AnalysisofthesymbolicmeaningofTheLittlePrince解析《小王子》的象征意蕴

1、毕业论文Analysis of the symbolic meaning ofTheLittle Prince解析小王子的象征意蕴学 院专 业级班学生姓名学号指导教师职称完成日期Abstract： The Little Prince was written by famous French writer Antoine de Saint-Exup ry, since the book has been published, it conquered the readers around the world. The Little Prince is a literature work whic

2、h has a special status in the European literary palace in 20th century. It expressed the writers rational thinking about the reality and humans inner world by telling a wise and humanity fairy tale. It has its charm not only for the children but also for the adults, the main reason of the book to be

3、 considered so attractive is that the using of symbolism to make the book full of philosophical connotation, and Aesthetic significance. The symbolism of this book is comprehensive, such as the particular relationship of the whole symbol, the specific symbol and the symbolic images. The writer expre

4、ssed a rich meaning on the use of symbolism in many parts. Behind the brevity of the fairy story, there is a deep reflection towards experience of growing up, meaning of life and love. This article try to seek the symbolic meaning of this work from three factors: the overall symbols, the imageries?

5、symbols and the relationship between thecorresponding symbolic images, based on analyze the author Saint-Exup ry?s life experience and the background of the times.Key words:The Little Prince;Symbol;Images;Symbolism【摘要】法国著名作家安东尼 ?德?圣埃克絮佩里的小王子一书自问世以来，就征服了全世界读者的心。小王子是 20 世纪欧洲文学殿堂中一部具有特殊地位的作品，以充满智慧光芒和人性

6、本真的童话故事表达了作者对外部世界和人的内心世界的理性思考，不论对孩子，还是对成人，它都具有十足的魅力。其主要原因在于象征手法的运用使这本小书充满了深广的哲学内涵和美学意义。 小王子中的象征是全方位、多层面的，如整体的象征、具体象征以及具体象征意象之间的相互关系。作者通过多处运用象征手法，表达出丰富的意蕴。在童话简洁浅显的文字背后，隐藏着对人类成长体验 ,生存意义和爱情的深刻反思。本文通过对作者圣 -埃克苏佩里的生活经历及当时时代背景的剖析，从整体的象征、意象的 象征及具体象征意象之间的对应关系切入，浅析小王子中蕴涵的深刻意蕴。【关键词】小王子；象征；意象；象征意蕴ContentsIntrod

7、uction .11. The review of the book. .11.1A brief introduction of the author- Antoine de Saint-Exup ry . .11.2The Plot Summary of the book.21.3A general commentary of the novel.22.The characters and the symbolic meaning of the images.32.1. The characters.32.1.1The Narrator.32.1.2The Little Prince.42.

8、1.3The fox.42.1.4The Snake.62.1.5The baobab tree.62.2Analysis the symbolic meaning of The Little Prince.72.2.1Images of the human society.82.2.2 Images of the nature.93.Techniques of Symbolic in theThe Little Prince.103.1The use of fairy tale writing techniques.103.2The establishment of antagonistic

9、 relations.114.Conclusion.12.Bibliography.13Acknowledgement . .14IntroductionThis is a childrens book, easy to read and understand, but among the simple sentences and short stories hides the essential meaning of life. It is a book we can start to read when we are little, and the story has its unique

10、 wisdom worth keeping in mind for a life time.The little prince, through a pilots narration of his amazing encounter with a little prince, tells us a story of the little prince travelling around from his planet to the earth, visiting all kinds of creatures （生物，人与动物植物） . Using the most simple and per

11、fectly understandable language, it reveals the most precious and meaningful values of life to me. The minute I read the first line, I am destined（吸收） to be deeply touched and involved by the simple and funny story. I have wondered for an extremely long time about how to express what I have thought a

12、bout this book which means so much that I really feel a little afraid of ruining this masterpiece with my superficial（肤浅的） understanding, and humble ideas. Classic things are always for you to respect. Truly, this book is a fairy- tale, but it couldn?t be better to be a guide book to those who have

