Peter And Wendy Analysis

The book Peter and Wendy written by J. M. Barrie has many contradictions. On the one hand, it is a playful story about the innocence and joyfulness of childhood. But, on the other hand, it is at its core about the necessity of adulthood. Throughout this argumentative essay, I will try to find out whether Peter and Wendy is a celebration of perpetual youth or an elegy.
Firstly, Neverland itself is a place of celebration the perpetual youth. In some way, it is a utopian world for Lost Boys made of the most elaborate fantasies of the child's imagination, where everything became possible, including endless battles with pirates, “gnomes who are mostly tailors” mermaids, fairies and, above all, the non-existence of rules and parents. This is a place

and Mrs. Darling that represent the adults. Mrs. Darling appears as a very sweet person as well as a dedicated mother: “Mrs. Darling had bathed them and sung to them till one by one they had let go her hand and slid away into the land of sleep.” Meanwhile, through the Mr. Darling, we are given a picture of an adult male that is not attractive because of limited life. He is an exemplary citizen who is engaged in a financial world because we know that “he had his position in the city”. Also, Mr. Darling has many anxieties and the money is the most serious of all. Behind the “happy family” is a practical reality where father “calculate expenses” to decide whether the family “would be able to keep the child”. Likewise, the maintenance of visible social status and trying to be seen as upper class takes a lot of place in their life because the head of the family “has a passion for being exactly like his

He rejects everything that Mr. Darling and all adults in general represent; to be precise he wants “to have fun” and be free of someone’s control and responsibilities forever. Moreover, Peter even ran away from home after hearing parents dialogue about his future. He says Wendy: “I don’t want ever to be a man”, “go to school and learn something new”. Also, there is a rejection of fatherhood: while Wendy enthusiastically took the role of mother seriously, Peter was anxious about the idea that he could be the father of Lost Boys in reality. Moreover, through Peter’s dialougs with female characters we can conclude that Peter does not simply dismiss sexuality but rather does not know about “sweet subject” existence, all sexual relations are extraneous to him, and he treats women only as mothers. For instance, when Wendy asked him with hope: “What are your exact feelings for me”, Peter replied: “Those of a devoted son”. Further, when Wendy tries to console Peter, he jumps back and says, "You mustn't touch me. No one must ever touch me," reinforcing the idea that close personal contact leads to responsibility and maturity which rejects. Actually, the idea of growing up is so awful for Peter that “for almost the only time in his life… he was afraid” when understood Wendy became an