Peter Pan

Peter Pan (1904) is the title of Scottish playwright and novelist James M. Barrie’s (1860–1937) most famous play, and Peter and Wendy is the title of Barrie’s 1911 novelization of it.

Both tell the story of Peter Pan, a mischievous little boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, and his adventures on the island of Neverland with Wendy Darling and her brothers, the fairy Tinker Bell, the Lost Boys, the Indian princess Tiger Lily, and the pirate Captain Hook.  From time to time they also meet ordinary children from the world outside.

Barrie created Peter Pan in stories he told to the sons of his friend Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, with whom he had forged a special relationship. Mrs. Llewelyn Davies’ death from cancer came within a few years after the death of her husband.

Barrie was named as co-guardian of the boys and unofficially adopted them.

The character’s name comes from two sources: Peter Llewelyn Davies, one of the boys, and Pan, the mischievous Greek god of the woodlands. It has also been suggested that the inspiration for the character was Barrie’s elder brother David, whose death in a skating accident at the age of thirteen deeply affected their mother.

The Peter Pan character first appeared in print in the 1902 novel The Little White Bird, written for adults, a fictionalised version of Barrie’s relationship with the Llewelyn Davies children. The character was next used in the very successful stage play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up that premiered in London on December 27, 1904.

Barrie then adapted the play into the 1911 novel Peter and Wendy (most often now published simply as Peter Pan).

The Story -

Peter makes night-time calls on Kensington, London, listening in on Mrs. Mary Darling’s bedtime stories by the open window. One night Peter is spotted and, while trying to escape, he loses his shadow. On returning to claim it, Peter wakes Mary’s daughter, Wendy Darling. Wendy succeeds in re-attaching his shadow to him, and Peter learns that she knows lots of bedtime stories.

He invites her to Neverland to be a mother to his gang, the Lost Boys, children who were lost in Kensington Gardens. Wendy agrees, and her brothers John and Michael go along.

Their magical flight to Neverland is followed by many adventures. The children are blown out of the air by a cannon and Wendy is nearly killed by the Lost Boy Tootles. Peter and the Lost Boys build a little house for Wendy to live in while she recuperates (a structure that, to this day, is called a Wendy House.) Soon John and Michael adopt the ways of the Lost Boys.

Peter welcomes Wendy to his underground home, and she immediately assumes the role of mother figure. Peter takes the Darlings on several adventures, the first truly dangerous one occurring at Mermaids’ Lagoon. At Mermaids’ Lagoon, Peter and the Lost Boys save the princess Tiger Lily and become involved in a battle with the pirates, including the evil Captain Hook. Peter is wounded when Hook claws him. He believes he will die, stranded on a rock when the tide is rising, but he views death as “an awfully big adventure”. Luckily, a bird allows him to use her nest as a boat, and Peter sails home.

Because he has saved Tiger Lily, the Indians are devoted to him, guarding his home from the next imminent pirate attack. Meanwhile, Wendy begins to fall in love with Peter. Peter is confused and disturbed by this turn of events; when he voices his concern, he hurts Wendy’s feelings, and she decides to take John and Michael and return to England.

Unfortunately, and unbeknownst to Peter, Wendy and the boys are captured by Captain Hook, who also tries to poison Peter’s medicine while the boy is asleep. When Peter awakes, he learns from the fairy Tinker Bell that Wendy has been kidnapped – in an effort to please Wendy, he goes to drink his medicine. Tink does not have time to warn him of the poison, and instead drinks it herself, causing her near death. Peter invokes the sympathy of children who might be dreaming of him, and Tinker Bell is saved.

Peter heads to the ship. On the way, he encounters the ticking crocodile; Peter decides to copy the tick, so any animals will recognize it and leave him unharmed. He does not realize that he is still ticking as he boards the ship, where Hook cowers, mistaking him for the crocodile. While the pirates are searching for the croc, Peter sneaks into the cabin to steal the keys and free the Lost Boys.

When the pirates investigate a noise in the cabin, Peter defeats them. When he finally reveals himself, he and Hook fall to the climactic battle, which Peter easily wins. He kicks Hook into the jaws of the waiting crocodile, but the wicked pirate promises that he will return. Then Peter takes control of the ship, and sails the seas back to London.

In the end, Wendy decides that her place is at home, much to the joy of her heartsick mother. Wendy then brings all the boys but Peter back to London. Before Wendy and her brothers arrive at their house, Peter flies ahead, to try and bar the window so Wendy will think her mother has forgotten her.

But when he learns of Mrs Darling’s distress, he bitterly leaves the door unlocked and flies away. Peter returns briefly, and he meets Mrs. Darling, who has agreed to adopt the Lost Boys. She offers to adopt Peter as well, but Peter refuses, afraid they will “catch him and make him a man”.

Peter promises to return for Wendy every spring. The end of the play finds Wendy looking out through the window and saying into space, “You won’t forget to come for me, Peter? Please, please don’t forget”.   (Wikipedia)