13、lost themselves in their spiritual worlds.1. The review of the book.The Little Prince is a well-known novel. In the story the little prince, the main character in the book, came from a planet which was scarcely any larger than a house. He admired a beautiful flower on the planet but he was too young

14、 to know how to love her. Therefore, he decided to leave the planet and traveled to other planets.On the journey, he met various kinds of people. For example, he met a king. Who insisted that his authority should be respected and he tolerated no disobedience. He also met a conceited man, a tippler,

15、a businessman who claimed for the possession of stars on the sky. Moreover, he met a lamplighter and a geographer, whose views of life made him quite confused. Finally, he came to the earth, where lived a lot of people who were like the king, the conceited man, the tippler, the businessman, the lamp

16、lighter and the geographer. He also met a sly snake and a fox. They taught the little prince what the true love was. With the realization of the true love between him- 1 -and the flower, the little prince said goodbye to the narrator and went back home.Besides, there are some meaningful sentences in

17、 this book. For example, the fox toldthe little prince,“ The eyes are blind. One must look with the heart. It?s only with theheart that one can see rightly;what is essential is invisible to the eye.” I agree with thepoint. We should know people with the heart not with eyes.1.1 A brief introduction o

18、f the author- Antoine de Saint-ExuprySaint-Exup rywas born in Lyon in 1900. During his military service, he learned to pilot airplanes. After his military service, he presented himself to the director of an Airline company and expressed to him his desire to become a pilot.First Saint-Exup ry worked

19、to become a mechanic. In 1927, he was the pilot of a formation. He completed dangerous missions over the Mediterranean and over the Sahara. He had many accidents over the middle of the desert. Later, he was named the director of his own aviation company in South America. And he also accomplished man

20、y dangerous missions over the Andes.In 1939, France went to war with Germany. Saint- Exupery enlisted immediately in the army. Saint-Exup ry didn?taccept the defeat. He decided to leave France. He settled in the United States, where he continued to write. It was in New York that he published the lit

21、tle prince, one of his most celebrated(有名的，知名的 )books.1.2 The plot summary of the book.The Little Prince is a story of the encounter of a pilot, who has crashed in the African desert, and a little prince has landed on earth far away from his planet which can be seen above as a small star. A would-be

22、 artist at six years of age, the pilot had that career thwarted by the lack of imagination of grown-ups who could not understand, without explanation, his drawing of a boa constrictor eating an elephant, making him conclude that they are incapable of recognizing importance in anything except what li

23、es on the surface. The little prince, through the relating of his own problems, asking the pilot to draw him a sheep, awakens the pilot to his own restricted- 2 -sense of what is important, inducing him to conclude that he is now like the grown-ups, too. The prince speaks of his planet, with the bao

24、bab sprouts that he has to dig up every day lest they should take over the planet; he speaks with great passion of his special rose, the only one of its kind due to his dedication to its well-being regardless of its taunting.The little prince also relates his journey to earth, stopping on the way at

25、 different asteroids on which grown-ups (a king, a businessman, and a drunkard among others), appear to him very strange because of their resolved application to things that are only quantifiable and have no ultimate purpose. He speaks of the time he spent with the fox, learning the art of taming an

26、d rites, which turns what is common into a unique relationship. The pilot learns to love the little prince, as the latter loves the rose. At the same time the pilot has repaired his plane, the little prince is also ready to return to his planet, through the elixir of a snake?s poison. Yet the separa

27、tion is only physical, for taming creates bonds that endure through time and space, such that the stars they each gaze upon will remind them of each other.1.3 A general commentary of the novel.Seemingly a childrens book, it makes several profound and idealistic points about life and love. In it, Sai

28、nt- Exupry imagines himself stranded in the Sahara Desert, thousands of kilometers away from inhabited places, where he meets a young extra-terrestrial prince. In their conversations, the author reveals his own views about the follies of mankind and the simple truths that people seem to forget as th

