posted on 28 Apr 2017

Discovering Peter Pan  

I currently have twenty five different editions of Peter Pan, some of which are abridged, and I dithered over which one to read. I eventually chose a special edition with a cover design by Cath Kitson and interesting illustrations by Richard Kennedy. It’s remarkable just how differently individual illustrators approach the book. For instance the illustrator Mabel Lucie Atwell depicts the characters as chubby and childlike in her sentimental trademark style. A contrasting but very powerful interpretation by Paula Rego shows them as looking more three dimensional with a nightmarish atmosphere. I wonder if my experience as a reader of the story would have been different if I had chosen a different illustrated version?

This is one of those stories that is so deeply embedded in our culture that I thought I had read the original,  but  when I started reading it the other day, I realised that I hadn't. Like many people, I know plenty about the iconic characters and the main events, but it is usually the case that these images are strongly influenced by the Disney film interpretation. Memorable phrases like ' second star to the left and straight on ‘til morning’  and ‘ the moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it’’ are lodged in my head but what fills much of the book was unfamiliar. From page one in the original text, first published in 1911, the mood is very dark and the language and imagery is complex. I guess this is what makes it a classic, because it has so many layers and can be interpreted in different ways.

Some classic children’s books have attracted considerable critical attention and I would imagine that Peter Pan is second only to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in terms of inspiring academics to write obscure journal articles and undertake literary analysis. Some of the overriding themes are obvious whether one has read these or not. Being more familiar with abridged versions of the story, I was surprised at the opening paragraph of the original text which describes Wendy’s precocious self- awareness:

‘You always know after you are two. Two is the beginning of the end.’

Peter Pan is the boy who never grows up and spends much of the story revelling in the freedom of an unrestrained childhood where his imagination is the only structure. The poignancy of what is a celebration of youth and innocence has been written about many times, particularly the haunting  prescience of Peter saying 'To die will be an awfully big adventure ' just a few years before the real slaughter of so many young men in the trenches of World War One who, like him, never grew up. Death is referred to many times and when Wendy fears that the Lost Boys are going to be killed by the pirates she tells them:

‘I feel that I have a message to you from your real mother, and it is this: “We hope our sons will die like English gentlemen.”

In the opening part of the story, the author also suggests that all relationships are fragile, a happy marriage is difficult to sustain and choosing to bring children into the world is a financial gamble. Unusual themes for a book aimed at young readers surely?

I had certainly misremembered or underestimated many of the characters in the story. For instance, Captain Hook is often reduced to a two dimensional pantomime villain. He is so much more than this and there is plenty of information to make him more real in the original text. Who knew that ‘his eyes were of the blue of the forget-me –not, and of a profound melancholy …’ When he comes across a defenceless Peter we are given a further glimpse of his complexity:

‘The man was not wholly evil; he loved flowers (I have been told) and sweet music  ( he was himself no mean performer on the harpsichord) …’

As he fights for his life on the deck of his ship he is portrayed with dignity:

‘Misguided man though he was, we may be glad, without sympathising with him, that in the end he was true to the traditions of his race …James Hook, thou not wholly unheroic figure, farewell’.

When J.M. Barrie is reflecting on which character he liked the best he chose Mrs Darling who always leaves the window of the nursery open just in case her three children decide to return. Mothers are central to the whole plot and viewed with great suspicion by Peter. Bringing Wendy to Neverland turns out to change everything as her mothering is much enjoyed. Once she is ensconced in her cosy house of leaves, she quickly becomes an archetypal mother figure to all the Lost Boys who crave her attention and keeps them in check with strict routines and firm rules, which they love.

I found the last part of the book very moving when the author gives the reader a glimpse of what happened to some of the characters. All of them grow up, some more willingly than others, but who would have guessed that the eldest Darling boy, John who had shown himself to be so reckless in Neverland would become:

‘The bearded man who doesn’t know any story to tell his children …’

How very sad. I suppose ultimately it is a story about the importance of stories and the way in which imagination can transport you to wonderful places beyond the everyday dull routine of life. But it also a story about the warmth of a safe home and the need cherish children and to spend time with them. In many ways it reminded me of The Wizard of Oz  with its similarly strong messages about valuing family, familiarity and ordinariness and not being tempted by show offs and tricksy charlatans. It was a really interesting read and one that I would recommend you try as an adult, even if you have read it before.

 

Karen Argent

April 2017