A rose he cannot yet understand

The little prince, this reading writes, does not understand the rose — the only flower that bloomed on his own star — and that is why he leaves. When he is about to go, the rose knows that if he leaves she will die. She does not want him to cancel the journey because of her, so she reassures him and lets him go.

Having left the rose behind, he travels and meets many things. It is when he enters a relation with the fox, this reading says, that he first understands what a friend is, and he thinks again of the rose blooming alone on his star.

The fox, taming, and a responsibility named out loud

The fox tells him, “You are responsible for your rose.” The prince takes the words to heart. To tame, the fox explains, is to enter a relation. The countless things we only pass by leave no mark; the moment a relation begins, that one being starts to matter in a way we could not have imagined.

Among thousands and tens of thousands of other foxes, this reading recalls the prince saying, this one had been no different — until the two became friends, and the fox became the only fox in the world for him. True friendship and love, they write, grow from a relation and from the responsibility that follows it, not from what merely brushes past.

A return through the snake, and a body that is not what matters

In the desert the prince goes back to his star, and to his rose, by way of the snake, shedding a heavy body. The narrator has seen him bitten and apparently dying, yet later in the book says he knows the little prince is alive. In this novel, this reading concludes, the body does not carry the important meaning; what matters is the spirit.

The same Korean report, at fuller length, is on CampusDown.

Sources

1. This reading, a student reading of The Little Prince: the rose that lets him go, the fox on taming and responsibility, and a return through the snake read as spirit over body.

Last updated: 15 November 2026