Stephen+Forgione-Little+Prince+Essay

“The Little Prince” is a novel that describes the journey of a little boy who decides to travel away from his little asteroid. On his journey, he meets many odd and very different people. He sees people that have very different jobs but all end in the main topic: they’re all dealing with matters of consequence. As the story progresses, the author shows the complex differences between children and adults. It’s no doubt that the author shows the adults always being busy with a job or personal issues. The reason is that adults never use their imagination, unlike children, who never worry about things and save all that until they grow up. Many examples are present in the novel. The geographer was a person who made a map and details the planet he lived on. The problem was that he had nothing on the map. His issue was that he did not have an explorer to navigate around the globe, as the geographer only made maps. He did not know if there were mountains or lakes, valleys or forests, and so, had nothing drawn. He stayed on his one task all this time never to realize that he can explore the planet himself, for being the only one on the planet. But, he worried about his job too much, and never realized he needed someone else to do a job as an explorer, so he can do his job. Another person was obsessed with ruling everything he had his eye on. The king. The king wanted to reign over everything and everyone to obey his every order. The problem was, he had no one to order around, and just sat on his thrown all day. Just like the geographer, he needed other people to help him do his job, so he can actually rule something besides his tiny planet. As the men on the planets were obsessed with their job, other had personal problems or was conceited. The conceited man always had an issue: he never stopped loving or complimenting himself. He treated the prince as an admirer, and wanted all to see how great he looked. The tippler was the strangest of them all though. His issue was in a complete circle that he never wanted to get out of. He was a drunk, who kept drinking (I don’t know where he got his drinks) to forget all he did wrong. He was ashamed of what he was doing, and that was drinking. So he drank and drank to forget he drinks. He is stuck in a never ending path that will stop once he’s gone, unless he’ll continue to drink in the afterlife. He never took any time to accept what he did wrong and help himself stop drinking, so he can break the circle. The difference between all that and the way children behave is that children never have problems. They live a clear and vivid life, which is just to run around and play and have fun. They’re not wired to a specific job. But people have to worry about job for numerous reasons. They have to support a family or live on their own and support themselves. That explains why they’re so crazy about their job. But the novel shows how crazy they worry about their job. The other issue is the imperfections each adult worries about. In this case, appearance and alcoholism. Children are too young and focused on fun instead of being ashamed of whatever they did wrong or how they look. To conclude, I agree with author that children are very different than adults. They have all the time in the world to never worry about what they have to do and just go with the flow. On the other hand, adults always have a priority. But not their job, themselves and those they care about, and are too concerned about their job in order to support them. In addition, they worry about how they look so they can look presentable and not feel insecure. As one can see, adults worry about their matters of consequence in order to support themselves and/or their loved ones, while children never have to worry about anything and have fun. The author clearly points out the differences between the two most complex people in the world.

Stephen--I feel as though you took a long route through all the characters to make your point. You are right that the men are used to make a point, but bring it back to the main difference. The difference is in lack of imagination and creativity-- as well as not seeing what is really important in life--that's what St Exupery wants us to see. You could have also mentioned the point the switchman wants us to see and the point of the drawings. Your points about the men are well taken, but you could have grouped them a bit and gone on to other points.