Peter Pan
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Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie (1860–1937). Peter Pan first appeared in a section of The Little White Bird, a 1902 novel written by Barrie for adults. The character's best-known adventure debuted on 27 December 1904, in the stage play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up. The play was adapted and expanded somewhat as a novel, published in 1911 as Peter and Wendy.
Following the highly successful debut of the 1904 play, Barrie's publishers, Hodder and Stoughton, extracted chapters 13–18 of The Little White Bird and republished them in 1906 under the title Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, with the addition of illustrations by Arthur Rackham.
Peter Pan has appeared in a number of adaptations, sequels, and prequels since then, including the widely known 1953 animated feature film Walt Disney's Peter Pan, various stage musicals (including one by Jerome Robbins, starring Cyril Ritchard and Mary Martin, filmed for television), live-action feature films Hook (1991) and Peter Pan (2003), and the authorized sequel novel Peter Pan in Scarlet (2006). He has also appeared in various works not authorized by the holders of the character's copyright, which has lapsed in most parts of the world.
Though there were many variations and adaptations of J.M. Barrie's masterpiece, the set of main characters in Peter Pan remained constant. In order to fully grasp the story of Peter Pan, it is important to familiarize yourself with the characters listed below:
Peter Pan is a mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up. Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with mermaids, Indians, fairies, pirates, and (from time to time) meeting ordinary children from the world outside. He is the main protagonist of the story.
The female protagonist Wendy expresses an innocent adoration for Peter when they meet and is honest to herself and company throughout the entire story. As a girl who is beginning to "grow up," she stands in contrast to Peter Pan, a boy who refuses to do so. Wendy hesitates to escape to the Neverland, but in time she shows passion for magical events and adventures.
Tinker Bell was at first only a supporting character described by her creator as "a common fairy." Her animated form, however, is wildly popular. Tinker Bell is a fairy, and a companion to Peter Pan at the time of his adventures with Wendy Darling. Tinker Bell follows Peter but is very jealous of Wendy and Tiger Lily, and wants to get rid of them so she can have Peter Pan to herself.
Captain James Hook is the vengeful pirate who lives to kill Peter Pan, not so much because Peter cut off his right hand, but because the boy is "cocky" and drives the genteel pirate to "madness." He is captain of the ship Jolly Roger. He attended Eton College before becoming a pirate and is obsessed with "good form". Hook meets his demise when a crocodile eats him.
Tiger Lily is the proud, beautiful princess of the Piccaninny Tribe. She is apparently old enough to be married, but she refuses any suitors because she desires Peter over all. She is jealous of Wendy and Tinker Bell. Tiger Lily is nearly killed by Captain Hook when she is seen boarding the Jolly Roger with a knife in her mouth, but Peter saves her.
Mr. Smee is an Irish nonconformist pirate. He is the boatswain of the Jolly Roger. Smee is one of only two pirates to survive Peter Pan's massacre. He then makes his living saying he was the only man James Hook ever feared. As Captain Hook's right-hand man, he is described as a rather stupidly entertaining man interested in loot rather than Hook's more evil pleasures.
Although the character, Peter Pan, appeared previously in J.M. Barrie's book The Little White Bird, the play and the novel based on it contain the portion of the Peter Pan mythos that is best known. The two versions differ in some details of the story, but have much in common. In both versions Peter makes night-time calls on Kensington, London, listening in on Mrs. Mary Darling's bedtime stories by the open window. One night Peter is spotted and, while trying to escape, he loses his shadow. On returning to claim it, Peter wakes Mary's daughter, Wendy Darling. Wendy succeeds in re-attaching his shadow to him, and Peter learns that she knows lots of bedtime stories. He invites her to Neverland to be a mother to his gang, the Lost Boys, children who were lost in Kensington Gardens. Wendy agrees, and her brothers John and Michael go along.
The children are blown out of the air by a cannon and Wendy is nearly killed by the Lost Boy Tootles. Peter and the Lost Boys build a little house for Wendy to live in while she recuperates (a structure that, to this day, is called a Wendy House.) Soon John and Michael adopt the ways of the Lost Boys.
Peter welcomes Wendy to his underground home, and she immediately assumes the role
of mother figure. Peter takes the Darlings on several adventures, the first truly
dangerous one occurring at Mermaids' Lagoon. At Mermaids' Lagoon, Peter and the
Lost Boys save the princess Tiger Lily and become involved in a battle with the
pirates, including the evil Captain Hook.
Peter is wounded when Hook claws him.
He believes he will die, stranded on a rock when the tide is rising, but he views
death as "an awfully big adventure." Luckily, a bird allows him to use her
nest as a boat, and Peter sails home.
Because he has saved Tiger Lily, the Indians are devoted to him, guarding his home from the next imminent pirate attack. Meanwhile, Wendy begins to fall in love with Peter, at least as a child, and asks Peter what kind of feelings he has for her. Peter says that he is like her faithful son. One day while telling stories to the Lost Boys and her brothers, John and Michael, Wendy recalls about her parents and then decides to take them back and return to England. Unfortunately, and unbeknownst to Peter, Wendy and the boys are captured by Captain Hook, who also tries to poison Peter's medicine while the boy is asleep. When Peter awakes, he learns from the fairy Tinker Bell that Wendy has been kidnapped – in an effort to please Wendy, he goes to drink his medicine. Tinker Bell does not have time to warn him of the poison, and instead drinks it herself, causing her near death.
Peter heads to the ship. On the way, he encounters the ticking crocodile; Peter decides
to copy the tick, so any animals will recognise it and leave him unharmed. He does not
realise that he is still ticking as he boards the ship, where Hook cowers, mistaking him
for the crocodile. While the pirates are searching for the croc, Peter sneaks into the
cabin to steal the keys and frees the Lost Boys. When the pirates investigate a noise
in the cabin, Peter defeats them. When he finally reveals himself, he and Hook fall to
the climactic battle, which Peter easily wins.
He kicks Hook into the jaws of the
waiting crocodile, and Hook dies with the satisfaction that Peter had kicked him off
the ship, which Hook considers "bad form." Then Peter takes control of the ship and
sails the seas back to London.
In the end, Wendy decides that her place is at home, much to the joy of her heartsick mother. Wendy then brings all the boys but Peter back to London. Before Wendy and her brothers arrive at their house, Peter flies ahead, to try and bar the window so Wendy will think her mother has forgotten her. But when he learns of Mrs Darling's distress, he bitterly leaves the window open and flies away. Peter returns briefly, and he meets Mrs. Darling, who has agreed to adopt the Lost Boys. She offers to adopt Peter as well, but Peter refuses, afraid they will "catch him and make him a man". It is hinted that Mary Darling knew Peter when she was a girl, because she is left slightly changed when Peter leaves.
Peter promises to return for Wendy every spring. The end of the play finds Wendy looking out through the window and saying into space: