History Literature / TheLittlePrince

* AffablyEvil: The snake, for an interpretative value of "evil," is extremely polite to the Prince. This is also emphasized in the 1974 movie where he's played by a very soft-spoken, relaxed Bob Fosse who calls the Prince a "smart, sensible sort" in the sort of tone that suggests he means it; he happily encourages the Prince to just [[ScrewThisImOutOfHere leave the miserable planet he's found himself on]] before deciding he'll bite the Prince, and he convinces the Prince to submit to him via [[VillainSong elaborate musical number]]. A huge point of both book and movie is that the Prince lets the Snake bite him out of his own volition; this is a huge reason why.

* NamesToKnowInAnime: The 1978 TV anime on Creator/TVAsahi featured character designs by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, who would shortly become much better known for ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', as well as Eiji Tanaka, who had worked on ''Anime/SpeedRacer''.

* TheWisePrince: This is an interesting case of this, since the only person under his command is a flower, and while he knows a lot about life in the sky, he's rather inexperienced outside of his kingdom. He does hit the melancholy, kind, honourable, and well-intentioned markers face first, and his inexperience is minimal compared to the various adults.

* AffablyEvil: The snake, for an interpretative value of "evil," is extremely polite to the Prince. This is also emphasized in the 1974 movie where he's played by a very soft-spoken, relaxed Bob Fosse who calls the Prince a "smart, sensible sort" in the sort of tone that suggests he means it.

* BittersweetEnding: And how. One of the most in all of children's literature.

* ArtisticLicenseAstronomy: Perhaps a bit, um, ''petty'' to bring it up, but still...

Adaptations have mostly been for the stage, but there's also a 1974 movie musical and a 1979 Claymation short. It also inspired an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_the_Little_Prince_(TV_series) anime,]] a [[WesternAnimation/TheLittlePrince2010 2010 CGI cartoon]] airing on French TV, and a [[WesternAnimation/TheLittlePrince2015 full-length animated movie]] in 2015.

* BookSmart: Downplayed with the Geographer. His reasoning is as absurd as those of the other adults that the Little Prince has previously visited, and his fetishization of knowledge in geographical books leads him to consider reading them to be more serious than visiting the places they describe. But he is also the only adult who gives useful advice to the Little Prince, suggesting he visit the Earth for its large size and good reputation. This is information the Geographer knows thanks to his research for writing his own geographical book.

* BookSmart: Downplayed with the Geograph. His reasoning is as absurd as those of the other adults that the Little Prince has previously visited, and his fetishization of knowledge in geographical books leads him to consider that reading them is more serious than visiting the places they describe. But he is also the only adult who gives an useful advice to the Little Prince, suggesting him to visit the Earth for its large size and good reputation; informations he knows thanks to his research to write his own geographical book.

Adaptations have mostly been for the stage, but there's also a 1974 movie musical and a 1979 Claymation short. It also inspired an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_the_Little_Prince_(TV_series) anime,]] a 2010 [[WesternAnimation/TheLittlePrince CGI cartoon]] airing on French TV, and a [[WesternAnimation/TheLittlePrince2015 full-length animated movie]] in 2015.

** The Fox is almost a walking aesop.

* ComicallySmallDemand: The Prince meets a king, who has total command and authority, but only gives reasonable orders; many of which are in response to things the Prince says or does.

* TheWisePrince: This is an interesting case of this, since the only person under his command is a flower, and while he knows a lot about life in the sky, he's rather inexperienced outside of his kingdom. He does hit the melancholy, kind, honourable, and well-intentioned markers face first, and his inexperience is minimal compared to the various adults.
----

* SmallSecludedWorld: Most of the places he visits, played for symbolism.

--->" Here, then, is a great mystery. For you who also love the little prince, and for me, nothing in the universe can be the same if somewhere, we do not know where, a sheep that we never saw has--yes or no?--eaten a rose...And no grown-up will ever understand that this is a matter of so much importance!"

