Little
Princes
The novel Little Princes by Conor Grennan grounds
on the author’s real life story. At the age of twenty-nine, he decides to travel
around the world for some time. Grennan’s adventures begin with a trip to Nepal
where he spends three months working in one of the Nepalese orphanages called
the Little Princes Children’s Home. The orphanage serves as a new home for many
children whose parents died during the civil war. At first, Grennan doubts if
he is really able to work with children. However, after some time spent in the
orphanage, he finds this job very honorable and fascinating.
Grennan and his
co-workers try to do their best to make those poor children’s life in the
orphanage more comfortable. The story reaches its breaking point when Grennan
finds out that parents of most children in the Little Princes Children’s Home are
alive. They paid human traffickers for hiding their children from the horrors
of war. However, the traffickers did not really do anything to protect the
children, but left them in the streets of Kathmandu instead. That is how most
children found themselves in the Little Princes Children’s Home. Grennan
realizes this terrific injustice and decides to help the children find their
families. At this moment, Grennan’s personality changes dramatically, that is,
from an inexperienced youngster he transforms into a real, brave, and decisive
man. He finds a local man who agrees to
assist him as a guide. They travel through the mountains and have to cope with
many difficulties and dangers of the civil war. In spite of all misfortunes
they face, Grennan manages to help some children reunite with their families.
After these
adventures, Grennan does not stop helping people in Nepal. He establishes an
organization named Next Generation Nepal. Volunteers from this organization help
people all around Nepal find their children and relatives. They also struggle
against human trafficking and help people overcome many other problems caused
by the civil war. Grennan finds his personal happiness in this organization
too. He meets a girl named Liz there. The girl shares Grennan’s commitment to
helping other people and becomes his closest associate in the organization.
They eventually fall in love with each other and get married very soon. This
happy ending of the story seems to be Conor Crennan’s reward for all his good
deeds and devotion to other people.
After reading
this story, I realized that it was not only about helping other people. Of
course, the author of book tries to make his readers understand that
volunteering is a very honorable activity and that there are so many people in
the world whom we can help. However, to my mind, the main idea of the story is
to show how an individual’s personality may change in a positive way under the
pressure of certain situations and problems. This story shows the growth of Conor
Grennan’s personality. At first, he seems to be a bit lazy young man who
volunteers only to impress other people. However, he gradually becomes a very
responsible and brave man able to sacrifice his personal happiness for the sake
of other people. The establishment of Next Generation Nepal becomes the highest
point of Grennan’s personal growth. However, this wonderful man does not stop
at this point, but continues doing his great job of making the world better.
