WORLD LITERATURE
ANALYSIS OF LITERARY WORKS
STOPPING BY THE WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING
by
Robert Frost
Submitted to:
Mr. Oliveros, Davidson
Submitted by:
Ellado, Danica
Mondragon, Samuel
Oliver, Marian
Reader-Response Analysis
As a reader, the feelings towards the poem certainly has a hint of sadness, nostalgia,
desire, joy, and appreciation of beauty. The narrator wants to sit and admire the woods, but he
needs to travel to fulfill his obligations. He has no leisure time, and even his horse is impatient,
wanting to continue. Life doesn’t give people many choices, and many times pleasure must be
put off for business. The narrator realizes this and deliberately steals some time to enjoy the
sight of the snowy woods. Another feeling that might be created is envy; the narrator is envious
of the person who owns the woods and yet does not appreciate them properly.
The poem’s first line establishes several thematic ideas, as well as certain stylistic
patterns that will feature throughout the poem. Pointing how beautiful nature is, is I thought
the end of everything. Until the last stanza pop-up
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
I thought the persona is in trouble because symbolically the word “sleep” suggests death
and darkness. But after several readings on the true meaning of the poem’s final stanza, this
lines refers to a long journey ahead before the speaker could go to eternal sleep of death, or it
simply proposes that the speaker has many responsibilities to fulfill before sleeping or dying.
It is not just me but other scholars too. According to Robert Frost, ‘NO’ there’s nothing in
connection to death. To judge a poem’ Robert Frost wrote,’ apply the one greatest test. You
listen for the sentence sounds.’ Honestly speaking, the poem of Frost is quite indirect. The
language is simple, yet its meaning can be interpreted its either a dream-like tale of someone
passing away or saying a final goodbye or many responsibilities to fulfill before sleeping or
dying.
This poem illustrates many of the qualities most characteristic of Frost, including the
attention to natural detail, the relationship between humans and nature, and the strong theme
suggested by individual lines. This poem presents nature as a standard of beauty that is so
strong that it captures the speaker’s attention and makes him or her halt whatever they are
doing. There are not many descriptive words used to convey what it is that the speaker finds so
beautiful, only “lovely,” “dark” and “deep.” Of these, “lovely” simply restates the whole idea
of the poem, which most readers would already have gotten a sense of from the speaker’s tone
and actions. The darkness of the woods is an idea so important that it is mentioned twice in this
poem, emphasizing a connection between beauty and mystery. The emphasis on darkness is
strange, and more obvious because the poem takes place on a snowy evening, when the
dominant impression would have been the whiteness blanketing everything.
Sociological Analysis
As time goes on, society becomes more and more disconnected from nature. With each
year that passes new gadgets are put onto the market. Technology has recently released a device
known as a virtual reality headset. This is for those who want to see the world without actually
taking a step outside. Technology has become the forefront of people’s lives. In his eye opening
poem, “Stopping By Woods on a Snowing Evening”, Robert Frost addresses the idea that
nature is a blessing that should be appreciated, not ignored, and seen for its true beauty.
The Narrator’s sexual identity doesn’t affect the events story. It doesn’t matter if the
narrator appears to be a traveler man or a woman, as long as the readers look at poem’s
meaning, objective point of view and realization. The important here is that the persona
successfully portrayed and utilized the imagery of readers sense of sight and same with the
words of the poet incorporates create a calm and still feeling.
Psychological Analysis
There are only two characters in the poem which are the traveler and the horse. But the
way the traveler narrates, it seems like the woods or nature itself is a character on its own. The
narrator talks in a way that he is meeting or communicating with the woods, and he did it in
quite a melancholic way. It is stated in the third stanza that his horse might think it’s strange
for them to stop somewhere without a farm house, meaning it is unusual for the traveler to stop
in the woods in the middle of the night for something like having an emotional moment.
The traveler and the woods seem to have this sentimental connection with each other.
