In Antoine de Saint Exupéry's short story "The Little Prince", the division between adults and children is clearly defined through their use of imagination. The typical adult perspective is irrational and closed-minded. Adults fail to recognize the importance of relationships and imagination because they are obsessed with what they perceive as “matters of importance” (Exupéry 135) and are incapable of changing. As children become adults, they grow along the way. With maturity usually comes responsibility. “The Little Prince” explores different aspects of responsibility. Exupéry does this through the point of view of adults and children. Adults believe that responsibility is about monitoring and taking care of possessions, while children believe that responsibility is about maintaining relationships. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"? Get an original essay Through the little prince and the narrator, readers learn that we have a responsibility to maintain and value our relationships with others , and not to lose sight of what is really important. The narrator of the story is an adult, but he is not classified among other adults because he still has imagination and understands that money and “numbers are indifferent” (Exupéry 142). For adults, numbers are everything. It's the only way they can understand things. For example, the narrator explains that if you were to describe the beauty of a house to an adult, they would not understand you, but if you told them "'I saw a house that cost $20,000'" (Exupéry 142), they would understand that it is a beautiful house. Numbers are a way to share information that is not subject to interpretation. The numbers are factual and impersonal. Exupéry therefore suggests to readers that the reason adults are only interested in numbers is that they have neither imagination nor original thought. Alongside adults' interest in numbers, Exupéry uses the picaresque story of the little prince's journey from his planet to Earth, to reveal to us the other negative traits that adults possess. The first adult that the little prince meets during his journey is the king. The negative personality trait that the king represents is a need for authority. They need to feel in control, even if it's a false sense of control. The king has no subject to rule over, but he claims to rule over everything. The adults wish to feel, like the king, that their “rule [is] not only absolute: it [is] universal” (Exupéry 154). Exupéry explains to readers that the king is trapped by his own need for control and does not realize that he does not have meaningful relationships with others. After his meeting with the king, the little prince visits a second adult, the vain man. Readers learn from this encounter that “for vain men, all other men are admirers” (Exupéry 157). Exupéry explains to us that the irony of pride is that it makes a person lonely, but they need others to confirm that they are “the best dressed, the richest and the most intelligent” (Exupéry 158). The only way for a vain person to be sure that they are the best is to have no one to compare themselves to, but to confirm that they are the best, they need praise from another person. After this second encounter with an adult, readers begin to notice the contradictions that adults live with as well as their repulsive character traits. Readers become more aware ofimperfect character traits of adults when the little prince meets the drinker. The Little Prince and readers are confused by this character because of his flawed logic. The prince discovers that the man drinks to forget that he is “ashamed of drinking” (Exupéry 159). This character teaches us that adults are likely to ignore important underlying problems, and instead look for quick fixes. They want a quick solution so they don't have to think about embarrassing things. Due to their lack of imagination, the drinker is not able to realize that there is a deeper underlying problem with their drinking. The drinker uses drinking to fill a void in his life, in the same way that some adults use work to fill a void. The adult the prince meets on the fourth planet is the businessman. This man represents many adults and has a trait that they all possess: preoccupation with work and important matters. He barely has time to interact with another human being. The businessman represents a phenomenon of modern society where it is common for an adult's only concern to be money and work. The businessman explains to the prince that he has only been distracted from his work three times “during the fifty-four years that he has inhabited this planet” (Exupéry 160). Fifty-four years is more than half a life, and during that time the businessman has done nothing useful. He has not formed any significant human relationships or accomplished anything other than accurately counting all of his possessions and writing that number on a piece of paper. Even though this man believes his work is important, it actually has no meaning and by looking at this situation through the eyes of the Little Prince, the reader can understand how empty life is without human interaction. On the fifth planet visited by the prince, he has a brief interaction with the lamplighter. He is the only adult he meets who thinks “of something other than himself” (Exupéry 164). The lamplighter strives to keep the planet lit, even though his planet now spins so fast that he must light the lamp every minute. He blindly follows outdated orders, which is in some ways admirable because of his loyalty, but this loyalty also represents the inability of adults to change. Another man who illustrates this inability to change is the geographer, who is the last man the prince meets before traveling. to Earth. The prince finally believes he has met a man who practices a "real job", but the geographer seems to follow rules just as obsolete as those to which other adults adhere. According to this man, “'the geographer is far too important to loiter'” (Exupéry 166). The geographer's rigid belief that he is too important to explore his planet on his own has led to his lack of knowledge about his planet. The geographer, however, teaches the prince an important lesson: the flower that the prince left on his home planet is ephemeral. To the geographer this means the flower doesn't matter because it won't be there forever, but to the prince it means his flower is important and he must nurture and enjoy it as long as it lasts. 'he can. From this encounter, readers can understand that the flower is the symbol of human relationships and that it is important to spend time caring for others. The geographer frustrates readers because he follows meaningless rules and is unwilling to change. What the reader will remember from the prince's encounters with these adults is that their beliefs are all absurd, irrational and contradictory. Their lack of imagination makes them obsessed with arbitrary tasks and have no time.. 132-192.