Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

It was a Friday evening when Peter Pan flew through the window of the Darling family residence, looking for his shadow. He had lost it before when visiting the children and now was searching desperately for it. Once found he tried to stick it back to his foot with a bar of soap. It was in a moment of despair, as he sat there crying, that Wendy Moira Angela Darling woke up from her sleep. And so the adventure began. Peter wanted a mother that could tell him and the Lost Boys stories like that of Cinderella. Wendy wanted to learn to fly. John and Michael wanted adventure. Neverland is where Wendy, John and Michael went with Peter Pan, the boy who never wanted to grow up.

What an amazing story of adventure and fancy. This book felt like a taste of whimsy and fantasy. Here is a world where mothers can look into the mind of their children and see their innermost thoughts. A world where dogs can act as children’s nurses with all of the caring and competence of a person. A world where you can learn to fly to a place called Neverland where mermaids exist and fairies are real. Barrie wrote such an amazing all-encompassing story that centered on this boy who ran away as a baby because he didn’t want to grow up. Peter wanted to live in this fantasy where he was the leader and he could kill Pirates with confidence and still listen to children’s stories at night.

Everyone I know has heard the story of Peter Pan. I know I’ve been watching the Disney version of this story all of my life and I’ve always loved it. Who doesn’t want to fly and go on these great adventures? Who wants to grow up and deal with responsibilities? I honestly can’t believe it has taken me this long to read Barrie’s novel about Peter. Now that I have though, my opinion of Peter has changed. Peter was a very arrogant child who believed that everyone should answer to or at the very least defer to him. He doesn’t want to grow up and doesn’t remember anything of his family and would very much prefer if no one else did the same. He disliked anything he didn’t understand and was extremely careless with other people’s emotions. Peter’s motives were easy to question because you were never sure when he was being genuine. Wendy was the exact opposite of Peter. She was genuine. She was loving. She remembered her parents who loved her and knew that eventually she would want to return to them. But it was Peter’s attitude that made the tone of the novel much darker than I expected. It was playful but there was always a level of unexpected trickery or suspicion. Was Peter kidnapping children so he wouldn’t be alone? What happened to the children that stayed but began to age? There was just so much depth and so many layers to this story that I found myself fully immersed in everything it contained, reliving and redefining what I thought I understood. I give it 5 out 5 stars. I’m glad I finally delved into this world to see the true Neverland. There was more to it than I could have ever imagined.