Because the traveler and his horse are just passing by, the way he expresses his thoughts is like
they’ll never be with each other for a while because of the promises he needs to keep. ¬¬He
has miles to go before he sleeps and the traveler said it twice in the ending. It signifies that he
is on a tireless journey which is his life. That before he continues on travelling, he wants to rest
and breathe the beauty of his surroundings because nature is his escape from everything.
Mythological Analysis
The poem doesn’t have too much mythic elements in it except with nature and the
traveler’s journey in life. It is a narrative of a man who’s tied up to his responsibility. In fact,
he’s a traveler whose life might be tiring.
Nature is presented as his escape from something, like it’s the lap he needs to lay on.
Being that he travels on the darkest night of the year, this might mean of where he is mentally.
But he cannot stay any longer in the woods for he needs to continue his life to fulfill the
promises he has.
Traditional Analysis
When Frost wrote the poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” in 1922 at his
very house in Vermont, it was during the time he was writing his another poem, “New
Hampshire”, all night long. He thought of writing the piece as if he had a hallucination—and
so he made the poem as the sun rises for a few minutes without a strain.
Remember that one of the prominent themes of the poem was exhaustion, fatigue in
life, or isolation—so, the mere fact that Robert Frost wrote Stopping by Woods on a Snowy
Evening as he was writing a longer poem gives more hints about the exact meaning of his work.
It might indeed be about a person who takes a break on everything they are doing—but only
for a while, because they have to keep going as there are more challenges to face and “promises
to keep” before they can actually rest. However, since the poem is relatively short and uses
simple words, some readers might only interpret it on a surface level.
Formalistic Analysis
Robert Frost used a person with a horse—perhaps, a traveler—as the main character of
his poem. This person stopped by a house in the middle of the woods on a snowy and cold
evening. However, the traveler, perhaps, has responsibilities to attend—“but I have promises
to keep, and miles to go before I sleep”—the reason why they cannot stay longer as much as
they wanted to.
This understanding of the poem brings the readers to conclude that albeit the poem
consists of simple words, there is a deeper meaning to it. The usage of imagery—snowy
evening, house in the woods without a farmhouse near, darkest evening of the year—is already
a giveaway of what the poem might be about; isolation and exhaustion. In fact, Frost used
words that may be associated with the said themes;
• House in the village that is “between the woods and frozen lake”, the darkest evening
of the year – the feeling the writer is in as he was writing the poem
• Snow – the sadness and void the writer was feeling
• Little horse – might be the writer himself
WORLD LITERATURE
ANALYSIS OF LITERARY WORKS
SONNET 18
by
William Shakespeare
Submitted to:
Mr. Oliveros, Davidson
Submitted by:
Marcos, Donna Marie
Mondigo, Omar Oliver
Sierda, Precious Sarah
Reader-Response Analysis
Sonnet 18 is one of the most famous Shakespeare’s works and is believed by many to
be one of the greatest love poems of all time. I can say that if someone dedicate this sonnet to
me, I will probably fall for him. This sonnet is so flattering like from the very first line on how
he compared the beauty of his love one to the summer days and as the sonnet goes on, he also
indicates that the beauty of his love one will always be the same. Although he also somehow
said that her beauty will not last forever and it will eventually fade. Nevertheless in the twelve
or last line he says that “when in eternal lines to time thou growl’s, so long as men can breathe,
or eyes can see, so long lives this, and this gives life to thee”. The sonnet ends beautifully with
Shakespeare telling that the beauty of his love will remain forever as long as we men are
reading it. By this her beauty stays because we are reading about it and cherishing her beauty.
As a woman reading Sonnet 18 made me want to feel love and be appreciated by someone who
adores me and treasure me.
As I study the meaning behind the Sonnet 18 it slowly made me realize every meaning
of the lines because my initial reaction was ‘why would he compared his love one to something
that will eventually fade, if he could just simply compare it to eternity?’, I’m really confused
at first but eventually as I finished reading, digesting and searching for the symbolism and
meaning behind the Sonnet it made me wish for someone who could appreciate my beauty.
