the Symbolic Meanings of The Little Prince 浅析《小王子》.doc

本科生毕业论Analysis the Symbolic Meanings of The Little Prince 浅析小王子中的象征意蕴 姓 名 学 号 专 业 外国语言文学系 指导教师 2012 年 5 月 30 日所在系：外国语言文学系 专 业：英 语 毕业论文题目：Analysis the Symbolic Meanings of The Little Prince 浅析小王子中的象征意蕴1. Aim and Significance: Antoine de Saint-Exupery 1900-1944 was born in Lyons France. A year afterthe publication of The Little Prince Saint-Exupery disappeared over theMediterranean while flying a reconnaissance mission for his French air squadron. Bestknown throughout the world as the author and illustrator of The Little PrinceSaint-Exupery wrote several other books that also have become classics of worldliterature such as Night Flight and Wind Sand and Stars. The Little Prince has been republished several times since it was published inNew York in 1943. It has been translated into more than 100 languages and becomesone of the most popular books which circulation only second to Bible. Symbolism isthe best successful factor of the novel. There are few works of studies aboutsymbolism in the perspective of love and responsibility. Their studies are mainlyconcerned in the following aspects: 1 study symbolic meaning of the images. 2 therelationship between symbolism and philosophy in the work. 3 the realistic meaningof symbolism in the work. This essay tries to explore the realization of love andresponsibility of the little prince through symbolism. So the aim of the essay is to seek the theme of love and responsibility throughsymbolic meanings in the book. It is a great significance to search love andresponsibility in nowadays that full of apathy among people.2. Main Methods and Ways of Studies: This essay mainly uses the methods of literature reading and theoreticalanalysis. It mainly separate into three parts. In the first part mainly illustrate sometheories of symbolism and the studies of symbolism in current situation of The LittlePrince. In the second part research the various symbolic meanings in the growing ofthe little prince namely the progress of realizing love and responsibility of the littleprince.1.the symbolic meaning of leaving home of the little prince is escaping fromlove. 2 the symbolic meanings of residents in the six planets are “self-love” and “loveothers” .3 begin to understand love and responsibility through the foxthe symbol ofthe wise. 4find the real meaning of life and self value namely love and responsibility.In the third part make a conclusion about the realistic meaning of this research.3. Literature Review： There are a large number of outstanding scholars who have made their studieson Analysis the Symbolic Meanings of The Little Prince. Among the foreignresearchers for example Paul Webster focused on the research of the life and death ofthe little prince in 1967 he believes that the life and death of the little princesymbolize the experience of Antoine de Saint-Exupery S L Ablon carried on thestudies on Child analysis and The Little Prince in 1989 she researched the childrenpsychology through behavior and thoughts of the little prince. In China the study ofthis field has also got much attention. For instance Ling Xuedong studied The LittlePrince from the point of view of symbolism play an important role in developing thework and Liao Shasha tried to find the realistic meaning of The Little Prince in 2005she came to conclusion that The Little Prince reflects the era of the Second World Warthrough studying symbolism in the work. On the basis of related studies in this fieldthe present thesis attempts to study love and responsibility through analysis symbolismof The Little Prince.4. Timetable of the Thesis Writing:Time arrangement for the writing plan is as follows:Before March19 2012 hand in the presentation of the paper.Before April 16 2012 hand in the first draft of the paper.Before May 14 2012 hand in the second draft of the paper.Before May21 2012 hand in the final paper.