Love
The difficult rose
The novella The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry deals with the theme of love, especially through the feelings the little prince has for his rose. The relationship between the little prince and the rose is difficult at the beginning. One day, the rose has taken root on the little prince's planet from a seed that came to the planet "from no one knew where" (25%). When, after a long period of preparation, the rose unfolds her blossom just in time for sunrise, the little prince is very impressed by her appearance.
The rose is aware of her beauty and presses the little prince with her vanity and her demands. The prince does not know how to deal with this. He takes touching care of his rose, but she does not seem to appreciate his care. The little prince does not dare to tell the rose how he feels about her behavior, but he can no longer stand the pain that this relationship causes him.
Finally, the little prince leaves his planet. Only at the parting does the rose confess her love: "Of course I love you, [...] "It is my fault that you have not known it all the while. That is of no importance. " (31%). It becomes apparent that the rose wants to spare the little prince, because she does not want the little prince to see her crying.
The discovery of love
On his journey, the little prince thinks of his rose all the time. For the first time, on the planet of the geographer, he regrets having left her alone, as he learns that flowers are ephemeral: "My flower is ephemeral [...] and she has only four thorns to defend herself against the world. And I have left her on my planet, all alone!" (56%).
On Earth, he tells the snake for the first time about the reason for his journey: "I have been having some trouble with a flower" (61%). This is the only time that the little prince explicitly names the reason for his journey. He is in search of friends and goes up a mountain to look for the people. The little prince thinks his own echo is the answer of the people and considers them unimaginative. He thinks of his rose, which always spoke first.
When the little prince comes to a rose garden, he feels very unhappy because he finds that there are many flowers that look like his own rose. He is disappointed because he always t...