William Shakespeare is indeed a brilliant writer he used a figure of speech called
Oxymoron which is combining two incongruous ideas and it was shown in Sonnet 18. The use
of opposites together in one construction adds beauty and intricacy to the lines of Shakespeare’s
sonnets. Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 is so famous, in part, because it addresses a very human fear:
that someday we will die and likely be forgotten. The speaker of the poem insists that the beauty
of his beloved will never truly die because he has immortalized her in text.
Shakespeare uses Sonnet 18 to praise his beloved's beauty and describe all the ways in
which their beauty is preferable to a summer day. The stability of love and its power to
immortalize someone is the overarching theme of this poem.
Formalistic Analysis
William Shakespeare uses a lot of imagery, personification and symbolism in
describing his love in Sonnet 18. In the poem, a summer’s day is a symbol for the poet’s love
for his lover and her eternal beauty. One of the symbolisms can be seen in the line “Sometime
too hot the eye of heaven shines, and often is his gold complexion dimm’d”: with these two
lines, Shakespeare uses the symbol of the sun—“the eye of heaven” and its “gold
complexion”—to point out that youth and beauty are not eternal and that they fade, perhaps a
bit too quickly. The most prominent figure of speech used in “Sonnet 18” is the extended
metaphor comparing Shakespeare’s lover to a summer’s day throughout the whole sonnet.
Figurative language is used throughout the poem to emphasize the extent of the
speaker’s feelings and love for this woman. A metaphor, which is a comparison between two
things without using ‘like’ or ‘as,’ is used to compare the woman to a summer day. Sonnet 18
used symbolism and different types of figures of speech like Metaphor, Oxymoron,
Personification and Rhetorical questions and that’s what made this poem united.
Sonnet 18 contains the elements of a classic sonnet. It is written in 14 lines and contains
the rhyme scheme ABABCDCDEFEFGG. The first and third lines and second- and fourth-
lines rhyme, and the pattern continues until the last two lines, both of which rhyme. In addition,
the poem is written in iambic pentameter. The mood and tone of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 is
one of deep love and affection. It is highly sentimental and full of feeling. This sonnet may
seem at first to simply praise the beauty of the poet’s love interest.
In conclusion, I think that Sonnet 18 is a poem that embodies what it takes to admire
for something or someone ideal. It makes every human being capable of doing anything just to
make this feeling be expressed in the most subtle and complicated way he wants it to be. The
persona in this particular sonnet expresses his deep admiration to the addressee which in other
books is thought to be Shakespeare’s object of love. What is important here is the intensity of
the feeling he had for the young man or his loved one that it makes it right and fitting to write
the sonnet on his honor. He immortalizes this person as exemplified in lines 9- 10.
Traditional Analysis
Sonnet 18 is probably the most well known of the 154 sonnets written by the bard. It is
famous for being one of the most romantic texts written at the time, and is still, to this day, a
work that moves anyone that reads it. With it being such a poignant work of romance, of course
we wander—who did he write this for? Though not much is known about who Shakespeare’s
subject is for his sonnets, with him being as secretive as he was, scholars today have agreed
that there are two main people the bard was referring to.
From 1-126, it is said to be a “fair youth” the bard was writing for; for 127-154, it seems
to be a “dark lady” he was addressing. Pretty vague, but at least it gives us a little peek into the
mind of Shakespeare during his time writing Sonnet 18. Love is most definitely the principal
theme of the work, what it entails and how it feels can be seen throughout the sonnet. In it,
Shakespeare plenty of times used weather as a way to contrast and compare his lover’s love
and beauty.
With him being from England, the English weather seems to be his point of reference.
In the first line he asks if he should compare his lover to a summer’s day, by the second, he
immediately assures his lover that they are more lovely and gentle. As we go further, from the
third line to the eighth, he tells of how there are ups and downs, it gets too hot and too cold too
quick, summer comes and goes way too fast for everyone, and everything just ages and fades.
