Age Is Only a Number in Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie Essay

“Lost Girl” written by Kimberly Belflower, a student at the University of Texas in Austin from New York who writes plays with fresh emotions and beautiful language that inspect the relationship between young women’s internal and external lives. “Lost Girl” is a play about adult Wendy Darling, the girl who when younger ran away with the well known Peter Pan. More specifically the play is about Wendy dwelling on her past with Peter and past in Neverland. She is obsessed with him, the lost boy who took her flying and gave her the childhood adventure any child only dreams to be a part of. She clings to the memory in hopes that he will one day come back like he said he would, she even leaves her window open twenty- four seven in hopes that he will

Three plays, five movies, and two television shows. The story of Peter Pan has lived on for over one hundred years, dating back to the original play in 1906. Filled with mythical fairies, mermaids, and pirates, J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan is a beloved story centering around the adventures of Peter Pan, and the Darling Children. Wendy Darling, along with her two brothers fly to the island of Neverland, a place that had lived in their imagination for years, but the true story is unbenounced to most everyone who has read the text or seen the movie. How could such an innocent story have such a dark background?

Peter unveils how children encounter similar difficulties as adults do in society since children do live in a society where there is an organized hierarchy of injustice, struggle, and real-world issues. The rivalry between groups in Neverland is explicit when “the lost boys [are] out looking for Peter [and] the pirates [are] out looking for the lost boys” (Barrie 112). In Neverland this frenzy occurs as there is a mutual disdain between the pirates and the lost boys. The lost boys are playful and rambunctious with the presence of their leader Peter while the pirates are vexed by the boys’ attitudes, especially since “there [never has] been a cockier boy” than Peter (91). Captain Hook also seeks to kidnap the young girl Wendy from the lost boys so that Wendy “shall be [his] mother” and fill the gap of his traumatic past with his parents (146). This tension between the lost boys and the pirates represents the unsteadiness between conflicting social groups that naturally exist in the world of adults. This situation also does not represent typical, innocuous play and is rather a grave activity of fighting that the children in Neverland confidently participate in. The ubiquitous struggle for power commonly seen in the adult world when fighting a war or striving for new heights in a job position is mimicked as Captain Hook attempts to steal Wendy from Peter. Peter’s leadership role in being involved with the logistics of maintaining and striving for power

In the book by J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan, the character Wendy changes through the book in many ways. She changes because of the forces that surround her, from hanging out with Peter to helping Peter of the trapped island by herself. All of these forces are used to shape Wendy to help her achieve goals she never knew she could accomplish. These forces helped Wendy act the way she did to contribute to getting her family back home and also to be able to trust in herself and others.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world”-(Albert Einstein). Imagination is one of the varieties of themes that are introduced in Peter Pan. It is demonstrated in the novel in an assortment of ways from the children’s actions to Neverland itself. When you are a child imagination encircles the world like Albert Einstein said, and when you are young your imagination is more vibrant. It also configures as you start to matriculate and start realizing reality. In J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, the theme of Imagination is illustrated by characters, events, and symbols.

In the society described in the story John is shown to be different from the others in his civilization. Unlike others he is curious, willing to take risks, or even break rules. This was made apparent when John recalled when he went to the Dead Places, touched a piece of metal and did not die "(S)o he knew that I was truly his son and would be a priest in my time. That was when I was very young- nevertheless, my brothers would not have done it"(Benet 76). This quote directly shows one way that John is different and more daring than the rest of his brothers. John's more courageous attributes can be viewed as something extraordinary due to the fact that he discovered so much throughout the book. However this trait may also be looked

“When you know the truth it will drive you insane”. The quote by Aldous Huxley perfectly encapsulates what happened to the character John throughout Brave New World. John idolizes the World State and always has wanted to go there. Since he has lived on a savage reservation his whole life he’s never known the luxuries such as “soma” and “feelies”. John has evolved a great deal throughout Brave New World, he started naive and hopeful, became skeptical of the World State’s greatness, and ended depressed and angry.

John’s greatest thing he has is the role in his town and play. He is a very wealthy farmer with plenty of land to his name. A great example of us knowing this is at act one he discusses

Furthermore, reading that the character Peter Pan was introduced by the author in his earlier novel in a story told to a young boy David by a bachelor wanting to lay with him. The realisation that this may indeed be written to 'fulfill adult desires ' grows.

Peter Pan is a timeless tale in which transcends time and culture through its’ underlying themes. Each of the characters fulfilled their roles tremendously, and was able to bring forth these themes in their own unique ways.

The fact that J.M. Barrie decides on the nursery for being the location for both the beginning and the end of the novel is symbolic of the importance of family life and maternal care in the novel Peter Pan. After the Darling children return back home from their adventures in Neverland, they come back to the nursery to be taken care of again by their mother and father. Wendy, which

This is concept of not wanting to grow up is proved throughout the play multiple times. For instance, he talks with Wendy explaining that he ran away from home saying, “I want always to be a little boy and to have fun” (Barrie 15). At the end of the play Peter is terrified to even pretend to be the boy’s father. He says, “It is only pretend, isn’t is, that I am their father?” (Barrie 43). Then in the lines proceeding he still was questioning Wendy to make sure his role was just pretending because he does not want any characteristics or responsibilities a grown person has. Wendy, on-the-other hand, was not afraid to take on the motherly role of the children. She awakes in the house and the boys ask her to take on the mother role and she replies, “Very well then, I will do my best” (Barrie 32). The concepts of the play follow the relation that exists between children and adults where their worlds are exclusive mutually as they complement each other (Barrie and Alton 7). There exists a higher association between Wendy and adulthood which helps show her transformation.  This proves Barrie’s play was created to showcase the bond between children as well as adults. This transformation for Wendy is interesting because she took on a mother role in a child-fantasy land that is supposed to be free of responsibility.

J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan tells the story of “the boy who never grew up.” Barrie paints Peter as an extraordinary character living in a mystical world called Neverland, flying through the air, and fighting villainous pirates. He is also the boy who takes a young girl named Wendy from England back to Neverland with him. The interaction and interdependence of Barrie’s two characters, Peter and Wendy, symbolize and spread cultural gender stereotypes by mirroring the stereotypes embodied by the adult characters in the story—Mr. and Mrs. Darling—and by reflecting the ideas of gender roles of the time and foreshadowing the children’s understanding of reality and expectations, as well as their eventual maturation.

Every night, after a long, tiresome day in second grade, I would curl up in bed and beg my Mother to read me one of my favorite books, Peter Pan. There was something always magical about Peter Pan that helped me escape the daily events of the real world. Whether it was his capability to fly, difficulty to find his shadow, or ability to never grow old, the story of Peter Pan has stuck with me and has helped shaped me into who I am today.

J M. Barrie's Peter Pan is a poignant tale about the magic of childhood. The main character, Peter Pan, is a magical boy who wishes never to fall into the banality of adulthood, but to have an adventure every moment and remain forever young. The play details Peter's relationship with a young girl, Wendy, who is on the cusp of young adulthood. Peter's gang, the Lost Boys, wish for a mother to read them stories. Peter goes and retrieves Wendy to be their new mother. Their adventures reveal much about the nature of childhood and Barrie's thoughts on the bittersweet necessity of growing up.