Peter Pan Syndrome Essay

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichieonce once voiced, “The problem with gender is that it prescribes how we should be rather than recognizing how we are. Imagine how much happier we would be, how much freer to be our true individual selves, if we didn’t have the weight of gender expectations." Society teaches girls and boys that they are entirely different individuals at a young age. Where as, both genders are limited on the activities, clothes, toys, colors, and personalities they can possess. People are constantly reminded of their gender restrictions in media, literature, and even throughout social activities. These gender roles have been established since the beginning of time, and cause many disadvantages for both genders. In William Shakespeare’s

Pancake Peter was born in vermont. He had syrup colored hair and eyes. When he was born his family had a diner. Peter was so good at cooking pancakes they had more customers everyday. They made so much money that they were able to open dinners around the country. But Peter did not like all the attention so he left, but wrote letters to his family.

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

Sadly, he also appeared to be fighting this battle alone, for the most part. As a child, he was a victim of abuse, from his own father, for his facial features as well as the color of his skin. He struggled with feelings of worthlessness, and eventually, he went and had numerous cosmetic surgeries done in order to enhance his looks and increase his self esteem. Since he constantly struggled with self image issues, he turned to drugs, specifically painkillers, in hopes that it would take his pain away. He also purchased a ranch, naming it “Neverland” after Peter Pan, in an attempt to bring his past back to life. This ended tragically, with claims of sexual assault against children being brought against him, thus contributing to the downfall of his music career. These tragic flaws and his dependence on narcotics, ultimately led to the pop star’s tragic death, which stunned the entire

Children are seen as vulnerable as they are young and unable to look after themselves without the help of a responsible adult, such as a parent or an extended family member. Children are meant to be protected, but this is not always the case. In this essay, the case of Baby Peter will be used to help illustrate the concept of children being ‘at risk’. In order to help explain the concept of children being ‘at risk’, Beck’s thesis of ‘risk society’ will be described, the vulnerability of children will be explained and the constructions of childhood will be mentioned in order to help talk about how children in society today are at risk. Other theories, such as cultural theory, scientific theory and the psychological theories will also be mentioned in the essay. Towards the end of the essay, child protection procedures and the child protection registers will be introduced and talked about as these can help to reduce the chance of the child being ‘at risk’ in a ‘risk society’.

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.

Transformation refers to the procedure of thoughtful and radical variations in reference of formation, appearance as well as character. Transformation is particularly very authoritative because it can never be resisted by any individuals since it is a thing that is meant to happen regardless of the situation. In Peter Pan: Or the Boy Who Would Not Grow up Play authored by J.M. Barrie demonstrates how individuals often visualize childhood as a carefree time and an exciting one without worrying about the actual world. The word never-land is utilized as a representation of fantastical (Barrie and Alton 7). In this context, individuals tend to embrace the belief that both children fantasies and adult realities are two major differing words

“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.

J. M. Barrie wrote about a typical boy based loosely on the Llewellyn Davies family. Barrie could not have known how the world would change when he introduced Peter Pan in 1902’s The Little White Bird or that Peter Pan would be adapted over and over one hundred years later. He could not have imagined the psychiatric term for men the “Peter Pan Syndrome” being a phenomenon. Barrie simply told a story by using characters and life events and creating a children’s story of fantasy. Peter Pan was not traditional in the sense that it tapped into the child at the heart of every human young and old. Barrie was a visionary as well as a writer as he saw brilliance in tragedy and wrote about what human desires to remain youthful and act from an untainted point of view without restrictions. He supplied the child and adult with fantastic escapades of fear and violence, escape from responsibility and shows death as only one more adventure. Barrie met the Llewellyn Davies boys Barrie while he was running away from all his own losses, perhaps he just wanted to keep running and take them all with him.

At the time of this novel, women’s rights were non-existent. According to Lexa W. Lee “women had been confined to the home in traditional roles of wife and mother”. It was very difficult for women during this time to get a job besides their house work. Women were very reliant on their husbands not just for money; if they wanted a divorce, they were shunned. Moreover, women were responsible for the children because of their gender. J.M. Barrie breaks this stereotype with his unique and outcast of a character, Tinker Bell. Barrie carries it for the most part of the book with Wendy Darling. In other words Barrie disagrees with gender equality by, portraying Tinker Bell as the outcast for not letting Peter Pan treat her like he does Wendy. Since

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.

The most popular theory that everyone associates with Peter Pan is the theme of the innocence of childhood contrasting against the responsibility of adulthood and the transition of puberty. In this theory, Peter Pan is just an adventure-loving character based off of real-life people. In the Disney film, Wendy Darling is a pre-teen who is told she has to leave the nursery and grow up which leads to her adventure and escape to Neverland (Geronimi et al.). Peter Pan doesn’t like the idea of growing up which is why he takes Wendy with him, but he also does so because he and the Lost Boys need a mother figure. This is proven in the lines “’It was because I heard father and mother,’ he explained in a low voice, ‘talking about what I was to be when

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

The child as a miniature adult is a historical model that gives the notion that children should act or be treated as adults. In Peter and Wendy by J.M. Barrie, readers are able to see how Wendy goes from having the mindset of not wanting to grow up to developing adult- like characteristics and eventually becoming an adult through her adventure with Peter Pan. We can see this by closely reading with signposts such as again and again, word of the wiser, and memory moment.

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.