Eng.

206- Literary Criticism

Task 1
Defining Major Components of a Literary Work

Name: JAFET PEREZ SOLIDUM Course: MAEd- English

THE STORY OF THE LITTLE PRINCE

SETTING: The Little Prince's storyline is primarily set in the Sahara Desert, but there
are numerous flashbacks as the Prince tells the pilot his past. He meets the tiny Prince
in the desert, who tells him about his home planet and all the locations he has visited.

Plot: The narrator, a pilot, crashes his plane in the Sahara desert. The narrator's jet is
heavily damaged in the collision, and he has very little food or water. While he is
worried about his situation, he is approached by the young Prince, a solemn little blond
boy who requests that the narrator draw a sheep for him. The narrator agrees, and the
two become friends as a result. The pilot discovers that the little Prince is from a bit of
planet called Asteroid 325 by the little Prince, but Asteroid B-612 by the rest of the
world. The young Prince took excellent care of this world, stopping the spread of
harmful seeds and ensuring that baobab trees never overran it. A mysterious rose
appeared on the globe one day, and the young Prince fell in love with it. But, after
catching the rose in a lie one day, he realized he could no longer trust her. He became
despondent and planned to leave. Despite a last-minute reconciliation with the rose, the
Prince set off to discover other worlds and find a solution for his loneliness.

Characters: 
 The Little Prince
 The Narrator
 The Rose
  The Fox
 The Snake
 The Baobabs
 The King
 The Vain man
 The Drunkard
 The Businessman
 The Lamplighter
 The Geographe
 The Railway Switchman
 The Salesclerk
 The Roses in the Rose Garden
 The Three Petaled Flower
 The Turkish Astronomer

Structure: The plot of The Little Prince is primarily unified by character and topic,
except for the first and last chapters, which function as an introduction and epilogue,
respectively. The novel begins with an explanation of the book's central theme. The
narrator explains the drawings he did as a child of boa constrictors. None of the
grownups who looked at the photographs could figure out what the pictures were
about. As a result, the narrator learned at a young age that most people do not look
behind the surface to understand a thing's true meaning, beauty, or significance. This
eventually becomes the book's core theme.

When the narrator meets the Little Prince in the second chapter, the story's plot truly
begins. In the desert, the narrator's plane crashes. While he is fixing it, the Prince
appears out of nowhere and requests that he draw a picture of sheep. He also asks that
the narrator create an image of a sheep's muzzle. The Little Prince says that he is
concerned that his planet's sheep would eat his specific flower, which he considers to
be distinctive and beautiful.
The book centers on the Little Prince and his search for answers about life from the
second chapter onward. Although the story is narrated in chronological order,
flashbacks of the Prince's exploits after leaving his star are interspersed. He travels to
five worlds and learns something new about life on each one. He tells the narrator
about his visits and lessons. Although much of the novel's growing action bounces back
and forth between past and present, the plot is simple to follow because the focus is
always on the Little Prince.

When the Prince arrives on Earth, he encounters two crucial creatures: the snake and
the fox. The snake tells him that he will be of aid when the Little Prince is ready to
return to his star. The Prince seeks the assistance of the serpent at the novel's
conclusion, tying the novel's finish to its beginning in a tight knot. Following his
encounter with the snake, the Prince meets the fox, who teaches him a valuable lesson
when the Prince realizes that his unique flower is common.

The Little Prince has learned the crucial life lessons by the time he meets the narrator,
but it is in telling the narrator about them that the classes take on a true significance
for the Little Prince. After analyzing everything he has learned, the Prince accepts that
he must return to his star to care for his particular rose; his acceptance of duty serves
as the plot's finale.