29、ey grow older. There are also two other main points in the book, both of which spoken by the fox. They are: You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed and It is the time you have spent on your rose that makes your rose so important. Throughout the book the childrens view on the world,

30、on the main points of the human life and relations between people, which is represented byThe Little Prince and partially by the narrator, is set off against the grown-ups revealed in memories of the narrator and in the characters, met by the little prince on asteroids. But the author underlines, th

31、at the “grown-ups” are like that. One must not hold it against them. Children should- 3 -always show great forbearance towards grown-up people.The characters and the symbolic meaning of images.Throughout the book, Saint-Exup ry is very critical of many of the characteristics of mankind. He claims th

32、at humans are too preoccupied with wealth, power, and technology, which makes them miss the important things in life - beauty, love, and friendship. Because they do not invest the time in loving others and noticing the small wonders of the world, people rush from place to place in search of somethin

33、g; but since they look for the wrong things, they are never happy with where they are and rush onward again, much like the trains that the switchman controls. People are also duped into believing that facts and figures are important, just like the geographer. However, the facts often hide the truth

34、and cause a person to miss out on the true meaning of life.In a similar manner, when a human succeeds and accumulates some wealth, theyspend all of their time counting their assets instead of investing it in the importantthings of life. When they finally realize their lives have no meaning, people t

35、hen turnto crutches, such as alcohol, believing that these things can supply the answer; in truth,the answer always lies inside if a person will only seek the truth beneath the surface.2.1 The charactersThe main theme of The Little Prince is the importance of looking beneath the surface to find the

36、real truth and meaning of a thing. It is the fox who teaches the Prince to see with one?sheart instead of just with one?s eyes. Unfortunately, most adults have difficulties in doing this. In the beginning of the book, the narrator points out how grown-ups can never see the real meaning of a drawing;

37、 instead, they look at the surface, failing to probe a deeper meaning. Next, I?ll analysis of the major characters of the following images, the narrator, the little prince, the fox, the snake, the baobab tree. This essay is designed to challenge a students understanding of the broad points in a work

38、, interactions among the characters, and main points and themes of the text. But, they also cover many of the other issues specific to the work and to- 4 -the world today. It is in this childrens book that I found the essential meaning of life.The narrator of The Little Prince is an adult in years,

39、but he explains that he was rejuvenated six years earlier after he crashed his plane in the desert. He was an imaginative child whose first drawing was a cryptic interpretation of a boa constrictor that had swallowed an elephant. Eventually, he abandoned art for the grown-up profession of pilot, and

40、 he lives a lonely life until he encounters the little prince. He serves as the prince?s confidenceand relays the prince?s story to us, but the narrator is really the author, Antoine de Saint-Exup ry. The narrator is present throughout the book to tell the story of his friendship with the little pri

41、nce and comment on what he has learned from him. He is very attracted to the Prince, largely because he is childlike, innocent, and pure. The narrator admits that he prefers the openness, honesty, and naivet of children to the pretensions and blindness of adults, who cannot see beyond the surface of

42、 life. The narrator feels very close to the little prince because he is able to see the truth and importance of things. Even after six years, he remembers everything about this little man from another planet; as a result, he writes the book in memory of him. Ever since childhood, the narrator has fe

43、lt frustrated with adults. As a young boy, he drew pictures of a boa constrictor eating an elephant, but none of the adults could see the real meaning beyond the surface of the picture. They all claimed the drawing looked like a hat. When the narrator explained what the picture really was, the adult

44、s suggested that he give up drawing and purpose his academic studies. When the narrator shows the little prince a drawing of a boa eating an elephant, he immediately recognizes it for what it is. The narrator is greatly impressed and instantly likes the little prince. The narrator?s airplane crashes

45、 into the desert. While he is trying to repair it, the little prince suddenly appears and asks him to draw a picture of a sheep for him. Soon a strong bond of friendship develops between the two of them.- 5 -The novel is named after the little prince, who is a mystical and loveable person. He is a c

