The Little Prince
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about the ending... does he die?
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Most Ardently wrote: "Does the little guy die?"I love how simple this question is--and yet no one can just say "Yes" or "No." I never truly appreciated before how amazing this book is until this forum!!
because it is a story I will say that the boy existed. I think his reality and his world were only accessible to him by death but like we believe in the afterlife (not all) and we by definition must die to return, that home is like his afterlife so he lives on in that sense. Since one of the points of the story is that we have turned our backs on imagination and creativity I feel he uses the afterlife idea because it is the only truly acceptable idea of imagination for adults. the conjuring of what happens next. in this case he returns home
One clue is the use of parallelism in the beginning of the story and at the end. One of the first drawings we see, "Drawing Number One", looks like this:
Most of us saw only a hat, or maybe even just a brown blob, but essentially we did not see an elephant until "Drawing Number Two."
Now let's compare it to the drawings at the end of the book. First, we are shown a desert landscape with the Prince.
On the next page, we are shown the landscape again, but without the Prince.
Why is it, that after everything we were taught up until now in the book, that when we see a picture, we cannot see that there is more to it than what is shown? The narrator has simply reversed the order of showing his pictures, instead choosing to show the Prince in the desert first, and then to show the seemingly bare-landscape second.
Now, I just found this quote that actually ties nicely into this whole discussion, so here it is...
So maybe yes, the Prince is what we would call "dead" to the narrator and so he misses him and will never know how long the prince can exist on the planet, but we only think he is dead because he left his physical form. Who is to say that he needed a physical form to exist? Was he ever alive, or did he just "exist"? Yes, it could be interpreted that the snake was deceitful and killed him, but doesn't that just make it an ordinary snake--what every "grown-up" would expect it to be? Could the snake not be something more instead?
And I don't think the Prince knew for sure whether or not to trust the snake, which kinda makes it interesting because he seemed so confident about everything up until now, so maybe it *is* that doubt that lures him to be killed by the snake. I think that from meeting the pilot, the prince is curious about the "adult" perspective: is a bite from a snake exactly what it seems to be, a death trap? But the prince will not lose his own childhood, and while maybe he has his doubts, he *has to* be bitten by the snake to fully convince himself that the poison will *not* kill him, so that he can return home in his less-than-physical form.
My son says: whenever you go to the end of the book, you see the little prince got stung by the snake. if the last image is of the stars / his planet, it could mean that he was carried back home. The narrator sees the star and is lonely for him, and since there is only one star in the sky, that is his star. But, if you don’t agree with me, I have an idea: write the book “the little prince looks for his home and doesn’t make it” 😬
I think he dies, in this way he can come back to his own planet and start living his "new" existence.
His body was not there so he didn't die! Simple! Though snake is deceitful, but i dont care! Dont look the ending like grown ups! But again , why he needed snake to bite him and take him back to his home?
m crying now! u cant die like this my little prince... what will happen to rose... :( :(
But wait!!! I read last chapter again!
Author is worried about the fact that weather sheep ate rose or not.
This proves that author believes that little prince went to his planet and did not die! Hurrayyyyy :) :)
No, he didn’t die. The snake said, “Whomever I touch, I send back to the earth from whence he came.” Meaning that whomever the snake bites, they return to the earth (Dust returning to the earth), however the little prince is not from the earth. He comes from asteroid B-612.
Jarren wrote: "No, he didn’t die. The snake said, “Whomever I touch, I send back to the earth from whence he came.” Meaning that whomever the snake bites, they return to the earth (Dust returning to the earth),..."
That makes sense... unless he simply was from the pilot’s imagination, in which case he returned there, unseen but always present. See my comments below!
I dont think he died I think he went to his planet tbh
I think it’s on you to decide and interpret it
Bipeda Implume wrote: "The narrator said his body disappeared, and that´s how he knows he made it to his planet"Exactly!! When you can no longer see something or someone with your eyes, it does not make it any less real. The narrator knew there was an elephant in the snake before he made "drawing number 2." He therefore *knows* the prince is back *because* he never sees him again.
He went back to his planet to take care of his beloved plant. In the end, he probably didn't exist and was part of the Narrator's imagination. Afterall, the story was an allegory.
the snake bit him, and it looked to the pilot like he died.but the little prince said that he was going back to his planet
so maybe dying on earth was part of going home.
it looked to us as if he died,but only the little prince knows.
maybe? meh...
This has actually been keeping me up at night, so here is where I’m at now:As someone above said, the Prince is a symbol for the pilot’s inner child, hidden beneath the pilot’s surface but still very much there, just as the elephant was in the snake and the sheep was in the box. In which case, I don’t think it really matters to the story as to where the Prince ends up. He could be eaten by the snake, drawing us back to the imagery of Drawing Number One. He could have gone back to his planet. The significance lies not in where he ends up, just simply that he is gone from obvious sight. We can wonder if he made it back to tend to the rose, perhaps a symbol for something in the pilot’s life. We can wonder if we ourselves might one day run into the Prince in the desert. Most importantly, WE CAN WONDER! Isn’t that the point of the entire tale?