The remaining lines of the sonnet then exclaims that for his lover, this is not the case.
Their summer will be eternal that even death can’t hold a candle to it, that through this poetry,
his lover would be able to live forever. It is indeed a beautiful piece of poetry that moves, but
what is it trying to say? The moral statement Sonnet 18 tries to make, in my opinion, is that
love—true love, never dies. It is a cliché proclamation we’ve heard multiple times, but in the
time Shakespeare wrote this, it must’ve been something quite poignant.
Yes, people we’re getting married back then and the idea of romance wasn’t a new
thing, but what I think Shakespeare achieved through his poetry in these sonnets really helped
propagate the modern idea of love we have now. Of course in recent years there’s a shift
happening again on what society deems true love, but it is undeniable that through Sonnet 18
and much more of the bard’s work, the idea of true love being undying would continue for
generations to come.
Psychological Analysis
In Sonnet 18, it’s assumed that Shakespeare’s persona is the speaker, making him the
main character of the story. He’s not defined physically in any parts of the text, but if you ask
me what his principal characteristic is, I’ll have to say that it’s his boldness. 2 Sonnets back, in
Sonnet 16, the same speaker can be seen making the same bold proclamations and observations
about what he believes love is and isn’t. He swears his life’s work for everything he believes
in. So definitely, the main characteristic of this character is his boldness.
As we’ve established, we have the speaker as the main character, for other characters I
can only really think of two: his lover, and us the readers. The relationship he has with his lover
is of course romantic in nature, but with us, I think it’s more of a mentor-student dynamic. With
his boldness, you can really feel as if someone with a lot of experience is talking to you and
teaching you about the truths of life and love. He’s dominant in both relationships, in his
unshakable nature, he manages not to only sway the feelings of his lover, but also us reading
his preaching.
It’s unclear where the protagonist gets his dominancy and strength, but if I can assume,
it’s from his true personal confidence mixed in with a slight heaping of hubris. That leads us
into the main conflict of the work: the aging, changing, and fading nature of humans and human
relationships. This is the conflict of the story because it poses a threat to the love our main
character is trying to give to his lover. At the end, he overcomes in his own way this threat, this
conflict by making sure and assuring his lover that these things won’t affect them.
Which brings us to our principal character’s world view. The speaker sees the world
both realistically and mystically. He believes that everything changes but also don’t. He
believes that relationships can be like the weather changing naturally, but also claims that he
can overcome such forces. It can be inferred that this person has a healthy balance of realism
and imagination, just like the bard himself, Shakespeare.
Mythological- Archetypal Analysis
Sonnet 18 do not include mythic elements in the plot, theme, or characters. It also does
not include archetypes and archetypal characters or images. But it mentioned summer season.
William Shakespeare compared the beauty of his beloved to summer. On the first stanzas of
the literary piece, he posed questions to compare summer to his lover but on the last stanzas he
mentioned that her beloved’s beauty is beyond compare to summer as it is everlasting or
eternal. Summer is short and can be shaken by winds but his darling’s beauty is beyond death.
Though summer has been a basis of comparison for beauty, it does not portray a mythological-
archetypal setting.
Sociological Analysis
Sonnet 18 did not discuss societal issues. It also did not discuss or question the gender
or sexuality of the subject that might affect the events and relationships in the story.
WORLD LITERATURE
ANALYSIS OF LITERARY WORKS
HOPE FOR THE FLOWERS
by
Trina Paulus
Submitted to:
Mr. Oliveros, Davidson
Submitted by:
Damaso, Aero
Dela Cruz, Rica Jeanne
Delim, Rizzle Meco
Reader-Response Analysis
Hope for the Flowers is a tale about a caterpillar named Stripe. His adventure began
when he realized that there’s more in life than eating leaves and crawling. He becomes
desperate to find what he’s looking for, so he decided to crawl away from where he was born.