The Little Prince is on a quest to find the snake that can bite him and restore him to his
world at the end of the book. The Little Prince informs the narrator that he is leaving
before returning home. He urges him to imagine the stars laughing as he looks up at
them. The narrator is saddened to have lost a friend when he is bitten by the snake and
dies, but he is confident that the Small Prince has returned to his little heaven. As a
result, the novel's conclusion aids in the unification of the plot, which has come full
circle. The Little Prince has accepted responsibility and returned to his star to tend to
the flower that drove him away in the first place.
In the final chapter, the narrator tells how he hunted for the Little Prince's body the
following day, but it was nowhere to be discovered, which serves as a finale and
epilogue. The narrator convinces himself and the reader that the Prince has returned to
his star in this brief falling movement. The narrator also reveals that he wrote the Little
Prince's story six years after meeting him. Even though it has been a long time since
the Prince's departure, the narrator's connection with the mysterious guy from another
planet has had a significant impact on him; as a result, he decides to write the novel in
his memory and as a tribute to the Little Prince.

STYLE:
The author's writing style could be regarded as "strange and secret." The Little Prince
arrives out of nowhere in the middle of the Sahara desert, talking of interplanetary
trips; animals speak in riddles; asteroids live their own lives with a single man on each
of them; and the Little Prince mysteriously vanishes, leaving no one knowing where or
how to find him. Furthermore, the entire plot revolves around figuring out answers to
life's unsolvable problems.

In addition to the prose, the original book includes Antoine de Saint-pictures, Exupéry's,
which round out the story. The author's writing style is truly distinctive, thanks to such
a deft technique.

Atmosphere: This entertaining story takes the reader on a beautiful journey across

the cosmos, one that leads to fascinating discoveries and the realization of valid values.
Young readers will be fascinated by the book's pages as they follow the adventures that
take place throughout this intergalactic space investigation. At the same time, adults
will be drawn to the novella's hidden meaning. As a result, it's impossible to categorize
The Little Prince as either children's or adult literature: the book has a message
important to readers of both ages. Furthermore, each generation takes away valuable
lessons from the story.

The author seems to implement major adult topics throughout the novel in a
distinctively infantile manner, appealing to both younger and older generations.
Consider the flower's motif, for example. The tiny prince tends to a rose in his world,
which he adores, but she pushes him away with her selfishness, vanity, and falsehoods,
forcing him to abandon her. Even though The Little Prince was branded a children's
book due to its large text, cartoonish images, and fanciful fairy-tale nature, the
relationship between the little prince and the flower vividly shows the complexities of
passionate love.

THEME: The story features colorful characters who aid the reader in making decisions
that lead to the rediscovery of life principles and values. Taking notes on each episode
allows the reader to identify key topics in the book that are worth paying attention to.
The central issue is the complete disparity between children's and adults' ideas on life.
Children's sincerity, curiosity, passion, and kindness contrast with adults' obsession,
arrogance, and apathy. The author manifests this subject through the use of additional
sub-themes:
1. The importance of expanding one's knowledge vs. being ignorant
2. personal growth through new experiences
3. gaining wisdom from other people's failures
4. Life's pursuit of fundamental values;
5. Time is a waste of time; self-concentration is dangerous; relationship means duty
6. Realize the world's narrow-mindedness and its impact on a person; Love,
friendship, and commitment.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry poses significant concerns that everyone should consider.
Furthermore, he perplexes the audience and guides them to the correct decisions.
 
CONFLICT:  His desire to see her again is a significant source of friction. The Little
Prince's need to answer fundamental concerns about love and relationships drives him
to leave his planet at first. He travels to various worlds and encounters a wide range of
species. He also runs into the pilot.

To a lesser extent, the Prince's and the narrator's childlike perspectives clash with the
adult world's suffocating beliefs.

TONE: The story is a philosophical one, and it reminds its readers that we were all
children once, through its societal criticism of the adult society. According to one
review, it is "...an allegory of Saint-own Exupéry's life—his search for childhood
certainties and interior peace, his mysticism, his belief in human courage and
brotherhood, and his deep love for his wife Consuelo but also an allusion to the tortured
naturist.

The narrator's tone is bittersweet when recalling his bizarre, sad encounter with the
little Prince. The narrator's tone is matter-of-fact and regretful when portraying the
grownup world.