Bipeda Implume wrote: "The narrator said his body disappeared, and that´s how he knows he made it to his planet"Remember that the perfect sheep was the one in the box? The perfect ending, therefore, must be the one in which we can’t see the Prince’s body and so we can’t know for sure where he ended up.
I think this ending for the Little Prince relates to death on Earth. Yes, I do think he dies on Earth, but why does that mean he does not go on elsewhere? Why can't he still return to his flower even if he does not have his body? I believe this goes with every death on Earth. There is no telling whether we completely cease to exist or if we go back to our flower.
He died and went to heaven and the persona liked to think in an afterlife and that made him happy
For me, with the aviator’s point of view, The Little Prince is a star, he guides the aviator to find a well. So no, he cannot die. The little prince is a star, hence his golden locks. He guides the aviator, he appeared on Sahara Desert being the only star amidst the big empty landscape, yet still managed to laugh. On a sad day, he watch the sunsets. And on a good day, you can hear him laughing on the sky at night. I observed and read most of the replies here and I think I got the message. Just like what the aviator said, “All men have stars, but they are not the same things for different people. For some, who are travelers, the stars are guides. For others they are no more than little lights in the sky. For others, who are scholars, they are problems... But all these stars are silent.“.
While the objective here is us, us giving our own opinions on whether what The Little Prince is, on whether did he passed or not, it’s all from different point of views. Because you-you alone will have stars as no one else has them.
I personally think The Little Prince is a mixture of a personification of a star, guide, inner childhood, an only friend against loneliness, even the narrator’s optical illusion, all in one figure of the little prince.Fascinating isn’t it, how major troubles of broken engines turned into a beautiful story?
Even if he did i refuse to accept he diedbetter if he never even existed, part of the pilot’s imagination or an illusion of his child form. Or he returned to his planet, which is he best case scenario
It's very interesting how Antoine de Saint Exupéry has the Little Prince going from planet to planet throughout the book, but in the end, he says that he can't bring that body back with him to his home. It leads us all to ask again and again, why couldn't he just do what he's been doing this whole time? Why does he have to 'die'?Throughout the story, the Little Prince has been the embodiment of childhood. He thinks and speaks blatantly as most children do, and when he meets the aviator he shows him to believe and think as he did in his childhood. He also teaches us, readers, at the same time to think back to when we drew boa constrictors eating elephants and not boring hats. So, by the end of the book, when all is said and done, I believe that everyone (and I say everyone because if you aren't included in this group, you are psychotic) loves the Little Prince and wants him to stay, but we don't need him anymore. The lessons are learned and he needs to go, so I think that this is Exupéry's way of leading us to the end. Plus, what's a good story without a tragic ending that leaves us broken yet whole and empty all at the same time crying in the corner of our bedrooms at one a.m.? The story may not have stuck with us as much if that didn't happen.
Although no one can know for sure, I personally believe that it is left uncertain on purpose and the ending changes depending on the reader. If you go back to the beginning of the book with the elephant and boa constrictor/hat drawings, we know that we don't have to see something for it to exist. This is repeated time and time again throughout the book, the most notable times being when the narrator draws the sheep in the box and when the fox says "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye." We also know that the narrator/pilot was forced by the grownups to, well, grow up and leave behind his imagination and childhood just like most children, unfortunately. Because society moves so fast and we are so kept up with saving time, we've forgotten how to "tame" and take time for what is really important in life. This happened to the narrator and most people who have entered the adult world. So, when he ends up stranded in the desert he finally has the time to "tame" and really reflect on his life. This leads to him to meet the Little Prince, whom I believe is a metaphor for his lost childhood. If the Little Prince really is childhood, then it really does depend on the reader's interpretation on whether he died or not. The snake biting the Little Prince could represent the loss or death of childhood. There are two types of people who will see different endings; The adults who believe that childhood needs to die in order for them to become productive members of society and the children/adults who still remember their childhood who know that your childhood is never really gone. The adults will believe that the Little Prince died while the children and open-minded adults will believe that the Little Prince went back to his planet and lives on in the memories of the narrator, just like childhood does. After the Little Prince leaves, the narrator is finally able to return to society a changed man who knows that his childhood is still inside him in the form of the Little Prince. All adults can't physically see their childhood, but those who see with their heart know that it is still there and is still "essential". The adults who need to see things to believe them forget that they were ever a child and are described on the Little Prince's journey. This is just my interpretation, there are a lot of great perspectives in this thread!Edit: I just realized that the Little Prince might also a metaphor for the loss of innocence as one grows up. After he leaves his planet he discovers the adult way of living and believes that it is "very, very strange". Because of this, he loses part of his innocence, much like the narrator was forced to do. In the end he longs to go back to his planet and reclaim his innocence and, while this is impossible for one to do outside of this book, it is left up to interpretation on whether the Little Prince makes it back or not. However, if the Little Prince represents the narrator's younger, innocent self, then the book might be about how important it is to look at the world with an innocent view/with the heart as a child would.
