The little prince - he is the main character in the story. The little prince comes from asteroid B612, a tiny planet in space. He leaves his planet in search of knowledge and wisdom, and also to get away from his flower. He travels to 7 planets, and on the last planet, the earth, he learns the secret of life from the fox and teaches the narrator that one must be responsible for the things that you tame. 

Narrator - the narrator loves to draw, but he abandoned drawing at the age of 6 because nobody understood his drawings. Hence, he decided to become a pilot. One day, he flew his air plane over the Sahara Desert, but suddenly his engine broke, and he landed in the desert. Here, he meets the little prince and he learns from the prince the secret of life. The narrator shows the prince his drawings, but is surprised that the little prince knows what each drawing represents. From the experience with the little prince, the narrator sees the difference between children and adults, and he finds in himself, the children within.

The Flower - the flower lives on the planet of the little prince. She is a conceited and arrogant flower that seems to think that the world revolves around her. She also nags the little prince all the time and asks him to take very good care of her. However, inside, she deeply loves the little prince and despite her arrogance, she realizes that she was the one that caused the little prince to leave the planet. 

Fox - The fox in "le petit prince" is depicted as a very wise creature. He knows the secret of life, which he gives to the little prince as a present: "the essential is invisible to the eye, one can only see clearly with the heart." When he first meets the little prince, he's shy and timid, but then he's willing to sacrifice his freedom for the little prince to tame him. The fox feels that when the little prince tames him, he will be happy because he will no longer be like the one million other foxes that the little prince will see; he will be unique to the little prince.   

Businessman - The businessman is also known as "Mr. Cramoisi" or "Mr. Red" because according to the little prince, he's too serious. The businessman works all the time keeping track of how many stars he has in his possession. He hates distractions and the little prince would be his third distraction. 

King - The king lives on a tiny planet that is almost completely covered by his magnificent long flowing robe. The little prince visits him, but he automatically labels the prince as his subject and gives him ridiculous orders like, "do not yawn" or "be a minister". He is very arrogant and believes that he rules over the universe including the stars and the planets. Of course, the little prince thinks he is very foolish because no one can rule the whole universe.

Drunkard - The drunkard is a sad and lonesome soul that lives on a tiny planet by himself. He drinks to forget that he's ashamed of drinking. It's like a vicious cycle.

Clown - the clown wants attention all the time and he asks the little prince to clap for him whenever he salutes by taking his hat off. He says that he's the most wonderful, funny, and admired person in the world and he also loves compliments.

The Street Lighter - the street lighter turns on and off the street light that he has on his planet. Whenever he turns the light on, a new life is born, and the sun rises. Whenever he turns off the light, someone dies, and the sun sets.

Geographer - the geographer draws maps in his atlas. He asks the little prince to describe his planet to him so he can draw it, but when the little prince tells him about his flower, he tells the little prince that he cannot draw it because flowers are "ephemeral", meaning, they don't last forever. The little prince is saddened by this because he did not know that his flower could die.  

Merchant - the merchant sells pills that would replace water. If you're thirsty, then all you have to do is take a pill and you will not need to drink water. He says by doing this, you will save 53 minutes every year from drinking water. The little prince thinks this is ridiculous and he thinks if he had 53 minutes, he would walk to a fresh water fountain.

Train person - this person sends trains off in different directions. He says that children are lucky because they know what they are looking for, unlike adults, who travel from place to place looking for things.

 

[Characters]   [summary]  [chapters]  [symbolism]  [questions]

[links] [sign my guestbook] [view my guestbook] [home]

The little prince is a book by Saint Exupery. All the images here are drawn by me, but they are the reproductions of Exupery's drawings in the novel. This Site is copyrighted 2002 by Sherry Liu. All design/content/layout is the property of the author otherwise noted. part of Mellow Cherry