Student Question

How do all the stars resemble little bells for the pilot in The Little Prince?

Quick answer:

In "The Little Prince," the stars resemble little bells for the pilot because the Little Prince, before his departure, tells the pilot that when he looks at the stars, he will hear them laughing like bells, reminiscent of the Little Prince's laughter. This imagery comforts the pilot after the Little Prince's death, as he perceives the stars as ringing with laughter, keeping the prince's memory alive and embodying the wonder he brought into the pilot's life.

Expert Answers

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As the Little Prince makes his plans to let the snake bite him and kill him so that he can go home to his asteroid and his rose, he tries to comfort the pilot. The pilot tells the Little Prince that he loves his laugh, which is like bells. At this point, the Little Prince breaks the news to him that he must go away, but will have to leave his body behind (ie, die) as it is too heavy to travel with him. He reassures the pilot that he won't be too sad for long and says to him:

"It will be as if, in place of the stars, I had given you a great number of little bells that knew how to laugh"

He informs the pilot that when he looks up at the stars at night, he will hear them laughing like bells and be reminded of the laughter of the Little Prince. He says they can both look up at stars from their different places in the galaxy, and they will both hear them.

The pilot tries to talk the Little Prince out of his plan, but the prince is determined to leave. After he dies, the pilot finds he was wrong about leaving his body behind, but was right that the pilot does experience the stars as laughing. He says that:

But I know that he did go back to his planet, because I did not find his body at daybreak. It was not such a heavy body... and at night I love to listen to the stars. It is like five hundred million little bells.

The sounds of the stars laughing like bells helps keep the memory of the Little Prince alive for the pilot. They are part of the sense of childlike enchantment and wonder the prince brought into his life.

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