Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory

The Little Prince is an allegory, you say? What does that mean, exactly? Well, let’s dig
deeper and find out. (By the way, this is exactly what the fox would want us to do: to look
beyond the obvious and get to the essential!)

First, let’s figure out what this word means: “allegory.” An allegory is a story that has two
levels of meaning. First, there’s the surface of the story and this has the plot, characters, and
so on. Then, there is a second deeper or symbolic meaning which hints at a philosophy or
belief system. According to Shmoop’s Literature Glossary, allegories are like massive
metaphors that are told through stories. Let’s look at how this plays out in The Little Prince.

This story of the little prince and all the odd people he meets on his travels has charmed the
socks off kids for decades. Children love the characters and the story and the drawings. So,
generally, the surface level of this story is what appeals to kids.

However, many, many adults have also fallen in love with The Little Prince over the years,
probably because it reminds them to pay attention to tiny, everyday pleasures and beauty, and
to make time for friends, and not to worry too much about ambition and fame and money.
Adult readers, then, have mostly enjoyed it for its deeper, symbolic meaning.

There: We have our two meanings! Throughout our analysis, we’ve seen how various
elements of the narrative and characters function on a dual level in this book. But what about
the prince himself? What does this oddly-dressed boy represent?

If you’ve heard of Christopher Booker, you know that this dude said that all stories fall into
one of seven plot types. The Little Prince would be what Booker called a “Quest” plot. Here’s
the “quest” in one sentence: A hero leaves home in search of something, has many
adventures, and returns home.

So, on a story-level, we can see how this fits. The little prince leaves home, has adventures,
and (we assume) returns home to his flower. But on a deeper level, what kind of
philosophical quest is he on?

The prince has always been a good kid, but he has lived a lonely life on his planet. When the
flower shows up, he doesn’t quite know what to do with her or how to talk to her—in other
words, he is a little clueless about how to cultivate a relationship.

See what we did there? We used the word “cultivate.” Get it? But this is not our own wit at
work, so we can’t take credit for it—it’s Saint-Exupéry’s idea to portray a relationship as a
delicate, beautiful, and difficult plant that must be carefully cared for and cultivated.

And the prince, for all his sweetness and goodness, was happy when he lived alone on his
asteroid. It was only after the flower appeared that he became inclined to really feel the
powerful emotions on display in rock ballads.

So his quest is also an emotional quest in which the prince learns that relationships are hard
work and require immense amounts of patience, but that they are also what give meaning to
our world. (Remember the fox’s lessons?) He learns that most people (adults, specifically) do
not realize this and “quest” after petty things instead, like power and money, which ultimately
do not really satisfy them. Each of the characters he meets on his journey emphasizes this fact
for him, and represents a particular human flaw in an amplified way.

The prince, then, is our Everyman. He is every one of us—each reader—figuring out truths
about life and how to live. Luckily, he does the hard work for us. We at Shmoop are not fans
of applauding conceited men or traveling via snake bite!

The story is allegorical to the social class system of Victorian England—the wealth of the
upper classes versus the impoverishment of the poor.The statue of the prince has its jewels
delivered to the poor via the swallow (now, on top of the hill, the prince can see the poverty
that had previously been shielded from him). Eventually the statue loses all its material
wealth; he is richer inside for helping the needy, but no longer outside, and the swallow dies.
The people remove the prince statue, now that he is plain, and discuss the next statue that will
replace him, because material wealth is most important to them.

The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde is a master piece. Wilde has superbly written this story
allegorically having double meaning. The surface meaning of the story are explicit while the
under surface meaning are very deep and allegorical. The Happy Prince is a religious, social,
political allegory on different levels. The universality of theme and allegorical significance
makes it a triumph.
Reward and paradise a Christian idea. The kind heart of the little Swallow is
allegorically representing the true followers of Christ who have a kind hear for the suffering
people and join hand follow the true teaching of Christ in true spirit. The use of word
“paradise” is a clear Christian idea and belief that God will reward those who following His
teachings, will be rewarded paradise in return.
Oscar Wilde has allegorically referred the end of the story The happy Prince to
the paradise with the Swallow who was carrying out the commandments of the prince who
stands for the Christ. Oscar Wilde has use word “ Command” instead of “order” this very
word “Command” has been mentioned in Bible many times. Thirdly , Wilde describes “A
place or region of surpassing beauty or delight, or of supreme bliss. Now also: a peaceful
unspoilt place” and
“The Judaea-Christian heaven, abode of God and his angels and the final abode of the
redeemed”
Wilde use word “Egypt” the destination of the little Swallow, Egypt is, a place of surpassing
beauty. The Swallow was so excited to go to Egypt because of the warm weather and nature
as he said,
“In Egypt the sun is warm on the green palm-trees, and the crocodiles lie in the mud and look
lazily about them”