PETER PAN

“All children, except one, grow up.”

With that famous opening line, J.M. Barrie announces what his story is really about: the ache of leaving childhood behind. Peter Pan is not just a fairy tale of flight and pirates, but a meditation on innocence, imagination, and the fear of growing old.

The World of Neverland
The Darlings’ London nursery is ordinary enough—bedtime stories, Nana the nursemaid dog, parents downstairs—until Mrs. Darling begins to notice a shadowy boy sneaking into her children’s dreams. Peter Pan arrives at the window, laughing, cocky, and untethered. Barrie describes childhood as a geography unto itself: 

“I don’t know whether you have seen a map of a person’s mind. Doctors sometimes draw maps of other parts of you, and your own map can become intensely interesting, but catch them trying to draw a map of a child’s mind, which is not only confusing, but keeps going round all of the time. There are zigzag lines on it, just like your temperature on a card, and these are probably roads in the island; for the Neverland is always more or less an island, with astonishing splashes of color here and there and coral reefs and rakish-looking crafts in the offing, and savages and lonely lairs, and gnomes who are mostly tailors, and caves through which a river runs, and princes with six elder brothers and a hut fast going to decay, and one very small lady with a hooked nose. It would be an easy map if that were all; but there is also first day at school, religion, fathers, the round pond, needlework, murders, hangings, verbs that take the dative, chocolate-pudding day, getting into braces, counting to ninety-nine, three pence for pulling out your tooth yourself, and so on…of course Neverlands vary a good deal.”

​This “map” becomes Neverland, an island of dark jungle, pirate hideouts, mermaid coves, and a giant crocodile that ticks. And yet, the  inhabitants (the Lost Boys, pirates, redskins, and jungle beasts) are all stuck; their hunting of and running from one another has let to an endless circular chase without real change or growth. 

Growing Up?
Peter Pan ran away the day he was born, furious at the future his parents planned for him. His flight is more than physical; it’s existential. He represents a refusal to grow up, to be trapped by duty or time.

The Lost Boys, meanwhile, long for mothers. Wendy is quickly pressed into the role of “mother,” sewing clothes, telling stories, and scolding the boys when necessary. Peter both resents and craves this—he “despises all mothers except Wendy,” but cannot admit how much he needs her.

Barrie captures the fragility of childhood morality in a passage about fairness: “No one ever gets over the first unfairness; no one except Peter. He often met it, but he always forgot it. I suppose that was the real difference between him and the rest.”

Encounters in Neverland
The story is propelled by vivid scenes and situations: 

• The Flight Over London — Peter teaches the Darling children to fly “by wiggling their shoulders,” feeding them midair from birds’ beaks and laughing as they sweep over rooftops.
• Befriending The Lost Boys — Tootles, Nibs, Curly, Slightly, and the Twins live underground, rolling harmlessly in bear skins when they fall. They are loyal, unlucky, and endlessly yearning.
• Overcoming Tinkerbell’s Jealousy — She tricks Tootles into shooting Wendy with an arrow, saved only by Peter’s gift of a “thimble” necklace. Later, she drinks Peter’s poisoned medicine to save him, and survives only when readers clap to affirm belief in fairies.
• Escaping Mermaid Lagoon — A glittering but sinister place where mermaids try to drown Wendy. Here, Peter tricks the pirates into freeing Tiger Lily, chief’s daughter of the redskins, by imitating Hook’s voice.
• Evading The Crocodile — Lurking, ticking, a living clock. Hook admits he fears not Peter most, but the beast that stalks him without rest.
• The Final Duel — Hook ambushes the boys, tossing them “like bales of goods.” Peter descends into the pirate ship, stabs fifteen pirates, and finally forces Hook into the crocodile’s jaws. 

Overall Thoughts
Peter Pan dazzles with its magic and wit. Barrie’s narrator interjects constantly, playful and ironic, a style no-doubt inspired 100 years later in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. The tale is whimsical, fast-paced, and rich with iconic images—flying children, peace pipes, the Jolly Roger pirate ship, fairies brought to life by applause—and yet there is a melancholic tone throughout and the ending packs a bittersweet aftertaste. [JG]
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“Not the pains of this but its unfairness was what dazed Peter. It made him quite helpless. He could only stare, horrified. Every child is affected thus the first time he is treated unfairly. All he thinks he has a right to when he comes to you to be yours is fairness. After you have been unfair to him he will love you again, but he will never afterwards be quite the same boy. No one ever gets over the first unfairness; no one except Peter. He often met it, but he always forgot it. I suppose that was the real difference between him and the rest.” 

— J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
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Translated by Yasmine Seale
Edited by Paulo Lemos Horta