--> '''King''': It is a breach of etiquette to yawn in a king's presence. I forbid you to do it.
--> '''Little Prince''': I can't help it, I'm tired.
--> '''King''': Then yawn! I have not seen anyone yawn for years. Go on, it is an order.
--> '''Little Prince''': May I sit down?
--> '''King''': I order you to sit down.

* AdultsAreUseless: The story begins with the narrator telling us a story of his first attempts at drawing -- and why he immediately gave up on it, as a big establishing metaphor on how adults lose their creative minds and imagination when they grow up, instead always wanting and expecting to be "reasonable and mature", but actually just being self-absorbed to the point of complete ridiculousness.
** Spending time with the little prince, the narrator realizes that he ''himself'' has lost his imagination and childlike joy just as well.
* AloneInACrowd: When the prince meets the snake in the desert and wonders where the people are, saying that it's lonely in the desert, the snake replies that it is also lonely when you're among people.
* AlternativeForeignThemeSong: The theme song for the Japanese release of the film is titled [[http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3iuw9t "Kidzukazu Sugita Hatsukoi"]] by Music/YumiMatsutoya.
** The 1970s TV anime adaptation also got a different theme song when it was dubbed into English and shown during the '80s on {{Creator/Nickelodeon}}.

-->“It is only with one’s heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
-->“One runs the risk of weeping a little if one allows himself to be tamed.”
--->“You become responsible forever for what you've tamed.”

-->" Here, then, is a great mystery. For you who also love the little prince, and for me, nothing in the universe can be the same if somewhere, we do not know where, a sheep that we never saw has--yes or no?--eaten a rose...And no grown-up will ever understand that this is a matter of so much importance!"

* CircularReasoning: The Prince meets a man with a drinking problem. Why does he drink? To forget. To forget what? His shame. What is he ashamed of? His drinking problem.

* AdultsAreUseless: The story begins with the narrator telling us a story of his first attempts at drawing - and why he immediately gave up on it, as a big establishing metaphor on how adults lose their creative minds and imagination when they grow up, instead always wanting and expecting to be "reasonable and mature", but actually just being self-absorbed to the point of complete ridiculousness.

* HonoraryPrincess: The little prince apparently do not have parents, and as far as we know he may be self-proclaimed. He's, with a rose, the only inhabitant of his BabyPlanet, so it is justified he is the de facto [[PrincessesRule ruler]].

* LoveHurts: Explored. Love makes a flower, a fox, a person - special. But it still hurts, and losing them hurts even more. You are forever responsible for what you've tamed.

"You know-- one loves the sunset, when one is so sad..."\\

* CryingLittleKid: The narrator is moved to help the Prince because of his obvious distress.

%%* CryingLittleKid

* PlayingPictionary: The narrator explains how he once drew a picture of a snake that had swallowed an elephant, and all the adults told him it was a very nice hat. Makes sense if you look at the picture; the outline bears a distinct resemblance to a fedora.

%%* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: The Prince.
* TheTragicRose: Of course, if a single mysterious flower shows up on a remote asteroid far from Earth, it ''has'' to be a rose, the very symbol of beauty. The moment the prince learns that the rose is considered ''ephemeral'' is the moment he realizes how very precious she is, and how limited is his time with her.

* [[HonoraryPrincess Honorary Prince]]: The little prince apparently do not have parents, and as far as we know he may be self-proclaimed. He's, with a rose, the only inhabitant of his BabyPlanet, so it is justified he is the de facto [[PrincessesRule ruler]].

* LiteraryAgentHypothesis: The aviator presents the story as if it was a real event that happened to him. Grows even more complicated since the establishing event--a lone pilot who crashes in the desert--really ''did'' happen to the author and is the subject of some of his more autobiographical works.

%%* LiteraryAgentHypothesis

* LudicrousPrecision: Before the invention of electricity, Earth is said to have had 462,511 lamplighters.

%%* SomethingAboutARose

%%* {{Tsundere}}: The Rose.
* WalkingTheEarth: More like traveling through the stars.

* {{Hypocrite}}: The little prince is ConstantlyCurious and will repeat a question as many times as he needs to get an answer, yet he ignores most questions directed at him.