Abstract

In the 1940s, The Little Prince—a fairy tale appealing to adults, renounced the world splendidly. The author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, a French pilot and writer, was a legend. The work, with the plainest and simplest language, represented an adventurous encounter between me, a pilot in distress who fell into the Sahara desert and the Little Prince at sea who came from Asteroid B612. In the book, the author’s description of the pilot is a true portrayal of his own and in the end, the profound call to the Little Prince highlights Saint-Exupéry’s promotion for regression of innocence in the age of quick success and materialism. The illustrations he drew were very warmhearted. However, over a year passed, just as the Little Prince disappeared in the boundless sky, the author left in the same way, leaving us a mystery. Based on children point of view, unique cultures of children and their different views on growth are revealed. It argues that growing up does not always mean that one’s physical or mental development will always change towards a positive side; instead adults can often learn from children who are equipped with innate imagination and who can see through phenomena to perceive the essence. Children should be the happiest creature on the Earth, but the deterioration of education is inevitably shadowing their childhood and causing the increasing adult-orientation of children. They are forced to suppress their true nature and cannot really directly pursue the real essence of growth. By comparing this two little boys who never grow up in the fairy tale world—the Little Prince and Peter Pan’s similar choices of running away from home, this paper is to arouse the introspection among modern people’s return to the pure ego, especially parents’ reconstruction of a proper growth environment for their children. 

Key words: the Little Prince; Peter Pan; departure; growth; insight

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1 Introduction-1

2 Unique cultures of children-2

2.1 Child psychology reflected in The Little Prince-3

2.2 Return to the pure ego-5

3 Growth insight into the Little Prince and Peter Pan-6

3.1 The Little Prince and Peter Pan’s departures from home-7     

3.2 Creation of a suitable growth environment for children-9

4 Conclusion-12

References-14