This tale is also about the struggle in life, not only for Stripe who was trying to find what he’s
looking for, but also for us. We will be able to relate to this story and share the same feelings.
This tale gives us a lot of emotions, it evokes our feelings. It makes me feel the feeling
of having a courage, it is because they did not give up, and they still took the risk even though
they did not know what’s ahead of them. Pity, I feel pity and sad to those who end up falling
and dying due to climbing the pillar without the certainty of what’s up there, and pity for those
who didn’t believe that there was nothing above and they still continued to climb. And lastly,
the feeling of joy and satisfaction, because at the end of the story, where they are enlightened
and realized that in order to get to the top, you have to fly so that you didn’t have to step on
anyone else. Throughout the story, my feelings change, and at the same time, I gradually
understand where the story can lead to.
I can say that as I read this tale, my attitude and understanding about it changes. Just
like when they decided to go down, I was a little angry because I was thinking, “why are they
going down”, “they’re almost there”, but when it was revealed in the story that there’s nothing
up there, I calmed down, and at the same time was encouraged that maybe what they are
looking for is not there. And the other one that changed my understanding is, when Stripe said
“to get to the top, we must fly not climb”, it hits me, I thought that maybe he’s right, we must
fly to get to the top, it’s better rather than climbing into a pillar where you will be stepping on
other people and trampled a lot. Trina Paulus uses Hope for the Flowers to show us what
sacrifices is and for us to appreciate everything and everyone around us.
Formalistic Analysis
Hope For The Flowers can be categorized as children’s novel, it is a fable, also a novel
for adults. Hope, goals, alternatives, and life, these are the keywords that Trina uses to show
their meanings. She used a lot of imagery so that we can feel what this novel really wants to
show and convey. She also uses the color of Stripe and Yellow which symbolizes death,
anxiety, hope, and happiness.
Some figure of speech are uses through out the novel, to give and emphasize the extent
of the readers feelings as well as the author. These are the Simile and Metaphor, in the story
you can see the comparison between flying and climbing, if which is better. And choosing
between “to climb or be climbed”.
It’s an inspiring allegory about the realization of one’s true destiny as told through the
lives of caterpillars Stripe and Yellow, who struggle to “climb to the top” before understanding
that they are meant to fly. The theme of life, moving through seeming death to a new and more
beautiful life.
Traditional Analysis
Trina Paulus, the author of Hope for the Flowers was born early to realize the harsh
reality. She knew the injustice at an early age because she had witnessed it first hand. You can
see and read in the story about the similarities between the experiences of the characters in the
book and the life of the writer of the story. Heading to Egypt and Europe where she experienced
poverty and revolution. Its basically a reflection of the counterculture in that period. Hope for
the flowers was established in September 1972. It is about revolution, hope, purpose of life,
hardwork and love. It’s life itself. The true meaning and purpose of each and everyone’s life.
The trust and hope that a person can give to someone.
The moral statement of the context is the morally good trait and perseverance to strive
to appreciate the flow of life as you continue to grow together with the fast changing time. It
also emphasizes the need to adapt to the norm and also know what is right and wrong as we
continue to get out of our comfortable zones and spread our wings with Stripe and Yellow
being the best duo to give an example of this journey to wellness and knowing ourselves for
us to fulfill our goals and dreams that always starts on our own
Psychological Analysis
The defining traits of Stripe, the main character of the story is his focus and will to
achieve whatever he set his mind into, even in stubborn ways. Stripe was shown to be a very
curious character with a strong mentality and this trait was observed on the story when he kept
on filling his thirst for the truth by exploring and his will to see things eye to eye. Stripe was
also shown to have been filling his Id trait more than his Ego or Super ego since he was shown
to be selfish and irrational. This psyche of his was shown at the moment he found the pile on
the story at which also became the turning point for his desire to know his purpose. Stripe was
relishing his ambitions to answer his questions towards finding the relevance of his existence.
