The Little Prince Characters

The Narrator (The Aviator)

The aviator is the narrator of the story and at the same time the voice of the author. The aviator is a little naive and had a great imagination when he was a child, which is why he so quickly and directly connects with the little prince. He represents a tamed loneliness and he is the ambassador of reality. He crash-lands in the Sahara and befriends the prince while working on his engine.

The Little Prince

The little prince is the main protagonist of the story. He is the personification of the fantasy world in the story, and the voice of children in the adult world. He is at times grave, amused, querulous, inquisitive, philosophical, curious, wilful, and kind. At the end of the tale, he asks the snake to bite him in order to send him back to his home planet where his beloved flower is.

The Rose

The rose/flower represents a stereotypical view of women, for she is fickle, flighty, self-absorbed, flirtatious, and contradictory. Though he loves her, the prince is easily annoyed with her; he comes to believe she is vulnerable and needs him.

The King - Asteroid B-325

This monarch whom the Prince meets claims that he reigns over everything and that his power is absolute. His only "subject" is in fact a rat, which he says he can hear at night. The king exercises his power on the sun by ordering it to sleep (go down) at bedtime (sunset). Not to lose face, this ruler gives "reasonable" orders (" I order you to sit down"). The little prince is not fooled and sees only a strange grownup in this monarch.

The Vain Man - Asteroid B-326

Wearing a hat that is as showy as it is ridiculous, the vain man considers himself as the most beautiful and the most intelligent of his tiny planet. The little prince reminds this vain person he is alone on his planet, but the vain man still wants to be admired and applauded. Faced with such vanity, the little prince remains perplexed: "Grown-ups are certainly very odd," he thought to himself.

The Drunkard - Asteroid B-327

The drunkard lives alone with his bottle and spends his time drinking to forget that he is ashamed of drinking. The little prince sees that this man is unhappy and wants to help. The drinker retreats into silence and sadness. The little prince is perplexed in the face of this grownup who goes around in circles.

The Businessman - Asteroid B-328

The businessman is a big, busy man who does not even have time to light his cigarette. He spends his time counting the stars he says he owns. He set these numbers on a sheet and deposits it in the bank. The little prince tries to make him understand that he is wasting his life and that "to own something" is about being useful to what we already have. The little prince then tells him about his rose, which he waters and protects. The businessman is left speechless. The little prince leaves, once more disappointed with the grownups.

The Street Lamp Lighter - Asteroid B-329

The little prince is, at first, seduced by the street lamp lighter. His job is useful: he lights the lamps at sunset. But his planet turns more and more quickly, so he has to keep on switching his lamps off and on. "Those are the orders," says the lamplighter to the little prince, who, after all, respects the efforts of this grownup. "He is the only one who does not seem ridiculous to me. This may be because he deals with something else than himself."

The Geographer - Asteroid B-330

He is an old man who collects, in huge books, all the information from explorers who come to him. His planet is vast, but he does not know if there are rivers or mountains because "the geographer is too important to wander." The geographer appears as someone who needs the story of others to know things while for the little prince, effort is required to know things. It is the geographer who sends the little prince on Earth saying it has a "good reputation."

The Fox

The fox is a wild creature whom the prince, at the fox's request, tames. The fox offers startlingly simple but profound insights: that what is invisible is what is truly worth loving.