Chapter summary

The novella The Little Prince by the French author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is considered one of the most important works of world literature. The story is about a little prince who leaves his asteroid because he has difficulties with a follower and embarks on a journey across several planets. There he meets friends as well as strange grown-ups and understands what it means to be familiar with each other and to build friendships. Only on his journey does the little prince realize how he feels about the flower on his planet and longs to return to her.

The carefully prepared summaries form the basis for a detailed examination of the work. Both a detailed summary and a quick overview of the chapters can be found in our documents. This precise overview of the individual chapters, the characters involved, and the locations of the events helps you examine both the formal style and the content aspects more closely. The summaries provide a quick and effective overview of the context, make it possible to follow the development of the events, and thus contribute to a better understanding of the work. 

(The titles to the individual chapters are invented by the author of this analysis and serve for a quicker overview).

Introduction: Dedication

Time: 1943

The narrator dedicates the work to his friend Léon Werth and apologizes to the children for dedicating this work to a grown-up. For this reason, he then corrects his dedication and writes: "To Léon Werth, when he was a little boy."

Chapter: I - The snake that ate the elephant

Time: childhood of the pilot (6 years old) until today

Character(s): The pilot

When he was six years old, the pilot read a book that said giant snakes would eat their prey without chewing it. Inspired by this, he drew a boa eating an elephant and asked the grown-ups if they were afraid of this drawing. But they thought the giant snake was a hat. When the narrator then drew the inside view of the boa, they told him to focus on more important things. He then became a pilot.

To this day, the pilot does not have a high opinion of grown-ups. When he meets someone who seems to think clearly, he shows them his drawing. However, he has not yet found anyone who can guess what his drawing is supposed to represent. So instead he talks about adult things, such as politics. His acquaintances are satisfied with this and consider him to be a reasonable person.

Chapter: II - The acquaintance with the little prince

Setting: In the middle of the desert

Time: Time jump: six years ago

Character(s): The pilot, The little prince

 For a long time, the pilot led a lonely life and felt misunderstood. Then, one day his plane broke down in the desert. After his first night in the desert, the pilot is awakened the next morning by a little boy who asks him to draw him a sheep. 

Since the astonished pilot cannot draw anything other than his giant snake, he draws it first. Unlike the grown-ups, the child recognizes what the drawing is supposed to represent. But he asks the pilot again to draw him a sheep. The pilot does this, but the little boy is dissatisfied with the drawings. The pilot then draws a box and says that the sheep he wants is in there. With this, the little boy is satisfied. Thus the pilot meets the little prince.

Chapter: III - Fallen from the sky

Setting: In the middle of the desert

Character(s): The pilot - The little prince

The little prince asks many questions, but answers none himself. The pilot only finds out that the little prince is from another planet.

Chapter: IV - The asteroid B 612

Character(s): The pilot - A Turkish astronomer

The pilot believes that the planet of the little prince, which is only a little bigger than a house, could be the asteroid B 612. The discoverer of the planet, a Turkish astronomer, was taken seriously only when he presented his theory in an elegant European suit. 

In addition, the pilot says that grown-ups are very fond of numbers. Children must have a lot of indulgence with adults, because they cannot imagine many things that children experience.

The pilot now wants to tell about the little prince, because he does not want to forget him. He has bought colored pencils to draw a portrait of the prince, but it is not easy to draw when one stopped doing so as a six-year-old boy.

Chapter: V -