, 'but I'm not an explorer. There's not one explorer on my planet." (Antoine De Saint-Euxpery 45) I thought the author used the geographer to make fun of the way adults label themselves, and don't go beyond their title.

The Little Prince is a story full of literary concepts, and two important ones were allegory, and satire. Without allegory and satire, the story would have been told just for kids, and would have had a totally different meaning. Thank you