MAIN CHARACTERS PETER PANWENDY DARLING. JOHN DARLINGMICHAEL DARLING.

MAIN CHARACTERS

P E T E R P A N W E N D Y D A R L I N G

J O H N D A R L I N G M I C H A E L D A R L I N G

M R . A N D M R S . D A R L I N G N A N A

T H E L O S T B O Y S T I N K E R B E L L

C A P T A I N H O O K M R . S M E E

PLOT SUMMARY

• Neverland is home to Peter Pan, a young boy who has never grown up. On one of his visits to London, Peter makes the acquaintance of young Wendy Darling, whom he invites to travel with him to Neverland and become the mother of his gang of Lost Boys. Flying through the night sky to Neverland, Wendy and her brothers John and Michael are soon caught up in marvelous adventures with the Indian Princess Tiger Lily, the loyal fairy Tinker Bell and Peter's nemesis, a sinister hook-handed pirate known as Captain Hook.

MAJOR THEMES/CENTRAL CONFLICTS

• Overcoming “evil”

• Questioning growing up

• Acquiring love

• Conflict between innocence and responsibility

CONTEXT

• Originally a stage production (1904)

• Adapted later into Peter and Wendy (1911)

• David Barrie- the boy who never grew up

• J.M. Barrie and friendships with children

CRITICISM

“PETER PAN AND THE FLIGHT FROM REALITY: NARCISSISM, NOSTALGIA, AND NARRATIVE TRESPASS”

It is argued that J. M. Barrie’s ‘Neverland’ represents a latency phantasy of flight to a world apart from that of adults, in which there is scope for both a denial of, and a tentative exploration of, the coming realities of adolescence. Celebrated for his ability to stay a boy forever, Peter Pan can be understood as a character who embodies the narcissistic need of some individuals to retreat from the realities of the adult world. Reactions to Peter Pan have been curiously divided, and it is suggested that this split can be understood in terms of Barrie’s highly ambivalent attitude towards childhood – in which sentimental nostalgia quickly turns to bitterness and a sense of exclusion from the maternal object.

ADDITIONAL ADAPTATIONS

List of adaptations

Notable Adaptations:Peter and the StarcatchersPeter Pan in Scarlet Disney’s Peter PanHookFinding NeverlandDisney Fairies

ABOUT TIGER LILY

• Tinkerbell narrates the magical, bittersweet love story between Tiger Lily and Peter Pan. Tiger Lily has never been truly accepted by her tribe, and now the elders have decreed marriage to a man she doesn’t love. She spends more and more time alone in the woods, where she meets wild, fearless Peter Pan, leader of the Lost Boys. Tiger Lily is intoxicated by the freedom she feels with Peter, and falls under his spell. Their love is all-consuming, and she risks everything to be with him. Then Wendy Darling arrives in Neverland.

• Tink’s love and helplessness (faeries read thoughts but cannot speak) become a source of tension and metaphor in this post-colonial fable that covers a lot of ground: wilderness and civilization, gender and power, time and change.

• Working with the darker threads of Barrie’s bittersweet classic, Anderson weaves an enchanting tale.

(The Kirkus Review)