However on his climb, he met another caterpillar named Yellow whom which he fell in love
with. At this point of the story, the mentality of the stubborn and willful character of Stripe was
further highlighted. His psyche was also shown to be not only stubborn but also stoic since he
was able to climb the top of the pillar while disregarding his feelings for Yellow. On the other
hand, Yellow’s mentality throughout the story was shown to be collected, empathetic and
forgiving since until the end of the story, thus showing that she was filling his Super ego more
than the Id. This can be observed when she never gave up on Stripe until the end despite his
stubbornness.
Based on what I have observed, Yellow was the character with the a stronger mentality
since despite her lover leaving, she still went on with loving Stripe whilst also embracing the
change that came her way, which is becoming a butterfly. Stripe on the other hand is the weaker
character since he was easily controlled by his foolish desire which also became his weakness.
Although at the end of the story, Stripe managed to change his perspective with the help of
Yellow and became what he was always supposed to be, a beautiful butterfly.
The conflicts portrayed in the work is the mind set of the characters themselves. The
conflict revolved around their search for greatness and change with stagnation and their selfish
desires as their enemies. Stripe viewed the world with extreme curiosity which is also driven
by his thought that it is cruelty purposeful and vastly eccentric while Yellow viewed the world
to be reasonable with idealistic views and grave desire to live up to her real purpose.
Mythological-Archetypal Analysis
There’s no such supernatural things/events that occurred in the story but there are
struggles that the characters have experienced while they are identifying and looking for their
purpose in life. The gray haired caterpillar who appeared out of nowhere and actually the one
who convinced and gave some wisdom to the yellow caterpillar to become a butterfly.
The pollination process/a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. This represent the choices
we make in our lives. The caterpillar needs to be a butterfly in order to help the flowers. If it
chooses not to be a butterfly, then the flowers would die. Much like in our lives, if we don’t
decide what’s best for everyone, then everybody will perish.
Sociological Analysis
The societal issue present in the story is the survival of the fittest theory of Charles
Darwin. This issue was shown on the “Pillar Climb” in the story wherein only those who are
fit enough are able to climb up. Hints of Anarchism is also shown since the world the characters
were living in where all free of any leading entity.
Definitely. Stripe is caterpillar that on a personification of a stereotypical human male.
Stripe, like most straight male have the qualities of being stoic and foolishly goal driven.
Yellow, on the other hand has a stereotypical personification of straight human female which
is submissive, forgiving and drives by her own emotion.
Hints of Feminism is also hinted since the feminine qualities of Yellow became the
solution to the main conflict of the story.
WORLD LITERATURE
ANALYSIS OF LITERARY WORKS
THE LITTLE PRINCE CHAPTER 21
by
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Submitted to:
Mr. Oliveros, Davidson
Submitted by:
Ducusin, Rhoan
Mapa, John Michael
Moro, Vincent
Reader-Response Analysis
This literary work is all about life and relationships. When I read the story it makes me
feel happy and delighted because of how the story goes, most especially how the story defines
the importance of the relationship and also because I was able to read and learn the deeper
meaning of how to form a relationship with one another.
This story taught me that a relationship makes the world worth living because being
with someone or something, makes you unique from all the others. And it is not being unlike
anything that makes something unique, but it is also the connection to something or someone
that has with another person or thing. This is not only for friends or loved ones but it could also
be a relationship to your family, to your pet, to your paintings or hobbies, and even your job or
work that makes you feel valuable and unique.
This work is like giving deep advice and expanding knowledge to the readers sabout
life and relationships. The work helps establish this relationship by giving metaphors that are
being compared to the real situations of people. In the story, the fox tells the prince his
monotonous actions of his life—hunting chickens, being hunted by the men, and how he is not
interested in wheat. But now since the prince has golden hair he will bring back the thought
that wheat is like the hair of the prince, which means the wheat has a special meaning now for
the fox. And that it is a reminder of his relationship with the prince.