Another Edit: A much darker interpretation of this book could be how the loss of childhood innocence reveals a cruel dark world where the only way out is death, but I don't really want to believe that one.
Maybe it was just this particular translation (Richard Howard), but the line about the snake helping the Prince "return from where [he] came" struck me as near-Biblical - on the lines of "You come from dust and to dust you shall return", thereby making his promise about an afterlife rather than the Prince's planet. That also fits the aforementioned "snake/devil" metaphor, as seen in Genesis.That said, I'd like to believe the Little Prince made it home - if only to give a happy ending to the tale.
Little Red Hat wrote: "Maybe it was just this particular translation (Richard Howard), but the line about the snake helping the Prince "return from where [he] came" struck me as near-Biblical - on the lines of "You come ..."I had never really thought of it that way, and I certainly agree with your interpretation.
Molly wrote: "Although no one can know for sure, I personally believe that it is left uncertain on purpose and the ending changes depending on the reader. If you go back to the beginning of the book with the ele..."Very thorough interpretations! Despite it’s obvious theme of childhood / adulthood, I had never deeply considered this book in terms of loss of innocence; like the “Catcher in the Rye,” perhaps part of the message is that no one can avoid the loss of innocence, and that sooner or later it MUST be voluntarily embraced. Just because one has grown up, however, it does not necessarily mean that he must forget. I’d be interested to know whether you feel that the Little Prince voluntarily gave up his innocence (i.e. he intentionally left his planet to travel to previously unknown territory), or whether the loss was a natural consequence of growing up and happened unintentionally. Perhaps the Little Prince’s eventual acceptance of this loss is embodied in his assisted “suicide” towards the end. The child dies (i.e. the external shell) but the soul is freed, perhaps suggesting that accepting the death of the outward display of childhood (i.e. youth) is the first step to preserving and recognising the true “spirit” of one’s childhood. Just some thoughts.
MJ wrote: "Does the little guy die?"I don't think so, the book is surreal so I think that he's just return where he came from
Freddie wrote: "He died. Period.Traditionally the snake is always a deceitful beast in fairytales. It lied to him. All the wishing in the world won't change that."
I cried too.
I believe it depends on how you choose to interpret it. To some, The Little Prince was an illusion, someone the pilot created so that he can survive, thus how he knew about the plane being fixed, why he never answered questions (if the pilot didn't know, how could the little prince answer?) and why he left when the pilot was ready to leave too.
Others decide to take the book as it is. Magical, sure many lessons in it, but no hidden meanings like the identity of the little prince. A happy approach, childish too(not in a bad way, it's good to unleash our inner child) He came from space, talked about his adventures and went back. That's it. It's a fairytale, why must it mean something?
My conclusion is, that this is not a question that can have an "official" answer, rather be answered individualy on each one's mind.
Pesonaly I do believe it's a metaphor for death. The little prince's body on earth dies, but his soul returned back to where it came from and he keeps living on the pilot's memory. To me, it's a story about letting go and acceptance.
I think it's a light way to talk to kids about death too.
Sofía wrote: "Personally, I think he just goes away. But it´s confusing. First he says "This body is too heavy", and then he says "It will seem like I´m dead, but it won´t be true". What I have been told is that..."That's a beautiful answer
Maybe, it was the only way to get back to his planet. He left his physical body and flew with his purest soul
He dies. Nothing else stands as well. It's what gives meaning to what we do . Right now. Right here. ...Stardust.
It's up for interpretation but I think that yes, he dies. And there are a lot of reasons that make me assume he dies and one of them is the fact that for me, I always thought of the Prince as a rapresentation of childhood itself. And childhood, sad but true, HAS to die for the person to grow and mature and change.
And in fact, only after the little prince dies the aviator finally leaves the desert and goes on with his life.
It depends on how you look at it. As a child, I never really believed that the Little Prince was dead, dead. Plus, I remember him getting back home or something like that when he "died." (It's been a while since I last read the book.) If my memory serves me right (which it probably doesn't), he requested the snake to bite him. Why? I think it was to send him back home, but honestly, I have to reread the story to be sure.
Yes. unfortunately, he dyes. He misses so much his flower and wants to see her, and he knows that in such a long time she couldn't possibly survive without his care, so he understands that this is the only way to be with her again. The snake told him before that if he wanted to return to his planet he could arrange this, so he searches for the snake and tells him he wants to go back... in this way, he ends his journey on this planet and reaches his beloved flower...
MJ wrote: "Does the little guy die?"yeah
The little prince didn’t exist, he was part of the narrator’s imagination, manifesting the innocence that had been snuffed out of him throughout his life. That’s what I think at least. Who knows.
I think the little prince never existed. It could be a hallucination he saw in the desert. Reflections on the loneliness of childhood or I think he died by the earth, but he's back to other planets
Unfortunately, I believe it's HEAVILY implied that he does die by, uh ... "self-unaliving."
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I don't think he ever existed. I think the little prince was an optical illusion of the narrator. When the narrator was finally far away from civili..."
You know, I have stated my opinions above, but I absolutely LOVE reading all these different views! Thanks everyone, these are all AMAZING perspectives!!