A Concept of Home and Family in Little Prince and Pinocchio

Home is important for everyone and every animal, including human beings, would want to have a home that provides him or her with the required comfort. Homes are soothing and provide solace after a long working day. A healthy home on earth is dubbed a macrocosm that provides harmony to families, communities and even nations at some point. This is the reason as to why some of the scholars have attached to it significant functions that essentially describes its roles. For Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi and Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery, homes would mean and imply different notions. At the center of their storylines, homes would equally bridge the social meaning and a source of status and prestige. This opens to a number of functions and importance of homes to the two children stories.

First, in the case of the Little Prince, a home is a place that members would stay together with affection and love. This means that one finds a place where he or she belongs to. The members of the family would identify themselves with their homes, which provide them with pride. The Little Prince landed on earth and found himself at the center of the desert and could not find human beings. He eventually meets a snake which hints that the lethal poison could possibly kill the Prince. “The prince befriends a fox, who teaches him that the important things in life are visible only to the heart, that his time away from the rose makes the rose more special to him, and that love makes a person responsible for the beings that one loves” (De Saint-Exupery). The Prince still felt he missed the flowers and the roses that made him a home which was full of love. The discomfort he finds in the desert reminds him of a beautiful planet that formed his home away from earth. Secondly, homes serve a social function that facilitates the ground for one to meet with people and even bolster social interaction (The Rebbe). In the desert, the Prince finds no one but he would like to interact with somebody if not something. The little prince decides to make friends with the fox and learned how to interact with it. He recalled better moments he had with his rose back at home and he liked the way used to interact with it. He could not compare his original home and his new home, which he perceived as being an adventure to him. “The little prince’s mind, however, is fixed on returning to his rose, and he begins making plans with the snake to head back to his planet” (De Saint-Exupery).

A home provides status to anyone who stays in it. The little prince describes his home planet, which is an asteroid equal to the size of a house. He described cleaning the volcanoes in his earlier days and weeded the unwanted plants. He explains about the mysterious rose that nourished and became like a companion to him. The little prince explained his home as a small heaven full of love. However, this never stopped him from exploring the rest of the universe. Upon encountering the snake in the desert, he ends up nostalgic and recalls the best time he had with a rose (De Saint-Exupery). His original home gave him the status that he would not find elsewhere. He wishes he would go back and meet his rose again because that is the companion and the place he was used (Barth 1). Exupery’s Little Prince is seemingly proud of the asteroid and the rose that made home for him.

Apart from the Little Prince, Collodi’s Pinocchio explores a different scope of the functions and importance of homes. First, from Pinocchio, it is evident that a home provides protection and a place of comfort. This means that homes can protect people from heat, cold, wind and sun among other weather conditions. It is also a hub for small children who need special care. At home, Pinocchio is said to have stumbled upon a cricket (Collodi). He was starving and would not listen to the cricket. He decided to go in the streets in search of food but was splashed with water. He could only return home to dry himself next to a fireplace. He could only find the right comfort back at home. Despite burning his legs accidentally, he still believed that home will soothe his troubles. He found a father figure in Geppetto and decided to consider him as one. “Geppetto made new legs for him and sold some of his stuff to get Pinocchio into school. The boy realized then that Geppetto was like a father for him and that he was good” (Collodi). Similar to the Little Prince, Pinocchio found a home as a sociable place that gave him an opportunity to meet and interact with others. This means a home provided him with a social function.

Pinocchio considered Fairy and Geppetto as a family. These are the two characters that described his home given that they feature in most parts of the storyline. Fairy treated him like a mother and would look after him from time to time. Back at home, he learnt how to work hard with the rest of the family members. Lastly, a home is the ultimate center of the entire family life (Renninger, Hidi and Andreas 25). This means that Pinocchio was served with an educative function from his home. This is important in feeding children with early lessons that makes them to grow into responsible adults. “In the village, he learned how to work and earn money, so he helped Geppetto a lot” (Collodi). Upon realizing the love he got from Fairy and Geppetto and started taking a few steps of being a father (Collodi). At some point, Pinocchio could work long hours and took care of the family the same way Geppetto did. He appreciates for picking the right character that gave his family a new appearance.

Generally, homes are pertinent structures that provide a variety of functions and provide individuals with a number of benefits. The coverage of children stories, Pinocchio and The Little Prince, indicates a number of functions and importance. First, one can learn of affection and social interaction. Homes are known for providing a family for individuals. The case of the Little Prince showed how he missed his home that gave him a family with a rose showing affection to him. Homes are known for sharing a status and would offer protection. Pinocchio takes shelter back at home after being splashed with water. Homes are educative. Children are known for learning simple life skills from their parents and homes are better places that can provide a better environment. Therefore, homes are sociable, educative, affectionate and status-giving platforms.