journal May24~30

( reflection on The Little Prince, part 2)

In the following chapters, the narrator and the little prince become closer and closer through their different conversations. The little prince cares about his rose so much and he is worried about whether the sheep will eat the rose or not. To be honest, I could not understand why the little prince cares his rose so much when I first read the book. It is just a flower! And he even worries about those “childish” problems. However, as I read it again and though it deeply; I had different points of view. I think the rose can be a symbol of our most cherished thing in childhood. Maybe it was just an old doll or a broken robot. To adults, they usually do not care about those things which their children treasure the most.
During the little prince’s journey to different asteroid, he meets a king, a vain man, a drunkard, a business man, a lamplighter and a geographer. Among these people who he encounters, the lamplighter impressed me the most. The lamplighter lives in a very small planet and his task is to extinguish his lamp during the day and light it up at night. But, the problem is that his planet turns too fast. He must keep working every minute and his sense of duty does not allow him to take a rest. Among the people the little prince meets, I think he is the only one who works for other. And his work brings the beauty to the universe. Maybe his behavior looks foolish, but he indeed is a tragic figures.
In the end of the story, the little prince goes back to his planet in a sorrowful way. Although he claims that he needs to go back to see his rose, the way he uses still make me sad. It seems that he dies. To me, leaving is always painful. But the narrator is very optimistic about his friend’s leaving and always misses him while looking at sky.
“Look up at the sky. Ask yourself, “Has the sheep eaten the flower or not?” And you’ll see how everything changes. And no grown-up will ever understand how such a thing could be so important!”