strange thoughts at 6 a.m.

For some reason I was thinking about The Little Princeand I suddenly had a strange realization: I don't get it. Which is so weird because I've always loved it. Surely I got it before? Or did I just not care that I didn't get it?

It's probably unfashionable to love The Little Prince and it's undoubtedly on someone's Trio of Turdiness or Trilogy of Terror or what have you. But what can I say, it got me as a child. Also (in the original translation, at any rate) it's very beautiful.

But now I don't understand it. Why does being bitten by the snake send the Prince home? Is it metaphorical? Is he supposed to be an angel? Are we supposed to believe it's true he's going home or that it's a tragic and useless death? Well, the first, clearly. But why?

Does the fact that I'm thinking about this mean that now I'm a grown-up?