46、hild who lives in a very small world. He is very curious and never let go of a question, once he had asked it.The little prince is a pure and innocent traveler from outer space whom the narrator encounters in the Sahara desert. Before the little prince lands on Earth, Saint-Exupry contrasts the prin

47、ce?s childlike character with different adult characters by having the prince hop from one neighboring planet to another. On each planet, the prince meets a different type of adult and reveals that character?sfrivolities and weaknesses. Once on Earth, however, the little prince becomes a student as

48、well as a teacher. From his friend the fox, the little prince learns what love entails, and in turn he passes on those lessons to the narrator.The little prince has few of the glaring flaws evident in the other characters. Most notably（显著地） , the prince is bound by his love for the rose he has left

49、on his home planet. His constant questioning also indicates that one?s search for answers can be more important than the answers themselves. Little Prince likes watching sunsets. On his little planet all he had to do was shift his chair to watch a sunset. On our planet Earth, sunset occurs at differ

50、ent times in different countries. Probably there is some application of this which can be used in communication. Using sun as the centre of communication! Here Prince also says that he feels sad while watching sunsets. This is probably one of things which suggest that children or for that matter eve

51、n adults sometimes cannot explain their mood swings!The fox appears quite suddenly and inexplicably while the prince is mourning the ordinariness of his rose after having come across the rose garden. When the fox immediately sets about establishing a friendship between himself and the prince, it see

52、ms that instruction is the fox?s sole purpose. Yet when he begs the little prince to tame him, the fox appears to be the little prince?s pupil as well as his instructor. In his lessons about taming, the fox argues for the importance of ceremonies and rituals（仪- 6 -式）, showing that such tools are imp

53、ortant even outside the strict world of grown-ups.Said the fox, To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousan

54、d other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in the entire world. To you, I shall be unique in the entire world.”狐狸说： “对我来说，你还只是一个小男孩，就像其他千万个小男孩一样。我不需要你。你也同样用不着我。对你来说，我也不过是一只狐狸，和其他千万只狐狸一样。但是，如果你驯服了我，我们就互相不可缺少了。对我来说，你就是世界上唯一的了；我对你来说，也是世界上唯一的了。”Please- ta

55、me me! he said.“请你驯服我吧！ ”他说。One only understands the things that one tames,只有被驯服了的事物才会被了解It is only with the heart that one can see rightly;What is essential is invisible to the eye.只有用心才能看得清，实质性的东西，用眼睛是看不见的It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.正因为你为你的玫瑰花费了时间

56、，这才使你的玫瑰变得如此重要But the eyes are blind. One must look with the heart.眼睛是什么也看不见的， 应该用心去寻找 （很多东西的表面现象是迷惑人的，我们需要用心去感知）One runs the risk of weeping a little, if one lets himself be tamed.如果被人驯服了，就可能会要哭的（就像你爱上一个人， 总是难免会受到伤害的）It is just as it is with the flower.If you love a flower that lives on a star,It i

57、s sweet to look at the sky at night.All the stars are a-bloom with flowers.- 7 -这就像花一样如果你爱上了一朵生长在一颗星星上的花那么夜间你看着天空就感到甜蜜愉快所有的星星上都好像开着花（这正是爱上一个人的美妙之处）These sentences from book above impressed me very much, because I had notknown that affection has a relation withtame, he teaches littleprince as well as

58、readers everything about true friendships and the secret of what is really important inlife. The fox tells the little prince that“ tamed” means “ to create ties” . Thcreated because taming requires patience, dedication, perseverance, and responsibility.When these virtues are put into practice for th

59、e sake of a foxamong “ ahundredthousand other foxes” , then an enduring bond is forged in the fire of sacrifice. Withouttaming, all things are merely quantities and have no meaning, no heart, which is theessence of life itself.The fox teaches the prince It is only with the heart that one can see rig

60、htly; whatis essential is invisible tothe eye ”and on responsibility, Men have forgott en thistruth, said the fox.” But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, forwhat you have tamed. You are responsible foryourrose.This” responsibilityinterrelation creates in people. Show ineveryre