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Chapter 1
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Little Prince, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Relationships
The True and the Essential
Exploration vs. Narrowmindedness
Childhood vs. Adulthood
Innocence
Summary
Analysis
The pilot lives his life alone, until one day, he crashes in the Sahara desert, a thousand miles away from any human civilization. As he's attempting to fix his engine, he hears a small voice behind him asking him to draw a sheep. The pilot, startled, turns to find a little boy behind him—the little prince. The Prince appears to be in fine condition—not fatigued, not thirsty—despite being in the middle of the Sahara desert.
The pilot lives a life without relationships, until his exploration unexpectedly brings him to the desert where he encounters the little prince, who eventually broadens the pilot's mental and emotional horizons as well. The pilot's exploration leads him to become more open-minded, seeing the world in a more child-like view.
Themes
The pilot attempts to ask what the little prince is doing there, but the little prince insists that he draw him a sheep. The narrator obliges, but the little prince rejects his first three attempts, saying that the first one is sickly, the second one is a ram, and the third one is too old. Frustrated, the narrator draws a box with holes for air and tells the little prince that the sheep is inside. To his surprise, the little prince is delighted with this drawing.
The little prince's ability to imagine a sheep in the pilot's drawing of the box directly contrasts the grownups' inability to tell a boa constrictor from a hat. The little prince is able to see the essential aspects of each drawing, delving into their details and their deeper meanings rather than settling on surface appearances.
Themes
