Peter Pan

All children grow up, except one. J. M. Barrie’s play turned novel has nurtured and inspired gaiety and innocence in both children and adults for over a century and still continues to tickle that childish fancy within all of us. For different generations Peter Pan may be Jeremy Sumpter with his lisp or the rather mature voice of Bobby Drisoll in Disney’s animated classic. Regardless of how you know the tale, the adventure and wonder of this classic story remains timeless and true.

With a haughty tone Barrie chronicles the adventures of Wendy, John, and Michael Darling who are lucky enough to meet the boy who can never grow up, Peter Pan, and fly away with him to the Neverland where they have many adventures including encounters with mermaids, redskins, and the dastardly Captain Hook and his band of villainous pirates.

Having grown up with tale told via Disney, it’s interesting reading the novel as an adult and discovering just how mature and ironic it actually is. As omniscient narrator, Barrie becomes a character in the novel itself and often flits between the registers to write with a haughty grown-up tone and voice his opinions about women and children. For a tale that is about enduring youth and imagination, it’s funny to hear the narrator refer to his characters as brats and voice his contempt for them –rather like Captain Hook. He’s not much nicer to Mrs. Darling either, openly voicing how much he despises her –rather like Peter Pan. It’s actually rather entertaining to hear him flit between the tones of his two central characters: it’s almost the literary equivalent of double-casting in The Wizard of Oz where everyone plays dual roles of metaphoric significance or Jumanji where Alan’s father is also Van Pelt. 

Image credit: Encyclopedia Britannica

Aside from that specific level of maturity and sophisticated writing, the story itself is a wondrous children’s adventure filled with marvellous imagery and thrilling escapades. I feel that Neverland is one of the most amazing creations in literature, as it’s a world that is the same, but slightly different for everyone and it’s that place you dream of as a child where all of your favourite things are concentrated in one realm.

As bedtime stories go Peter Pan is a winner and should I ever choose to have children, I’ll definitely be reading it to them.

Peter Pan was written by J. M. Barrie as a play in 1904 and then rewritten as a novel in 1911.