Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

Peter Pan is the infamous story of the boy that never grew up and so naturally you would think that this book contained a jolly, childlike wonder to it wouldn’t you? If you did just as I did when I started this book then you would be wrong. In my opinion Peter Pan focuses on all the negatives of being a child.

The children are often subjected to ‘make-believe meals’ which even as I child I’m not sure that I would find the upside to. There is also the obligatory smattering of sexism with Wendy being the mother and a girl and therefore taking on all of the domestic chores, such as the mending and the sewing. Whereas the Lost Boys as boys are able to build a house for the Neverland family.

The narrative voice I found incredibly irritating and I was always left with the impression that I was only getting half the story. There is so much time taken to comment that ‘that’s a different story’ and ‘there was that time, but we don’t have time to talk about it now...’ instead of actually a good solid amount of adventure. Sadly, the story seemed to be lacking in adventure. There is of course the overarching adventure of the children flying from their home in London to Neverland, but once there it all seems quite domestic. I felt as though Barrie’s efforts might have been better spent focusing on the time in Neverland instead of the long introduction of the Darling family which I fail to see much purpose for.

Captain Hook is an incredibly interesting character and one that I would be interested to read more about. In fact a lot of the characters were fascinating such Smee, Tiger Lily, and all of the Lost Boys who had an abundance of personality. It was them that seemed much more fleshed out than the Darling family and even Peter himself. It's a shame that the secondary characters weren't made more use of as they really captured my attention in a way that the protaganists failed to do.

The characters that I was less interested in, like Peter Pan and Tinker Bell are often thought to be popular because they have been made quite popular by Disney. I grew up on Disney and I am always shocked by the differences between the Disneyfication of classic children’s stories and the originals. I always expect slight plot changes and tweaks in character and such, but it always the feel of the story that is the most significant difference for me. It was that that is most shocking for me when it comes to Peter Pan. I felt that I didn’t want to be a child if it meant being like Peter Pan. Being in Neverland almost felt more like an imprisonment than an adventure at the end. Wendy, John and Michael all forget about their previous lives and struggle to remember who their parents are. A blessing for some I'm sure, but not what I would have wanted as a child.

Barrie also includes the Darling parents in the narrative throughout the story and so as readers we can see the effect that Peter’s actions are having on them. As an adult I felt deeply for the parents whose children went missing and living in modern times the idea that Peter Pan had kidnapped these children didn’t sit well with me. Obviously this is very much me reading this book in a contemporary context and therefore it is unlikely that this is what Barrie intended and yet I still cannot view Peter Pan as a hero.  

I am discovering on my journey through children’s literature that books for children are often dark in some way and don’t tend to shy away from the harsher side of life. In Peter Pan the darkness comes not only from the pain and suffering that is portrayed in the Darling family, but also in the murder of Hook and his entire crew. Unlike in the Disney film Peter is actually responsible for the demise of his arch-nemesis.

I felt that the book failed to live up to it’s reputation and this may be one of those books that really needs to be read as a child for the meaning and magic to still be there. Sadly, I did not feel as though as an adult there was much that I could get from this book or in fact that it had much to teach me either as a child or as a grown-up.

Rating: ★★