Formalistic Analysis
The story seemed to be more on giving statements by telling stories in metaphor speech
which describes an object or scene that is not true and is being compared in real-life situations.
These words help to provide deeper meaning and a deeper explanation of how life and
relationship work in the story. Using these words readers will understand deeply what the writer
wants to deliver through his/her work.
Elements of literature are the fundamental building blocks of writing. Elements of
literature contribute to the appeal of work because these help the writers to build and organize
their thoughts and also to help them about how they craft their thoughts into words.
Traditional Analysis
Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince), the most notable work of the aviation pioneer and a
well-known French writer, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, is an extraordinary novel not just
because it helps build the foundation of how a kid should see the world, but it also enlightens
each of us on how we should view the world from our inner child’s perspective. It is not just a
novel, it merely is, it is an autobiographical work of a wanderer that seeks and finally finds a
way to express his intimate thoughts about life, about love.
Saint-Exupéry’s work has three premises: the true and the essential, exploration vs.
narrow-mindedness, and relationships. The true and the essential; the story begins when an
aviator gets stuck in the desert, and meets a kid that he referred to as ‘the little prince,’ from a
planet distant from earth and way smaller than it is, planet B-612. As the two of them getting
along, ‘establishing ties’ as the fox said in chapter 21, the little prince telltale the story of his
bond with his rose, how she lied to him about her being so special and in the little prince’s
journey he discovered that there are thousands other roses that looks exactly like her. In chapter
21, when the little prince met a fox under a tree, tamed him, and soon gave him wisdom that
made him realize that the truth is not always essential. The fact that his rose lied to him about
her being peculiar, is not as important as the love that binds them,
“because it is she that I have watered; because it is she that I have put under the glass
globe; because it is she that I have sheltered behind the screen; because it is for her that I have
killed the caterpillars (except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies); because it
is she that I have listened to, when she grumbled, or boasted, or even sometimes when she said
nothing. Because she is my rose.”
Exploration vs. Narrow-mindedness; the little prince, unlike the ruler of every other
planet that he visited, has a wider perspective towards life. By taming the fox and learning that
the essential things can only be seen by the heart and not by the eyes, the little prince realized
that his rose is unique in all the world not because of how she looks or the lies that she says,
but because she is not just a rose, she is HIS rose.
The last theme, relationship. As the fox said, if one does not establish ties, builds trust,
observe proper rites, they are just a regular stranger in our journey, we have no need of them,
and they have no need of us too, just like the other strangers in their lives, but if a trust has
been established, or as the fox call it ‘tamed,’ you are each other’s unique friend in all the
world.
Psychological Analysis
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, a French aviator and writer who authored literary works that
sheds wisdom from his own experiences as a traveler. A great exemplar for his works is his
most remarkable novel, Le petit Prince (The Little Prince), a story of the journey of an aviator
who crash-landed in a desert, a metaphor of Saint-Exupéry’s story, inspired by an unfortunate
event in his life during 1935 in Libyan desert where his plane landed in that vast sea of sands.
The aviator meets a kid whom he refers to as ‘the little prince,’ a kid that sees the wonder
beyond everything, a young version of him. The little prince came from a planet far away,
asteroid B 612, it is way smaller than ours, inhabited by the baobabs, a tree that when left
unchecked, can occupy his entire tiny planet. One morning in the prince’s planet, an
anthropomorphic rose grow, the little prince loves her with all his heart, he waters it, he even
put it under the globe for her to survive the colds of the night, but her demands became too
much for the little prince, causing him to leave his planet, to leave his rose.
The story of the little prince portrayed a conflict between both, man vs. self, and man
vs. man. The little prince’s innocence about love, and the rose’s vanity, caused them to part
ways, resulting the little prince to explore even our planet to seek for knowledge that will help
them, it is when the man vs. self, conflict occur, with the little prince’s thought that his rose is
just the same as every other rose that there is in the gardens of the earth.
