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As the Little Prince makes his way from his home planet to earth, he makes several stops at neighboring planets (or rather “asteroids,” since they are very small). In chapter 10 he stops at Asteroid 325 and meets a king. In chapter 11 he will stop at another asteroid and meet a vain man, then in 12 a drunkard, then in 13 a businessman. At the end of each of these chapters he says something like “Grown-ups are so strange.” I take that to mean that in each of these chapters the author is caricaturing “grown-up” attitudes that he would consider unhealthy – detrimental to achieving the fullness of life and joy. Each of them lives alone on his tiny asteroid, and the author may be suggesting that these attitudes lead to isolation. (more…)

As I mentioned before, Karen was with us this past week, and her brothers were thrilled to have her around. They were especially thrilled to see that they are getting taller than she is.

Over the weekend we traveled to the Czech Republic for another English Camp reunion with our dear friends. On Saturday we took a hike in the mountains and crossed the border into Poland for a while. Here’s a picture that shows us straddling the border – and you can see that we had our daughter Karen along for a special treat:

On the day that the Little Prince left his planet and said goodbye to his Flower, the Flower finally asserted her love. She even asked the Little Prince’s forgiveness, showing that she knew all along that she was not treating him well, and that she took advantage of his love. So this short chapter is packed with heartache, with the sense of loss and waste – and all because

She was such a proud flower….

Friday morning I had my first run-in with the Slovak police. By the end of the episode I could only exclaim, “What a great country!”

It happened this way: I was hurrying home from Bratislava, and I hurried a little too hurriedly right into a speed-trap in Bratislava. A policeman holding a stick with a red reflector on the end of it walked out into the highway to flag me down. I pulled over behind his car, and rolled down the window. He walked up and began speaking in Slovak. I recognized the word for “speeding,” and I definitely got his drift – but I politely let him finish his speech before I informed him that I did not speak Slovak. (more…)

After reading chapter 8 many times, I’m still not sure exactly how I should take it. Most of the book seems to me to have universal applications, like a good parable should. But I’m not sure whether the discussion in this chapter of the Little Prince’s relationship to the Flower is intended that way. Are the Little Prince’s observations about his inability to love her well intended to apply to all friendships, or all relationships between men and women, or is this is a case where something from the author’s own life is coming through – is he expressing his frustrations with himself? (more…)

In the seventh chapter we discover with the narrator what lies behind the Little Prince’s grief. It turns out he left behind on his planet a flower with whom he had a complicated relationship, and he is very concerned for her safety.

He seeks reassurance from the narrator, but unfortunately the narrator is trying just at this moment to repair his airplane, and he is concerned about his very life, since it is the fifth day his water is almost gone. So the narrator doesn’t give the Little Prince his full attention, which sends the Little Prince into a rage. (more…)

We return to hints of grief – this time of the Little Prince – that we will later learn more about. The chapter closes with the narrator asking the Little Prince whether he was feeling very sad on the day he watched the sun set forty-four times, and the Little Prince can’t even answer. (more…)

Chapter 5, on the other hand, reads more like a children’s book in some ways – yet in others it sounds like the book of Proverbs or a parable of Jesus. It is an extended warning, and the narrator almost feels a need to apologize for his “moralistic” tone. But the danger is great, and he is compelled not only to write at length but to draw his most magnificent picture for the book because he was, as he says, “driven by a sense of urgency.” (more…)

I’m not sure how anyone who has read this book could call it a children’s book. In chapter 4 the narrator hints at sadness and grief, as well as the frustration we feel from that inability to connect with others and share in true friendship. He says that when you tell them about a new friend, grown-ups never ask what his voice sounds like or what games he likes best – they ask,

“How old is he?” “How many brothers does he have?” How much does he weigh? How much money does his father make?” Only then do they think they know him.

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