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Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie - Everyone knows how the story of Peter Pan goes, right?! Yes - and also no. The novel by J.M. Barrie was one we studied in the high school literature class I teach, and we all agreed that the book is not quite the same as the Disney animated version! The events are very much the same, but the way Neverland and the character of Peter is portrayed have a different feel.
We're introduced to the Darling family, fairly ordinary in many ways, but Mr Darling has a few personality quirks and they have a dog as a nursemaid for their children. Wendy is the oldest of the three children and on the evening that Mr Darling says is her last in the nursery, she remains awake when Peter Pan comes in through the window to find the shadow he'd left behind. Peter has been the subject of many childhood stories, so she is quite excited to meet him and help him reattach the shadow. John and Michael, the two younger brothers, also awaken, and Peter Pan teaches all three of them how to fly and then takes them to Neverland with him.
While in Neverland, they encounter pirates and Indians, and have many adventures. Wendy acts as a mother to the Lost Boys, and when John and Michael show signs of forgetting their real mother, she decides that they have been away long enough and convinces Peter Pan that they must return home. Peter is firmly opposed to anything that involves growing up, and the plan is met with resistance. Throughout the adventures, Tinkerbell is antagonistic towards Wendy, but at this final crisis, it is Tinkerbell that saves Peter's life after pirate Captain Hook tampers with Peter's "medicine" that Wendy has left for him. He discovers that Wendy and the Lost Boys are all captives on Hook's ship, and finds opportunity for one more great adventure - defeating the pirates and rescuing his friends.
Barrie's book portrays Peter Pan far less favorably than the Disney movie. In the book, Peter is wholly self-absorbed in his childishness, and cares about Wendy only as she serves his imagination and thirst for adventures. He doesn't think about anyone other than himself, and practically forgets Wendy even exists any time she is out of his sight. While Disney showed him as mischievous and childish, it also gave him an aspect of heroism and chivalry that I did not sense in the book. In the movie, Neverland and all the adventures of the Lost Boys were portrayed as real, although magical; but in reading the book, it was far less clear whether these events actually happened or were entirely imagined.
Although not quite as heartwarming a children's story as one might expect, Peter Pan is still an entertaining flight of imagination. And it can raise some interesting questions about what it means to grow up, both positive and negative aspects.
Our class also noted the portrayal of the Indians on Neverland was not at all "culturally or politically correct" for our times! We marveled at the description in the book and the depictions in the Disney movie and all agreed that modern readers and viewers would see much of it as offensive and ignorant, although the original intent was surely not to offend but to play on childhood pretend games of the time, yet perhaps reflected poorly on the biased views of the time as well.
We're introduced to the Darling family, fairly ordinary in many ways, but Mr Darling has a few personality quirks and they have a dog as a nursemaid for their children. Wendy is the oldest of the three children and on the evening that Mr Darling says is her last in the nursery, she remains awake when Peter Pan comes in through the window to find the shadow he'd left behind. Peter has been the subject of many childhood stories, so she is quite excited to meet him and help him reattach the shadow. John and Michael, the two younger brothers, also awaken, and Peter Pan teaches all three of them how to fly and then takes them to Neverland with him.
While in Neverland, they encounter pirates and Indians, and have many adventures. Wendy acts as a mother to the Lost Boys, and when John and Michael show signs of forgetting their real mother, she decides that they have been away long enough and convinces Peter Pan that they must return home. Peter is firmly opposed to anything that involves growing up, and the plan is met with resistance. Throughout the adventures, Tinkerbell is antagonistic towards Wendy, but at this final crisis, it is Tinkerbell that saves Peter's life after pirate Captain Hook tampers with Peter's "medicine" that Wendy has left for him. He discovers that Wendy and the Lost Boys are all captives on Hook's ship, and finds opportunity for one more great adventure - defeating the pirates and rescuing his friends.
Barrie's book portrays Peter Pan far less favorably than the Disney movie. In the book, Peter is wholly self-absorbed in his childishness, and cares about Wendy only as she serves his imagination and thirst for adventures. He doesn't think about anyone other than himself, and practically forgets Wendy even exists any time she is out of his sight. While Disney showed him as mischievous and childish, it also gave him an aspect of heroism and chivalry that I did not sense in the book. In the movie, Neverland and all the adventures of the Lost Boys were portrayed as real, although magical; but in reading the book, it was far less clear whether these events actually happened or were entirely imagined.
Although not quite as heartwarming a children's story as one might expect, Peter Pan is still an entertaining flight of imagination. And it can raise some interesting questions about what it means to grow up, both positive and negative aspects.
Our class also noted the portrayal of the Indians on Neverland was not at all "culturally or politically correct" for our times! We marveled at the description in the book and the depictions in the Disney movie and all agreed that modern readers and viewers would see much of it as offensive and ignorant, although the original intent was surely not to offend but to play on childhood pretend games of the time, yet perhaps reflected poorly on the biased views of the time as well.
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