In chapter 21 of the novel, the prince meets a fox that enlightens him about the essentials
of establishing ties, as the fox calls it, taming. The child’s innocence and the fox’s prudence
feed their needs for each other. The fox’s wit about building and valuing relationships that
serves as his edge, came from his daily experiences as a prey of the hunters that dances with
the village girls every Thursday, as a part of their rites, rites is something that the little prince
needs to know to tame him. After the prince learned the importance of taming, they became
friends. The moment the prince bids his farewell saddens the fox, the prince then thinks that
their bond has done the fox no good, but it is the exact opposite. After the fox explained to him
that the tears of goodbye are not always a bad thing, the prince came up with the realization
when the fox left him a gift of wisdom, “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what
is essential is invisible to the eye.” His rose is unique because of the bond they share, and not
because she is the only rose in the entire universe.
Mythological-Archetypal Analysis
This literary work contains mythic elements in the plot, theme, or characters such as
quest/journey and struggles of the hero. From an aviator, downed in the desert and facing long
odds of survival, encounters a strange young person, boy, who, it emerges over time, has
travelled from his solitary home on a distant asteroid, where he lives alone with a single rose.
The rose has made him so miserable that, in torment, he has taken advantage of a flock of birds
to convey him to other planets. He is instructed by a wise if cautious fox, and by a sinister
snake.
Archetypal characters such as a beautiful wife uses rose as a symbolism. Obviously,
the relationship of the little prince and his rose is a love relationship. Rose has long been a
symbol of love, virginity and beauty. For example, we can still see people giving roses as
Valentine’s gifts nowadays. From the aspect of Saint-Exupery, it reflects his relationship with
his wife. His wife was a quite difficult woman that Saint-Exupery felt uncomfortable to stay
with and he rather requested for joining the France Air Force instead of being at home. In the
book, the little prince went on the journey because he tried to escape from his rose which he
claimed was a “complex creature”.
The total context of the work supports an archetypal reading since symbolic projections
of the three archetypes of the shadow, the persona, and the anima are clearly seen in this story.
One can consider the whole story of the Aviator’s acquaintance with the prince as a dream in
which the desert where they meet can be a symbol of the unconscious and the unperceived
psychic aspect of the aviator’s personality. Important aspects of The Little Prince are clarified
by reference to Jung’s (Swiss Psychologist) definition of the four archetypes of the shadow,
the anima or animus, and the Self and the process of individuation.
Sociological Analysis
The Little Prince reveals the reality of life by exposing many social issues. Among
those issues are materialism. The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint Exupery, explores the
importance of the preservation of one’s child-like perception. Through the vision of a child,
there is happiness, there is joy. But as time passes, Humanity becomes conditioned to obey the
demands of society, distorting their perception of life. Only those who maintain their child-like
qualities can look beneath the surface of an object and discover the essence within. The novella
follows the adventures of the little prince, who lives on a small planet with a single rose. His
departure, from his beloved planet, unveils the true meaning behind the relationship he
possesses with the vain flower. In the philosophical novel, Saint Exupery critiques vary,
ranging from adult’s failure to uncover the true meaning within, the melancholic effects of
adulthood, and the devotion adults possess towards materialistic items. Saint-Exupery argues
that rather than all of these problems, what is really important in life are the things that can't be
seen, such as love and faithfulness.
“You are beautiful, but you are empty…One could not die for you. To be sure…my rose
looked just like you—the rose that belongs to me. But in herself alone she is more important
than all the hundreds of you other roses…Because she is my rose.
This particular dialogue from the character of the little prince suggest that he is attracted
to a girl as symbolized by a rose. The sexual identity of the protagonist affects the relationships
and the events in the story. The only female character we encounter from the book is the Little
Prince’s beloved “rose”, a symbol of beauty, fragile and petulant. Although the rose is, for the
most part, vain and naïve, the prince still loves her deeply because of the time he has spent
watering and caring for her. Though he loves her, the prince is easily annoyed with her; he
comes to believe she is vulnerable and needs him, so he tries to return to her.
