The Little Prince is About Life—My Life

Reading is a haven for me, but also a place where I’m inspired to look at life differently. One story that has changed me profoundly is The Little Prince. The Little Prince is always in my mind, nipping at corners in my memory, burning brightly in my chest, touching—singeing—some of the things I don’t want to face, and warming and comforting me when the world is too cold. Few books have shaped my life like The Little Prince has. I’ve built an aesthetic around stars and foxes; I’ve related endless experiences to its quotations.

But why The Little Prince in particular? It came into my life at a very early age; I didn’t understand it, but there was something about the story that made me keep on returning to it. I soon discovered that what makes The Little Prince so remarkable is that it’s a story that grows with you. The more living you do, the more you see in it and appreciate various aspects of the novel. Over the years I’ve reread The Little Prince again and again. Each time I revisit it, at different stages of my life, I gain something new. The Little Prince helped me discover that reading is not just a hobby, but a lifelong friend.

The Little Prince is a strange story; no summary does it justice. It isn’t about its wonky plot or talking foxes. It’s a symbolic tale about life.

The author, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, was a writer and flyer, restless traveler, and searcher. After a life of danger and indulgence, of accumulating experiences, of loving and lying, of being praised for his philosophical smarts, what does he sit down to write?

Something so simple, it gets mistaken for a children’s book.

The story often strikes me as confessional. Shadows and memories, regrets and hopes dance around his brain. He speaks about his life in metaphors, hiding clues in plain sight, spinning it into something that resembles a legend, like one of Aesop’s fables.

Its genius lies in its simple presentation but enormous scope. It covers grief, love, friendship, discovery, and all the nuances in between (when you feel you can’t comfort someone, when miscommunication stings, when mourning the loss of originality in the world, and when making the best of your circumstances). The Little Prince has helped me understand love and friendship on a deeper level. It’s helped me hold on to my inner child. It’s helped me reflect on true matters of importance.

At a time when World War II was decimating hopes everywhere, The Little Prince discussed how to keep a sense of spirituality, of hope. It’s about the power of imagination, the power of choosing to have certain people in your life—the responsibility we have for them, and what makes them special. It’s always left me feeling happy, understood, and ready to look at the world through new eyes—and I quote, “you will see how everything changes.”