指导教师意见：指导教师签名: 2012 年 月 日 Abstract Antoine de Saint-Exupery was an aristocrat French writer poet and pioneeringaviator. He became a laureate of several of Frances highest literary awards，such asPrix Femina and Le grand prix de littérature de lAcadémie franaise and also won theU.S. National Book Award. He is best remembered for his novella The Little Prince. The Little Prince known as “The French Rose” is loved by both children andadults since it was published. The work is so charming and successful has manyfactors and the use of various symbolic meanings in most important one of them.Antoine de Saint-Exupery connects his work with the real life and improved histhoughts through symbolism. The Little Prince is not only a world- famousphilosophic fairy tale but also a fable pregnant with the meaning of life. The littleprince the main character in the book is distressed and then he explores what ismeaningful to him. In the process of the experience he observes those “adults” whoare occupied with a lot of valueless things such as hunting for power being vain andsearching for too much owning working and learning. The little prince pursues thetrue value of life and true love without any obstacle. The subject of this thesis ismainly about the little princes course of realizing love and responsibility byanalyzing symbolic meanings in the book. It begins with escaping from the loverestricting experiencing the course of taming others and ended with returning of loveand responsibility. In the society of lacing of human touch searching for love andresponsibility has a profound meaning indeed. Key words: symbolic meaning The Little Prince Antoine de Saint- Exuperylove and reasonability philosophic fairy tale 摘要 安东尼德圣-埃克苏佩里是法国著名的作家，诗人和飞行员。曾获法国几项最高文学奖项，例如费米娜文学奖，法兰西学院文学大奖还曾获美国国家图书奖。小王子为其最著名的作品。 被誉为“法兰西玫瑰”的小王子自问世以来，深受儿童和成人的喜爱。这部作品之所以如此有魅力，原因很多作者对于象征主义手法的成功运用便是其中之一。圣-埃克苏佩里将自己的作品置于现实生活中，通过象征这一艺术手段，使自己对人生的思考得以升华，使之更具哲理性。它是一本世界著名的哲理童话，更是一部寓意生命的寓言。书中的主人公小王子是忧伤的，他一直在寻找生命的真正意义。在他的旅途中，他发现“大人”们一直在追求一些毫无意义的东西，比如：权势、名誉、地位。本文通过分析书中的象征意蕴在小王子成长过程中的运用，以小?/B>子感悟爱与责任的过程为角度，从离开“爱的束缚”为始，经历了驯服他者的过程，最后又回归爱与责任。在当今这个处处都是人心荒漠的时代，探寻爱与责任的主题具有深刻的意义。 小王子 关键词：象征意蕴； ；安东尼德圣-埃克苏佩里； 爱与责任； 哲理性童话 Acknowledgements This thesis is the product of the author and the supervisors three months ofefforts. It has been repeatedly revised under the guidance of Professor . It was thejoint efforts of both the author and the teachers in Foreign Languages Department. Iwould like to express my heartfelt thanks to Professor and the teachers who havehelped the author in the process of the thesis writing. I will also give my thanks to myclassmates and friends who have helped me revise the thesis. Last but not least I willgive my heartfelt thanks to my parents who have been always supporting andencouraging me. ContentIntroduction.11 Some theories about symbolism and the research status of symbolism in The Little Prince. .32 The symbolic meanings in the growing of the little prince.4 2.1 The little prince escapes from love .4 2.2 Symbols of “Self-love” and “love others” .5 2.2.1 Residents in the five asteroids.5 2.2.2 The lamplighter in the sixth asteroid .7 2.3 The little prince realizes love and responsibility .7 2.3.1 The symbolic meaning of “tame” .7 2.3.2 The process of “tame”.7 2.3.3 Tamed the fox.8 2.4 The little prince finds the true meaning of life and self-value .8 2.4.1 The symbolic meaning of the snake.8 2.4.2 The symbolic meaning of the death of the little prince. .93 Effect of the symbolism in researching love and responsibility of the little prince.9Conclusion .10Bibliography . 11Introduction Antoine de Saint-Exupery 29 June 1900 31 July 1944，French novelist andessayist a pioneer commercial pilot more than any other writer can be regarded asthe poet of flight. He attended Jesuit schools in France and Switzerland. He was apoor and unruly student but took great interest in the rapidly developing science offlight. He was a successful commercial pilot before World War II working airmailroutes in Europe Africa and South America. At the outbreak of war he joined theArmée de lAir French Air Force flying reconnaissance missions until Francesarmistice with Germany in 1940. After being demobilized from the French Air Forcehe voyaged to the United States to convince its government to quickly enter the waragainst Nazi Germany. Following a 27-month hiatus in North America during whichhe wrote three of his most important works he joined the Free French Air Force inNorth Africa although he was far past the maximum age for such pilots and indeclining health. He disappeared over the Mediterranean on his last assignedreconnaissance mission in July 1944 and is believed to have died at that time. Prior to the war he had achieved fame in France as an aviator. His writingcareer links closely with his experience as an aviator. His literary works mainlyincludes: The Aviator Flight to Arras The Little Prince Night Flight A Sense of LifeWind Sand and Stars. Among them The Little Prince translated into more thanlanguages and dialects and propelled his stature posthumously allowing him toachieve national hero status in France. His six works all about flight and he observesthe world and life in the height of the outer space. He