Peter Pan

James Matthew Barrie

James Matthew Barrie, a Scottish novelist wrote Peter Pan between 1904 and 1911, the same year got published.

The plot begins at the Darling family’s home, in the evening. While Mrs Darling enquires the children about a mysterious character, named Peter Pan that the children thought about. Wendy, the elder child, explains that sometimes, Peter Pan does visit them in their sleep. This alarms Mrs Darling who spends some time in the children’s nursery only to discover the truth to their story and while Peter Pan gets scared away by the adult in the room, jumping rapidly out the window, the family’s dog, Nana, manages to trap Peter’s shadow.

Wanting to recover his shadow Peter returns with his friend and aid, Tinker Bell, while the parents are off to a party. While they find the shadow, Peter needs Wendy’s assistance to sew it back on. Peter pleads with Wendy to accompany him to Neverland to act as a mother figure and nurture the little boys there.

Upon finally agreeing, Peter teaches Wendy and her younger brothers: John and Michael how to fly, which they must do for several days and nights till reach the island.

The island of Neverland is not that peaceful, as pirates are surrounding it, and firing their guns at the incoming group scatters them. Tinker Bell becoming increasingly jealous of Peter’s and Wendy friendship advises the lost boys to fire at Wendy, which almost gets seriously injured.

Wendy picks up the daily chores, cooks, cleans and tells the lost boys’ stories, acting like their mother figure. The boys enjoy that now they have constant warm meals and someone to look after them. While Peter rewards the Darling children by taking them on a series of adventures.

In one of the stories that Wendy tells, she is mirroring their own story, about three children that return from Neverland only to discover their parents were happily waiting for them. Much to the dislike of Peter Pan, who dismisses the truth in the story, convinced that his mother did not wait for him. The argument unsettles Wendy who wants to go home immediately, accompanied by her brothers, and even invites the lost boys to come. Peter declines to join.

As they want to leave the pirates are just waiting for them and capture each child. Peter who did not join them is under a different type of danger. His nemesis, Captain Hook, chief of the pirates poisoned Peter’s medicine while he was asleep. Although Tinker Bell wants to warn Peter about the danger, he would not listen to her, due to recent events and arguments. Because of this, she sacrifices herself, drinking the medicine which makes her weaker and weaker, only to be saved by a powerful sound of children clapping.

With the aid of Tinker Bell, Peter heads off to save the children, who are just about to be made to walk the plank from the ship. In the water, there is also a crocodile, a crocodile of which Captain Hook is terrified. The only method he would know of its proximity is by a ticking clock sound. The crocodile ate a clock, in the past, attempting to eat Hook, the sound terrifies Captain Hook every time. However, this time is not the crocodile approaching, but Peter Pan uses this sound as a distraction, killing most of the pirates. Finally, he duels with the captain who he delivers to the awaiting crocodile.

After the battle, the three children: Wendy, John and Michael arrive back at their home, and their parents are indeed overwhelmed with the joy of the reunion, and even adopt the lost boys.

Peter goes back to Neverland and agrees with Wendy to take her early to Neverland to help him with the Spring cleaning. He only actually comes two more times. Being back in London all of the children reach adulthood, and Wendy marries and has a daughter, Jane.

When Peter comes once more to take Wendy as the promise made, Wendy can no longer fly, as such he accepts to take Jane. Years later Jane grows up and has a daughter, and Peter takes her daughter into a continuous-time.

Some of the main themes or symbols of the story are related to perpetual childhood and motherhood importance. While the perpetual childhood theme is obvious, as Peter Pan and the lost children do not want to grow up. Although they miss someone to take care of them and give them certain guidance, they do not realize this necessity until they encounter it in the shape of motherly care, when Wendy comes to their home.

This is then the second theme, motherhood. Wendy wants to be a mother, to mother children and to take care of them. All, but Peter accepts this motherly love, and enjoy its benefits, its importance and crave for it.

Subjective opinion:

Nature or nurture? An old times question with importance in so many fields: social studies, criminology, education, genetics, psychology, psychiatry.

While in medicine the importance of family inherited diseases or the importance of genome is of grave importance, psychology comes to add the importance of a person childhood, parents, group of friends, classmates and so on.

The importance of parents’ behaviour in the development of the child. That is a big topic. While motherhood and how the mother behaves is of course of tremendous importance, so it can be the father influence. An overprotective mother, a distant parent, an absent parent, all this can influence how a child develops.

A family is the cell of society. And while this continues to be so, it might require more attention, from society, on the topic of how the decisions of parents can impact children.

While we live in a society with more individualism and egocentrism tendencies, maybe it should be addressed how this can impact the younger generation. Adults tend to think that their focus should be on their happiness, changing partners, divorcing, and choosing yet different partners should not concern their children, just them, just their happiness, their life.

I think in humans the mammal capability of giving life should not stop there, but what makes us humans is our capacity to care for our children. After all, the only way to evolve is if we are more preoccupied with the future generation than we are with the current.

While a statistic of 50% divorce rates in all marriages does not seem to upset anyone, the solution for this, “discovered” by many is never to marry. Maybe a statistic that shows over 1 million children are in orphanages just in Europe. Statistics that show orphanages can lead to deficits in emotions and feelings, cognitive delays.

Divorce without abandoning the child. Divorce can lead the child to powerful sentiments of guilt, confusion, anxiety, easily developing certain phobias. That is just one effect, but there is also something called: the “Cinderella effect” and that would mean that several studies have shown that children come to a much higher risk of abuse when a stepparent or a new partner to the biological parent gets involved. The child can be abused by the stepparent, but the biological parent can also be influenced to become abusive towards their child, by their new partner.

Every human tissue is formed from cells. Let’s not watch so easily upon the importance of societies cell: family.

While physically procreating can be, in a lot of cases very easy, being a parent can be much harder. Sometimes is better not to be Peter Pan, and to admire and acknowledge the importance of Wendy’s motherhood, but most of it the importance of the unsung heroes of this story: Mr and Mrs Darling, who adopted all the lost children, who waited for their children and sunk in overwhelming joy upon seeing them on their return.

Just an opinion. Just a thought. Just Steven J. Scott.