is the pioneer who cares aboutthe situation of human in the history modern literature. An earlier memoir by the author recounted his aviation experiences in theSahara desert and he is thought to have drawn on those same experiences for use asplot elements in The Little Prince. The Little Prince was republished many times sinceit first published in New York in 1943. It becomes the most popular book all over theworld only second to the bible. Since first being published the novella has beentranslated into more than 100 languages and adapted to various media over thedecades including audio recordings stage screen ballet and operatic works. Though ostensibly a childrens book The Little Prince makes several profoundand idealistic observations about life and human nature through symbolism. “We cansee symbolism everywhere in the book which is clear and obscure and it makes thefable very beautiful and charming.”Moirés 1987:67 It reflects the human experienceand survival significance in the plain text through symbolism. For exampleSaint-Exupery tells of a fox meeting the little prince during his travels on Earth. Thestorys essence is contained in the lines uttered by the fox to the little prince: quotOnesees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eye.quot Other keythematic messages are articulated by the fox such as: quotYou become responsibleforever for what you have tamedquot and quotIt is the time you have devoted to your rosethat makes your rose so important.quot The Little Prince is so charming that there are many studies of it. Theirstudies are mainly concerned in three aspects. Firstly study the symbolism in thework and many people study in this aspect such as Ling Xuedong Hu Yulong andJiang Haitao. Secondly study the realistic meaning or philosophical meaning in thework. Thirdly study the relationship between the author and the aviator in the bookthrough analyzing the symbolism of the work. Those are a great help to understandThe Little Prince and also offering a lot of information of both the work and theauthor. Based on the studies as referred the subject of this essay is mainly about thelittle princes realizing love and responsibility during his travel by analyzing symbolicmeanings in the book. It begins with escaping from the love restricting experiencesthe course of taming others and ends with returning of love and responsibility. In thesociety of lacing of human touch searching for love and responsibility has a profoundmeaning indeed.1 Some theories about symbolism and the research status of symbolism in The Little Prince. There are some basic theories about symbolism as follows. Symbolism is thepractice of representing things by symbols or of investing things with a symbolicmeaning or character. A symbol is an object action or idea that represents somethingother than itself often of a more abstract nature. Symbolism in literature is when theauthor uses an object or reference to add deeper meaning to a story. Symbolism inliterature can be subtle or obvious used sparingly or heavy-handedly. An author mayrepeatedly use the same object to convey deeper meaning or may use variations of thesame object to create an overarching mood or feeling. Symbolism is often used tosupport a literary theme in a subtle manner. Writers insert symbols into their writingto allude to a feeling mood or attitude without directly stating the perspective ormood intended. Symbolism is supplemental to the story. Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French Russian andBelgian origin in poetry and other arts. In literature the style had its beginnings withthe publication Les Fleurs du mal The Flowers of Evil 1857 by Charles Baudelaire.The works of Edgar Allan Poe which Baudelaire admired greatly and translated intoFrench were a significant influence and the source of many stock tropes and images.The aesthetic was developed by Stéphane Mallarmé and Paul Verlaine during the1860s and 70s. In the 1880s the aesthetic was articulated by a series of manifestosand attracted a generation of writers. The Little Prince is a successful work well developed through symbolism.“Symbolism can be seen everywhere in the book which is clear and obscure and itmakes the fable very beautiful and charming.”Morova 1987: 83 A connect his workwith the real life through symbolism and makes his work philosophical by improvinghis thought. The work is full of poetic flavor grief and loneness. It reflects the humanexperience and survival significance in the plain text. The Little Prince was written in the middle of the twen